AmandaStephenson

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to plan a Europe trip which includes a few nights in Switzerland. I have a plan but wanted to see if this was feasible with the time we have as it's our first time to Europe and this is a very steep learning curve! Here is our plan:

Day1: We are leaving from Germany and are planning on taking a fast train from Freiburg------- Zermatt. Online it states the trip should be anywhere between 4.5-5hrs... Is this correct?

The remainder of the day will be spent in Zermatt, and we will attempt to head to the Matterhorn via cable car for the sunset.

Day 2: Zermatt


My hubby is a keen mountain biker, so the plan was for him to spend the day on a mountain bike tour here. We can book this in advance before we leave to save time trying to find somewhere. Does anyone have recommendations for a good tour company for this activity in Zermatt?


Day 3: Zermatt in the morning, then in the afternoon we are planning on taking the train to Lauterbrunnen. Again is this feasible as it says online the train journey is around 3hrs?


Day 4: Lauterbrunnen for the day. We had the following options for a day trip, can anyone recommend what is feasible and the best thing to see out of this list.. Or is it instead possible to see more than 1 x thing in the day. We are pretty active people so are happy to move quickly when needed!
- Jungfraujoch
- Schilthorn
-Boat cruise at Lake Thun

Day 5: Another train trip from Lauterbrunnen--------Lucern. Spend the rest of the day here

Day 6: Lucern & Lake Lucerne

Day 7: We will be leaving Switzerland hopefully via train to Como in Italy

I know this is very general, so am after any tips or feedback for the plan. The main thing we want to see is Zermatt, so we don't want to change this part of the plan.... But everything else is flexible!

Also important to note is that we will be arriving from southern Germany, and need to head to Como in Italy at the end of our trip, so if there is a better plan that I have not thought of, please tell me.

P.s- I'm not interested in going to Zurich. I have herd mixed reviews and myself and the hubby much prefer seeing the Alps and 1 x main city




Thanks in advance!

pookymimi

Montreaux is beautiful, we did it in our way from Como after Interlaken, flying out from Zurich.

swandav2000

Hi AmandaStephenson,

I think your trip would make more sense in the order: Luzern/Lake Lucerne, then Lauterbrunnen, then Zermatt, then Italy. Doing it in this order may help to minimize the transport time.

Yes, Montreux is beautiful (no "a"), but it's rather at the end of the Alps rather than in the middle of them, so I don't think that's what you want. If you want to head there, you would have to drop one of your mountain destinations, and if Zermatt is your highest priority, you would drop either Luzern or Lauterbrunnen.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Dukey1

If you plan on visiting the Jungfrau, etc., and are doing this by rail I don't know any convenient ways to do so WITHOUT passing through Lauterbrunnen but maybe I am missing something.

I agree with Swandav's geographic travel order and making your way into Italy from Zermatt which is easily done via rail through Visp/Brig.

You talk about mountain biking out of Zermatt and making on-line reservations but have you found a company which offers this sort of activity?

You need to realize that Zermatt is at the very end of the railway line and also that the Matterhorn peak may very well be obscured by cloud cover. I've been more than once and, frankly, I think you'll find there is a greater wealth of scenery and spectacular views in the Berner Oberland than in and around Zermatt. However, it is worth a visit at least once IMO if your burning desire is to view it.

Yes, your estimated rail time from Freiburg to Zermatt is correct. Are you using the SwissRail site for schedules and tickets? www.sbb.ch/en

Montreux is going to be somewhat OUT OF THE WAY between Zermatt and then Italy. I would not even classify it as a place to view mountains (Lac Leman yes, but unless you ascend the Rochers de Naye for the over-the-lake views, no).

HOWEVER, if you started in Luzern you could, by rail, go to Montreux, THEN take the train to Zermatt and then from Zermatt make your way into Italy.

I think you NEED to consult a MAP.

AmandaStephenson

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I know I'm very new at planning holidays without an agent, so please excuse that I am clueless on some of the areas.

Dukey1 this was actually someone else's suggestion to go to Montreux, I have been consulting maps and was simply trying to work out the best way to get around.

Sorry if I was confusing, I am definitely wanting to go through Lauterbrunnen, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't speading myself too thin overall with my itinerary as there is a bit of ground to cover and only a few days to do it.

Yes I have found 1 x company that does do bike tours, but just wondered if anyone online had other suggestions. One other question I would have for other keen mountain bikers is whether Zermatt is a good destination to go for a ride, or are there better trails in the Jungfrau region?

Good point about cloud cover also Dukey1, I will keep that in mind.... May be best to spend more time in Lauterbrunnen, I will get back to the drawing board.

Yes I'm using that site for tickets.

Thanks swandav2000, that itinerary does work better, I will switch that around

AmandaStephenson

P.s- I have looked at switching the itinerary and the only issue now is that from Zermatt------ Como the train journey seems to have a few changeovers and will take between 5.5-6hrs.....

Is it possible to hire a car somewhere outside Zermatt (As I know this area is car free) and then get to Como that way? How are the roads to drive around Switzerland?

neckervd

Weather in the Alps is always unpredictable, at Zermatt as well as at Lauterbrunnen. Generally, the Matterhorn area gets a bit more sun and a bit less clouds and rain than the Jungfrau area.

I would leave Freburg im Breisgau the evening before, for example Freiburg dp 18.12 - Zermatt ar 22.13 (dining cars all the way up to Visp ar 21.02) in order to get one full day more at Zermatt.

Zermatt - Lauterbrunnen takes a bit less than 3 hrs; trains aat least every hr.

Lucerne - Lugano/Lake Lugano takes about 2 1/2 hrs.
Lucerne - Menaggio/Lake Como takes about 4 hrs, for example Lucerne dp 8.46 - Menaggio ar 12.45 (taxi from railway station to ASF terminal at Lugano).
Lucerne - Varenna/Lake Como takes about 5 1/2 hrs, for example Lucerne dp 8.46 - Varenna ar 14.23 (change at Monza)

Zermatt - Stresa/Lake Maggiore takes about 3 1/4 hrs
Zermatt - Varenna/Lake Como takes about 5 3/4 hrs, for example Zermatt dp 7.37 - Varenna ar 13.23

PalenQ

In any case look at the Swiss Pass which covers not only all the trains you mention except the Jungfraujoch in full and lake boats too - www.swisstravelsystem.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com for lots of good info on Swiss transports and passes.

PalenQ

Or is it instead possible to see more than 1 x thing in the day. We are pretty active people so are happy to move quickly when needed!
- Jungfraujoch
- Schilthorn
-Boat cruise at Lake Thun>

Not all three but two would be easy

chose either Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch and then in late afternoon go down to Interlaken-Ost station from where Lake Thun boats depart (behind the station).

Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch - very subjective -Jungfraujoch is much more famous and mobbed and much more varied and extensive once up top - can walk to a glacier - walk in snow - in addition to the ice caves.

Schilthorn is just a large platform out in the middle of nowhere - has ice caves and awesome views but very little room to move about - does have famous revolving restaurant as seen in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - much of the film was filmed at Piz Gloria (name of the restaurant building) while that was under construction.
Getting to The Schilthorn is a blast - from Lauterbrunnen you first take the thrilling aerial cableway to Grutschalp then a train to Murren (or do a nice flat cliffside walk) and then take the very long aerial gondolas to The Schilthorn.

Murren is a nice famous resort town - from there you can take the gondolas down to neighboring Gimmelwald - a neat stop- an isolated farming hamlet - walk around a bit - have a bite to eat in the mountain restaurant in the hotel and take a thrilling gondola down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley at Stechelberg for postal buses back to Lauterbrunnen (or do a lovely flat few-mile stroll on footpaths alongside a gurgling stream).

The Jungfraujoch is an isolated place - no towns, etc and the train from Kleine Schiedegg is mainly all in tunnel and always packed with tour groups - up top is also mobbed in the main building. the views are awesome - from the start of the Aletsch Glacier for miles down the valley it goes thru.

I prefer the Schilthorn experience because of the varied things - Murren, Gimmelwald - the long cable car ride over the mobbed Jungfraujoch though what's up top there is much more intriguing than at Schilthorn IMO

PalenQ

One other question I would have for other keen mountain bikers is whether Zermatt is a good destination to go for a ride, or are there better trails in the Jungfrau region?>

either area has bike trails but I would think there is more of them and a wider variety in the much bigger Jungfrau Region. The Matterhorn is at the end of a valley and thus hemmed in by the high Alps - my impression from hiking in Zermatt is that most trails are rather steep but in Jungfrau you have more varied terrain - sure can do steep climbs but also can do less demanding ones - well I do not know the Zermatt area as well as I do the Jungfrau but I would chose to do biking there. One popular biking track goes from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen.

And you can put your bike on many cable ways and trains to go up and cycle down!

PalenQ

http://jungfrauregion.ch/en/Holidays...ountain_Biking

caralin

I would spend longer in Lauterbrunnen, and less time in Lucerne.

My husband did a backpacking trip during university, and Lauterbrunnen was his hands-down favourite of the whole trip. We went to Switzerland in the summer of 2014 specifically so he could revisit Lauterbrunnen. We rented a little apartment there for a week, and then spent another week touring around the rest of Switzerland. The whole country is gorgeous, but I agree with my husband that Lauterbrunnen was the best bit.

I would do both Jungfraujoch AND Schilthorn - they are very different. If that means leaving out the boat cruise, fine - a cruise is a cruise, which on a lake is just a boat. I found Jungfraujoch more impressive - the glaciers were amazing (though sobering to see them retreating...). We were there mid-summer, so crazy tourist season, and it really wasn't all that bad. It was busy, but not mobbed, and Schilthorn was about the same. It was cool to get there, but we actually threw it on as a "why not?", while Jungfraujoch was a planned destination.

To get to Schilthorn, don't hurry through Gimmelwald and Murren, which are the charming towns below it - Murren especially is worth stopping for lunch (I'd spend more time there than at Schilthorn, actually - and much better restaurants, since it's a town instead of one tourist spot at the top). We actually did paragliding from Murren on another day - the steep stone walls of the Lauterbrunnen valley warm up and provide amazing updrafts, which make it one of the best places to do paragliding in the world! We went tandem, also, so you're with someone who knows what they're doing - exhilarating, but still felt very safe.

To get to Jungfraujoch, you go up the other side of the valley through Wengen. Also lovely, though we did prefer Murren if simply comparing one town to the other. We actually took the train up but then on the way down we got off at the first stop and hiked down the mountain from Kleine Scheidegg, which is the last tiny town before the tracks disappear into the mountain and come out on top. Beautiful, interesting and much easier than hiking UP.

Overall, you can tell I liked Lauterbrunnen, and would recommend staying there as long as you can.