rndas

Hi, we have a four day trip to Switzerland planned for Feb. 14th. Its pretty low key since we're not there for very long. Just wanted to see the beautiful views there. Any thoughts?

2/14 - Arrive Geneva at 10:45 am from Barcelona - train from airport to Interlaken arriving around 4 pm. Hotel Metropole - explore Interlaken. Any vegetarian friendly restaurant suggestions?

2/15 - Train to Jungfraujoch peak. Although I just noticed that Fodor's has it listed as open only May-October. IS THAT TRUE?! We were planning on allocating a full day to this since it seems like the train ride, etc. takes a lot of time.

2/16 - We need to catch a train back to Geneva at some point in the day but don't mind if it is a little later. Any suggestions for what to do this day? We're here mostly just for the spectacular views so pretty open.

Night in Geneva at Hotel Beau Rivage.

Any dinner suggestions? We're both foodies but strict vegetarians.

2/17 - Flight back to Barcelona mid-afternoon. Walk around Geneva until then.

Thanks in advance!!

swandav2000

Hi mdas,

Sounds like a nice little trip. I only have a few things to offer.

First, of course you can get to the Jungfraujoch all year round. You can get all the information you need at these two sites:

www.jungfraubahn.ch
www.jungfrauwinter.ch

You may want to find a nice gentle Alpine stroll you can take so that you'll have some long, lingering memories that go with you. Some to consider are ones from Mürren to Gimmelwald or the one from the First station (above Grindelwald) to the Bachalpsee. I usually ski in this area, no hiking, so I don't have specific information. I'm sure you can find it if you do a text search here (or soon someone will give you specific information).

Good luck!

s

nytraveler

You need to realize that often the Jungfraujoch is socked in with clouds - and you can see nothing from the top - and can;t see the top from below. (We had to wait until our third day to get a clear day at the top. If it;s socked in there's no point in going up - although you could take the train to a couple of the smaller towns further down the mountain and look at those.

And, just so you know - Interlaken is n a valley (between 2 lakes, naturally) and is cute but doesn't have a lot to do.

You might want to check out Brienz - a cute village with lots of woodcarvers - or go the other direction to Thun, which has a charming castle and is an adorable town.

rndas

Thanks - all very good information and good to know that whatever I read on Fodor's was misleading. NYTraveler - thanks too for the forewarning.

Quick railpass question - We have usually pre-purchased tickets through raileurope, however for this trip we decided to just buy them when we got to Switzerland. I just realized from reading a bunch of Fodors posts, however, that the Flexipass (which I think is the best option for us since it will cover Geneva-Int, Int-Wengen, get us a discount up to Jung, cover Wengen-Int and Int-Geneva) cannot be purchased in Switzerland. I don't think we can get the pass in time through the mail from Rail Europe so the question is w/o paying a $36 overnight fee - any other suggestions for a pass that we can buy from the airport in Geneva?

BarbAnn

I have been up to Jungfraujoch in November. It was socked in down in the valley(actually raining). We only had one day that we could do the trip. Up at the top was beautiful. The sun was shining. The views of the sun shining on the other peaks was breathtaking. Granted we did not have the views down into the valley, but we walked on the glacier and had a wonderful time. We felt as if we were at the top of the world, above the clouds. That was nine years ago and our family still thinks we made the right decision to go up.

swandav2000

Hi mdas,

Yes, you can buy the Flexipass in Switzerland. You can buy it at the train station at the Geneva airport.

There is only one pass that you cannot buy in Switzerland, and that is the Transfer Card.

Anyway, good luck!

s