dani007

Please advise me, if this is a good itinerary. I just have to start my trip from lugano beginning of september 2010, staying for 10 days, I can extend it to 12.
Day 1: Lugano, visit to lugano, morcote, castiglione (is it worth visiting castiglione, we just have a day in lugano) overnight in lugano
Day 2: take the Bernina Express to St Moritz. Visit St Moritz and Pontresina. Overnight in St moritz or pontresina. Is one day enough? Is it nicer to stay in Pontresina?
Day 3-4-5: take the Glacier express to Zermatt. Stay for 2 nights and go up to the mountain to see the matterhorn. Please advise me of the trip to take to see matterhorn
Day 5-6-7-8: to the jungfrau region. Stay for 3 nights in wengen. Visit the jungfraujoch
I'm planning to go to bern for one day during my stay in wengen. What do you say? Or I have to do it later while I'm in Lucerne. Do I have to spend and extra night in wengen. Please advice of what to see and do during my stay. What train to take from zermatt to wengen?
Day 8-9-10: to Lucerne, stay for 2 nights. Spend a day in lucerne and the other in switzerland. And this would be the end of my stay.
I've heard about taking a swiss pass during my stay, because that would be much cheeper.
What is it about?
That would be nice of you if you answer me soon, because I haven’t yet made my reservations?
Are there any suggestions for four stars hotels or superior 3 stars hotels in the cities I’m visiting?
Thanks.

returntoyourseat

I can only tell you about hotel in Wengen, it is the Caprice and I loved it, we had an nice room that looked at the water coming off the mountains, along with a resident goat at the bottom of the hill. It was in July, take a warm jacket for your trip to Jungfrau. The food was excellent at the restaurant and bar. I would highly recommend this hotel and I am picky about where I lay my head. There are many threads on this site to help you plan this trip.

dani007

Help, please.
sorry, I meant after lucern, visiting zurich.
Still waiting for your reply.
thanks

dani007

Thank you so much for your advice. I'll book a room in this hotel right now. I've checked it. it seems very nice.
thanks also for mentioning the jacket. I didn't even think about it!!!!!
Have a good day

emailsek007

Hey, check this out, a detailed informative itinerary.
http://swissinfourdays.blogspot.com/

dani007

dear emailsek
thank you so much for your detailed itinerary. extremely helpful.
I was thinking of skipping pontresina and st moritz and the whole region of grisons. what do u think?
thanks again for your assistance

PalenQ

What train to take from zermatt to wengen?>

Take the train down to Visp and then you have to change to a train on the mainline to Spiez - where you have to change to a train to Interlaken-Ost - the end of the mainline and transfer to a train to Lauterbrunnen - change there for a train to Wengen

Now it may sound all very complicated all those changes but they are not - just from one platform to another - and from Interlaken-Ost to Lauterbrunnen to Wengen trains must change because of a track-width (gauge) difference - everyone gets off one train and on the waiting one on the same platform usually - point is don't be daunted by the changes and schedules are integrated so you will not have to wait long in between changes. You should expect 4, probably five hours all told Zermatt to Wengen. Check schedules out at www.sbb.ch - Swiss Federal Railways web site.
You are doing enough train travel that some kind of Swiss Pass (which also covers lake boats, city trams and buses, postal buses and gives 50% off most aerial cable ways, etc) - the consecutive day passes are the best deal if they can comport to the number of days you need to travel around. Say if you figure a day in your landing town and a day before in your departure then you could comport to the 8-day straight pass - a Saverpass for two or more folks traveling together on one pass.
For loads of great stuff on Swiss trains, lake boats, etc. i always highlight these info-laden sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download the latter's European Rail & Planning Guide's excellent chapter on Swiss train travel.

dani007

??????

dani007

Sorry PalenQ for being so late to reply but I had a connection problem, and I was trying to refresh the page to read your response and it didn't work until I had to test it with the question marks. so, these question marks were not intended to you.

what can I say?!!!! PalenQ, YOU"RE AN EXPERT!!! I'll print your response and stick it on my agenda.

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH
That's so nice of you guys.

PalenQ, one more thing, I need your advice about skipping pontresina and st moritz and the whole grisons region and intead spend more days elewhere. What do you think?

PalenQ

dani - thanks for the thanks

I assume you still want to start in Lugano and i think that is good - nice town on a nice lake - Swiss Passes cover the boats, even over to the Italian enclave across the lake and postal buses that make interesting jaunts into the surrounding hills.

So you could add a day there - and if you wanted to do a long day like i did once - from Lugano take the Majola Pass bus to St Moritz - a lovely serpentine ride up to St Moritz - then hop on the Bernina Pass train and take it Torino, Italy, terminus of the Bernina Pass railway and cross the square to the Italian station and hop the Bernina Express bus back to Lugano.
I actually did this once but it was a tight connection in St Moritz for the train that would get me to Tirano, Italy for the once or twice a day only Bernina Express bus to Lugano - so i would certainly check schedules - and it was pretty much an all-day thing - but a very very thrilling day.

But assume you do not want to do this hectic travel - then spend a day on the boats or on a postal bus up into the Lugano hills - i did one and it is the quintessential Alpine Switzerland - cows everywhere - old farmhouses, meadowns, etc.

And then when going to Zermatt you can take the neat Centovalli Railway ("100 Valleys") from nearby Locarno (another possible day trip from Lugano - just a short train ride away and on its placid lake - Lake Como) - anyway from Locarno the Centovalli slowly plows thru bucolic Alpine valleys - not rugged Alps but rolling bucolic hills dotted by Italian-style church steeples to Domodossola, Italy

From there take the train thru the Simplon Tunnel to Brig and switch for Zermatt - probably about 6 hours but most of its grabbingly scenic - esp the Brig to Zermatt line, part of the fabled Glacier Express route.

Or if just spending one day in Lugano then you may consider after Zermatt heading not straight to Interlaken but to Montreux or Vevey - two dreamy towns on Lake Geneva - in the French-cultured part of Switzerland, which i find very different than the German or Italian areas - esp in architecture.

And spend a few days there - again boats on the lake - can even go over to Evian-les-Bain, France on them - the chateau Chillon castle redolent of Lord Byron or even hop on the Chocolate Train to Gruyeres - neat old walled town and visit to a cheese factory and then to Broc and a Willy Wonka tour of the Nestle plant there, etc. Lots to see and do in this area - like relaxing on the lakeside promenade as well.

Dukey

What the "expert" REALLY means is that you take the Bernina Express to Tir<B>a</B>no....NOT Torino (two very different places) although I'm not sure I understand the direction reversal recommendation here but perhaps I'm missing something.

We all KNOW how Pal feels about the "overrated" Glacier Express (and I disagree with him on that point) so I'm not surprised at the recs on that score.

IMO do not stay IN St. Moritz which is about as sterile as it gets.

The Matterhorn..you can look at a live webcam in the Gornergrat railway station waiting room in Zermatt itself and see whether or not the peak is cloud shrouded BEFORE you buy tickets...an alternative viewing position is reached by taking the cable cars at the OTHER end of the village to Kleine Matterhorn.

PalenQ

Dukester - my Glacier Express take applies to taking the whole marathon 8-hour journey Zermatt to St Moritz as many, including tour groups, do and arrive exhausted from sitting all day - OK oxymoronic i know - and that there are long stretches of valleys that to the average tourist get more of the same ole same ole.

But the stretches of the GE route from Reichenau to Pontrisina/St Moritz are as exciting as the Bernina Express itself to me - the Filisur Loops, where the train loops in and out of tunnels as it spirals up towards St Mortiz - this section has been classified as a World Heritage Site for its audacious feat of mountain railway engineering

and of course the Visp to Zermatt is suprememly scenic, especially as you near Zermatt and the Matterhorn, if not shrouded in clouds, majestically appears.

But i say 'overrated' because it is 'overhyped' - the most hyped scenic commercial tourist train in Switzerland - amongst about a dozen different ones. The hype is so great that the GE is bound to disappoint for long stretches at a time - anyway i love taking the Glacier Express rail route - but not in one 8-hr marathon trip. Rather break it up and use regional trains - the official GE also now charges even Swiss Pass holders about a $35 or possible more surcharge/reservation fee.

PalenQ

Anyway for anyone in St Moritz and wishing to go to the Interlaken area there is a novel way to do it using part of the Glacier Express route and then Switzerland's fabled postal bus system - take the GE route/official train to Andermatt - then take the shuttle train down to Goschenen from where a postal bus goes down to the Interlaken area via the dramatic serpentine roads over the Susten Pass and a long descent to Meiringen, where you pick up a train to Interlaken-Ost - jumping off point for hill towns like Wengen, Grindelwald, etc.

Or if wanting to go the Zurich area from Goschenen just hop on the hourly trains to Zurich (and Lucerne can be reached easily by this routing as well).

swandav2000

Hi dani007,

It's a shame you don't want to spend any time in the Engadin Valley, one of Switzerland's most beautiful and untouristed spots. Well, untouristed in the sense of English-speaking sight-seers; there are actually a whole lot of German-speaking serious hikers and bikers all up and down the valley.

I spent a week in Zuoz a few years ago and am in Scuol now for four days; four days isn't nearly long enough. There are glaciers and lakes and bike rides and, holy cow, thousands of hikes for every level.

I know that lots and lots of folks enjoy the Berner Oberland -- and I do, too. But it's nice to see other places, too!

s

PalenQ

And then when going to Zermatt you can take the neat Centovalli Railway ("100 Valleys") from nearby Locarno to Domodossola, Italy>

the Centovalli Railway is officially called FART - each letter standing for something in Italian - so you can take a ride on the FART when going to Domodossola!

dani007

PalenQ, Dukey and Swandav.
Sorry I couldn't reply to you earlier, I wanted specially to apologize from you.
Thank you so much for your precious advice. I will surely get back to you soon when I'll be in switzerland around end of August.

Swandav
I know, maybe it's maybe a shame to skip the engadin valley, but I had to take a decision, I'm only spending 9 days in switzerland and it's impossible to visit all of Switzerland in so little time. I will surely go back to see other places too.
I will be spending:
1 day in Lugano
2 days in Zermatt
3 days in wengen
2 days in Luzern

what I mostly regret is that I won't be taking the Glacier Express as it is the most scenic train.

This site is wonderful, you fodorites are amazing!!!!
and you PalenQ are so funny!

swandav2000

Hi again,

Are these truly "days"in Lugano, Zermatt, et al, or nights? If you have one full day to spend in Lugano, that means you'll be overnighting there for two nights, yes?

Even so, with so little time, I would seriously cut down on the number of destinations. So much moving around means you see a very little bit of many places -- and you may be like those travellers who remember so little of their vacation that they argue there is no lake at Lucerne (seen it).

Remember that every time you move bases, you lose about half a day with the chores of packing up and checking out, then checking in and unpacking again. I've found that I'd rather stay put in one place and get to know it.

Anyway, the Glacier Express is NOT the most scenic train. I just took it (July 2010), and can testify that any train route through the Alps will give you as much good scenery. Actually, any good walk through the Alps will give you much better scenery and better memories, lol.

Have fun! Let us know how your trip turned out!

s