Neither one makes sense and you don;t have time to get to all of these places.

When will you be going?
How many of you are there?

All of your days have you bouncing around in multiple directions and assume that you will get only good weather - which, even if you do in the valleys may well not be true on the mountaintops. (We didn't get a good weather day for the Jungfrau until our 3rd day in Interlaken.)

Suggest you

1) Get a map of Switerland
2) go to bahn.de to get info on train schedules between the places you are talking about

Most o fyou days consist of 3 or 4 half days - the sights you want to see would take at least 7 days or so - even with good weather.

Have a look at schedules, figure out the number of hours per day and reconsider.

Hi
i think you change a couple of names
from Zurich to Lucerne is about 40 minutes by train. I suggest you to spend at least a day in Lucerne because is really nice.
From Lucerne you can take the GoldenPass to Interlaken or the normal train to Bern (just 1h 20 min)
Interlaken is a really nice place... may be good to stay a couple of days... also because of the weather.. the top of the mointains is not always sunny.
From interlaken to Bern is just 1 h by train so you can easily make a day trip. Then you can continue from Interlaken to Montreux with the GoldenPass.

for train schedules... check the swiss national train website: www.sbb.ch
you have fares, and timetables!

If you travel that much on trains and boats or whatever in a 4-day period then by all means consider the 4-conseutive-day Swiss Pass - a Saverpass if traveling with someone else as this would cover all your travel except from Grindelwald/Wengen to Jungfraujoch (25% off on that portion) - all travel from get there to get go.

Great sources of info on Swiss trains, lake boats, mountain trains, passes, etc - www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html and www.ricksteves.com.

From Lucerne you can take the GoldenPass to Interlaken or the normal train to Bern (just 1h 20 min)>

By all means take the far more scenic but slightly slower Golden Pass route between Lucerne and Interlaken - the up and over the Brunig Pass route rather than the ho-hum mainline train to Bern, which is not that much faster considering the Brunig Pass route terminates in Interlaken-Ost, where you transfer to trains to Lauterbrunnen - the other route does too terminate there but after stopping at Interlaken-West so is all in all not much faster.

There are some official Golden Pass trains on the Brunig Pass route with domed observation cars but also regular hourly trains with the exact same scenery out their large picture windows.

Where & how to I make reservation for panaromic cars to sit in front. When I pull up schedules on sbb.ch i see all trains, which of them are panaromic? Can I make a reservation on these trains now BEFORE buying the swiss flexi saver pass?

I will be based in Lauterbrunnen.

a) Can you please suggest 3 or 4 good hikes around this area?
b) Please also recommend boat rides.
c) How do I arrange all this with a flexi pass. What are the cheaper activities that can be done on the day the pass is not active.

I know this is supposed to be a vaction, but so many things to do, scheduling is a nightmare.

http://www.goldenpass.ch/default.asp?Language=EN

check out the official site for Golden Pass - many times I have heard that folks without tickets can make just seat reservations on that site - later needing to have a pass or ticket of course when actually using the train.

VIP seats are just a few on each train - up front next to the train driver so you seem to be driving the train - some are in the back so you sit facing the tracks going away from the train.

Regular seats in panoramic cars do not need reservations I believe and are easy to get IME - and if you hop on the train where it starts you should have no problem.

b) Please also recommend boat rides.>

Two great FANTASTIC boat rides - one on each lake - Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, the lakes bookending Interlaken, which of course means 'between the lakes' (I think!)

I prefer Lake Thun for the scenery and Lake Brienz for the wondrous places boats can take you to.

I'll come back and detail my experiences at least on each lake and a bit about the boats - again if you have a Swiss Pass they are fully covered and you just hop on.

OK - Lake Thun - my favorite for vistas as the glacier-girdled Jungfrau Massif looms high over the southern shore - and on a nice clear sunny day oh so so nice to sit back and take it all in.

Boats leave from behind Interlaken-West train station - classic cruise goes to Thun and or Spiez - both of which have train service back to Interlaken. Spiez has a castle of your dreams hovering high over the boat dock and is a pleasant small town overlooking Lake Thun.

Thun is a nice larger city with a roaring river running thru its middle - some old covered wooden bridges and just a swell town - great pedestrian shopping mall.

Cruises take about two hours or so and of course you can come back by boat as well - by trains will quickly take you back to Interlaken in a few minutes. The Thun train station is right by the boat dock - Spiez' is a strenuous uphill trek from its boat dock.

Thun's train station, last I knew, had a micro-brewery in it in case your into micro brewed beers!

Skip Geneva. Go there some other time.

Oh on boats there are two classes of service - the open-air top deck is first class only - first class ticket or first class railpass - if you have a 2nd class pass then you can simply pay the difference between the normal first and second class fares on the boat as an upgrade - though you can get out in the open-air on the lower deck at the front I love sitting up top and having a 360 degree panorama - the ultimate observation or panoramic car type thing hyped on trains.

>I will be based in Lauterbrunnen. a) Can you please suggest 3 or 4 good hikes around this area?>


travelyoda -

As you say you'll be based in Lauterbrunnen, I suggest you stick to the immediate area...there's loads to do right at your doorstep.

We spent a week in Lauterbrunnen a few years back and took several great hikes. You'll find the details here if interested:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/april-in-the-alps-a-swiss-walkabout.cfm

Lake Brienz boats - Lake Brienz is way different IMO than Lake Thun - each are so so sweet but Lake Brienz is more hemmed in by high Alps so the vast panoramas are not present but I think along its shores are things that to me at least are more interesting - take a boat from behind Interlaken-Ost train station to Geissbach Falls dock and take the antique funicular up to the roaring falls themselves and the famous hotel there - nice place for tea, a drink or lunch - then re-board a boat for Brienz - famed wood-carving town where you could hop a steam train to the summer of the Rothorn Bahn (hope I have name correct) for vast panoramas - we walked down on zigzagging trails with full view of lake

or you could take a bus from Brienz to the famous Ballenberg Open-Air museum, lovingly set in a meadow high above the lake (Swiss Passes free entry - perhaps $20 value in itself - also cover lake boats and Geissbach funicular in full - 1/2 off Rothorn steam train)

or from Brienz take train to Meiringen and walk or bus to nearby Reichnbach Falls - where sherlock Holmes and Prof Moriarity tangled in a deadly struggle. Take old funicular up to top of middle of falls (where belvedere where Homes set his fight

Meiringen itself is a pleasant city with a Sherlock Holmes museum in a tiny tiny chapel in the town center - taste some meringue, named after the town and return to Interlaken from here by train.

Lake Brienz - a wondrous day out.

Lauterbrunnen hikes?

My favorite easy to moderate easy hikes from Lauterbrunnen base are Mannlichen to Kliene Scheidegg or reverse; Kl Schidegg to Wengen and Grutschalp to Murren and Murren to Gimmelwald and Stechlberg to Lauterbrunnen.

The most famous walk in the whole Jungfrau Region I believe is the famous Mannlichen to Kl Schidegg (or reverse hike) - the famed ridge walk that lets you see down into both the Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald Valleys with, if going towards Kl Schiedegg a front view of the Jungfrau Massif itself.

It is a few mile easy hike over a trail wide enough for baby carriages to do it IME - a well beaten train though and from Mannlichen you have much raved about vistas over Interlaiken, wedgeed between its lakes far far below.

Trake a train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, then the cable car from there up to Mannlichen - hike to Kl Schiedegg and if not tired you can do a lovely downhill walk over paths wide and gentle enough to also be used by mountain bikers to Wengen, for trains back to Lauterbrunnen.

a really easy and short hike I love to do from Lauterbrunnen itsself goes up to the end of the deep narrow Lauterbrunnen gorge - first past the tall waterfalls just out of town, then by Trummelbach Falls - a water torrent INSIDE the cliff that is called the sole drain of the northern side of the Jungfrau Massif I believe and then along a gurgling brook to Stechelberg and the abrupt end of the flat part of the valley - just a few miles and you see cows with bell tinkling - farmers incredibly in one of the world's wealthiest countries still cutting hay by hand and lovely lovely panoramas all around

You can hop a postal bus back if you do not want to walk each way. If doing the fantastic Lauterbrunnen-Murren-Gimmelwald-Stechleberg loop by cable car and trains then consider walking back to Lauterbrunnen from Stechleberg to lovingly end your fantastic day!

Oh back to Lake Thun boat ride - many folks love getting off at Oberhofen, a cute lakeside town on the northerhn shore not far from Bern - just to see its famous castle brooding over the lake if not to nab lunch in one of the many nice eateries in this pleasant pleasant town on what is dubbed, for its perceived mild climate, the Riviera of the Berner Oberland.

Reboard a boat at Oberhofen or hop on a bus from there to Thun - I actually walked the few miles along the lake to Thun.