melissaharrower

Hi, below is the start of planning of a part of our trip to Switzerland, I know the things we want to do for this part of the trip, what I am interested in is input on really special things to see along this route, and particularly how long we should take to do this – ie does this portion take 4-5 Days or 2-3?
I have only broken it up the way I have below due to the order of my research, I am very open to changes.
We are experienced travellers, really enjoy the natural scenery, not so much a lot of museums etc.
We are planning on doing this trip primarily by rail (with a travel pass) and boat.
All suggestions especially in terms of accommodation and where to stay will be very gratefully received.
Zurich – Schauffhausen – Neuhausen (Rhine Falls) – Kreuzlingen (by Boat from Schauffhausen)
Kreuzlingen – St Gallen – Gais (Cog Railway) – Alstatten – Vaduz and back to Either St Gallen or Buchs – Then to Walendstadt
Walenstadt - Wessen (via boat – Quinten) – Pffafikon – Fluelen (boat trip to Lucerne Via Vitznau (Mt Rigi Cog Railway) – then perhaps bus/train Arth to Lucerne or back to boat into Lucerne.
Thank you in advance, Melissa

neckervd

Very nice trip.
I suppose you know that you can continue by boat from Konstanz/Kreuzlingen up to Rorschach (either on the Swiss or on the German side of Lake Constance) and then continue by cog wheel railway to Heiden, by bus to Trogen - Teufen and by railway to Gais - Altstätten.....
I would visit Appenzell too, however.
Compared with all the gems in the area. Vaduz is rather a waste of time. If it must be, a more scenic (although longer) access from Trogen/Teufen/Gais could go via Appenzell - Urnaesch - Schwaegalp (Saentis gondola) - Nesslau - Wildhaus - Buchs SG.

There are 2 itineraries between Weesen/Ziegelbruecke and Fluelen:
Ziegelbruecke - Linthal - Klausenpass - Fluelen and
Ziegelbruecke - Pfaeffikon SZ - Biberbrugg (Einsiedeln monastery!) - Arth-Goldau - Fluelen.

Will you have heavy luggage? In this case, we should modify your itinerary a bit (return to the same base on days 1 and 2 or send heavy luggage by train to Lucerne).

When will you travel? There are more boats and Post Buses in high summer.

melissaharrower

Thank you so much neckervd, exactly what I was hoping to get, we are going late May early June.

Will definately, look at continuing by Boat to Rorschach, and I love the sound of Urnaesch - Schwaegalp (Saentis gondola) - Nesslau - Wildhaus - Buchs SG.

Ziegelbruecke - Pfaeffikon SZ - Biberbrugg (Einsiedeln monastery!) - Arth-Goldau - Fluelen sounds great also.

We will try to travel light, is it possible to send luggage ahead?

Do you have any thoughts on how long we should take with this part of the itinerary.

Thanks again

PalenQ

Swiss railpasses were fundamentally reorganized as of this January 2015 - no more Saverpasses but solo passes are much cheaper. For lots on Swiss trains and the newly redeigned passes check these IMO superb sites: www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (any questions Byron there IME of buying passes from him for years will expertly and patiently answer them even if not buying - a RE agent) - www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Check pass prices in both U S dollars if a Yank and in Swiss francs - due to the reevaluation upward of the CHF Swiss France when I check a short while bak the same pass was significantly cheaper here than there as often has been the case for years but not always so check on each end.

You can send luggage ahead but at the cost of about 15 francs a bag I believe to any train station and can also send them to any airport and your plane. Check www.swisstravelsystem.com for details.

melissaharrower

Thanks PalenQ very helpful information

neckervd

Some suggestions:
Book a hotel at Winterthur for the first 2 nights.

Day 1:
Arrive at Zurich airport, take a train to W'thur (every 15 min or so), deposit your luggage at the hotel reception (or in the railway station lockers), take the next train to Neuhausen am Rheinfall (about every 30 min) or Schloss laufen am Rheinfall (closer, every second train stops there), enjoy the Rehinfall and continue by citybus or train to Schaffhausen.
Visit the medieval city cdenter of Schaffhausen and it's castle (called Munot).
Board then either a Rhine river boat (Schaffhausen dp 13.18, restaurant on board) or a train (dp 15.01) to Stein am Rhein ar 15.20 (both). Stroll through the small medieval town of Stein am Rhein, climb to Hohenklingen castle (view!) if you like and leave Stein am Rhein by boat at 15.20 up to Constance ar 19.53. Trains from Constance to Winterthur about every 30 min, 1 hrs journey.

Day 2:
Leave W'thur by train dp 8.05 to Constance ar 8.54, board the boat dp 9.20 to Unteruhldingen ar 10.10. Visit the some 3000 years old celtic Lake dwellings
http://www.pfahlbauten.com/lake-dwel...seum-tour.html
Leave Unteruhldingen by boat at 12.00 to Meersburg ar 12.40. Have lunch in medieval Meersburg and visit one of the oldest castles of Germany. Leave Meerburg by boat at 14.20 and cruise all along lake Constance up to Lindau ar 16.50. Discover this small medieval town situaated on an Island in Lake Constance.
http://www.lindau-tourismus.de/
Leave Lindau at 18.20 by boat, cross the Lake to the Swiss side and arrive at Rorschach (19.10) and Romanshorn (20.10).
Trains to Winterthur: Rorschach Hafen dp 19.40 - W'thur ar 20.53, Romanshorn dp 20.41 - W'thur ar 21.23.
All kinds of shortcuts possible, like Friedrichshafen - Romanshorn W'thur etc.

Day 3:
W'thur dp by train 8.37 - St. Gallen ar 9.15. Visit the baroque cathedral and the famous library (Unesco World Heritage site). Continue by train Appenzell (every 30 min, 45 min ride), have lunch in this smallest cantonal capital of Switzerland and go on by train dp 13.30 to Urnaesch, by PostBus to Schwaegalp and by gondola to Saentis ar 14.40. Enjoy the panorama over Lake Constance to Germany and up to the Austrian and Swiss Alps.
Leave Saentis at 16.00 by gondola to Schwaegalp and by PostBus to Nesslau - Wildhaus - Buchs SG - Vaduz ar 18.38

PalenQ

Vitznau (Mt Rigi Cog Railway) – then perhaps bus/train Arth to Lucerne or back to boat into Lucerne.>

If you have time and energy you can do like I did - took the train up to Mt Rigi from Vitnau (Swiss Passes 100% valid) and then walked down thru lovely bucolic cow pastures to Vitznau for frequent trains back to Lucerne (or you can take a train from Mt Rigi Kulm to Vitznau) (or of course you can take the aerial cable car down to Weggis for boats or buses back to Venice - lots of varieties posible!

neckervd

Day 3, luggage questions:
Solution 1: take your luggage with you up to St. Gallen, deposit it at a city hotel or in the railway station lockers. Turn back to St. Gallen in the evening, Vaduz dp 20.18, 21.18 or 22.18, St. Gallen ar 1 1/4 hrs later.
Solution 2: take your luggage with you up to St. Gallen, deposit it in the railway station lockers. Take only few things with you and sleep at Vaduz.

Day 3, possible shortcuts:
skip either Appenzell or Mt Saentis and arrive at Vaduz 2 hrs earlier.
Or visit St. Gallen on day 4 and arrive at Vaduz at least 2 hrs earlier.

Day 4:
go either first from Vaduz to St. Gallen or start directly from St. Gallen. Go then by Voralpen Express train through the hills of Toggenburg to Pfaeffikon and deposit there your luggage (luggage service open from 6.30 - 19.30 (weekdays) resp 16.00 (weekends). Continue then by train to either Weesen or Walenstadt.
Walensee boats leave on weekdays from Walenstadt at 11.15, 14.10 and 15.40 and arrive at Weesen at 13.45 (1 hr stop at Quinten), 15.35 and 17.05
Walensee boats leave on weekdays from Weesen at 11.00, 13.55 and 15.40 and arrive at Walenstadt at 14.00 (1 hr stop at Quinten), 15.25 and 17.00.
Trains between Pfaeffikon and Weesen - Walenstadt every 30 min, 40 min ride.
Direct trains to Biberbrugg (Einsiedeln) - Arth-Goldau - Luzren leave Pfaeffikon every hr until 23.02.

PalenQ

Zurich – Schauffhausen – Neuhausen (Rhine Falls) – Kreuzlingen (by Boat from Schauffhausen)>

If into an easy nice stroll you can do like I did from Schauffhausen - walk to the Rhine Falls on sweet riverside foot paths - just a few kms.

melissaharrower

Thank you all, I'll digest all this information and try and firm up what we will do, heading towards having a base for 2 days and doing most of the travel light from there, love the idea of the walk from Schauffhausen to the Rhine falls, will definately be doing that.

Can I ask, the consensus here seems to be 4 days to do this trip Zurick to Lucerne?

Thanks again.

melissaharrower

Thank you all, I'll digest all this information and try and firm up what we will do, heading towards having a base for 2 days and doing most of the travel light from there, love the idea of the walk from Schauffhausen to the Rhine falls, will definately be doing that.

Can I ask, the consensus here seems to be 4 days to do this trip Zurick to Lucerne?

Thanks again.

melissaharrower

Just trying to look at the boat from Kreuzlingen to Rorschach, can anyone tell me where to find a timetable, or providers, that run the service that is 2 hours, I can only seem to find one which has a four hour trip? Thank you

neckervd

It might be way easier to go by train from Zurich etc. directly to Rhine Falls and to walk to Schaffhausen from there instaed of going to Schaffhausen first and backtracking twice. But be aware that it's a 1 - 1 1/2 hrs walk (one way) up to Schaffhausen city center/railway station/boat pier. Don't miss the Rhine river boat because of this walk!

neckervd

Boat from Kreuzlingen to Rorschach:
The ports of Kreuzlingen and Konstanz are close to each other. Boats from Schaffhausen stop first at Konstanz and then at Kreuzlingen harbour. Trains to Winterthur - Zurich start at Konstanz harbour/railway station and not at Kreuzlingen harbour.

Kreuzlingen - Rorschach by Swiss boats (along the Swiss shore):
Kreuzlingen dp 12.30 - Romanshorn 13.40 - Rorschach ar 14.40
Kreuzlingen dp 14.30 - Romanshorn 15.40 - Rorschach ar 16.40
Kreuzlingen dp 17.05 - Romanshorn ar 18.15

Konstanz - Rorschach by German boats (cruise around the Lake):
Konstanz dp 8.30 - Wasserburg 11.30/11.40 - Rorschach ar 12.25
Konstanz dp 10.55 - Lindau 14.50/16.05 - Rorschach ar 16.55
Konstanz dp 14.40 - Lindau 17.50/18.20 - Rorschach ar 19.10

Timetables in detail: http://www.vsu-online.info/download/Fahrplan2015Web.pdf