marcosguisilva

Hi, everybody!

It's my first time on a forum, and I'm very excited because it's about Switzerland!!!
I'm a brazilian doctor in love with Switzerland since childhood. In September I'm going to realize the dream of visit Switzerland (my first international trip)!
Then, I'd like to get any advices and suggestions to make this trip perfect!

IMPORTANT: I've decided to buy the SwissPass, and opted for hostels (because the prices!!!)
I love cooking, I love cheese, chocolate and fruits (berries).
I want to participate of an Alpabzüge during my trip!

The trip will be divided into 2 times: the first with a friend (3nd to 16th) and the second with another friend (16th to 28th).

I already planned the first part of the journey:
Day 1 - Arrive in Zurich airport in the afternoon. Stay in Zurich.
Day 2 - The whole day to explore Zurich. Leave Zurich to Schaffhausen and stay in Schaffhausen for 1 night.
Day 3 - Morning to explore Schaffhausen. Leave Schaffhausen to Saint Gallen (by boat). Noon to explore Saint Gallen and stay in Saint Gallen for 1 night.
Day 4 - Leave Saint Gallen to Vaduz. The whole day to explore Vaduz. Leave Vaduz to Davos in the afternoon and stay in Davos for 1 night.
Day 5 - Leave Davos to Saint Moritz and stay in Saint Moritz for 2 nights.
Day 6 - Saint Moritz
Day 7 - Leave Saint Moritz to Zermatt (Glacier Express), and stay in Zermatt for 2 nights.
Day 8 - Zermatt
Day 9 - Leave Zermatt to Bern (in the morning) and stay in Bern for 2 nights.
Day 10 - Bern
Day 11 - Leave Bern to Interlaken and stay in Interlaken for 1 night.
Day 12 - Leave Interlaken to Gimmewald and stay in Gimmewald for 1 night.
Day 13 - Leave Gimmewald to Grindelwald and stay in Grindelwald for 1 night.
Day 14 - Grindelwald and region. In the afternoon, my friend will leave to Zurich.

All suggestions and advices are very welcome!!!

I need to decide about the second part of the trip (Day 15 to day 27), and I want to include: the canton of Wallis (Rhone valley, maybe Brig), Montreux, Vevey (and the Lavaux vineyards), Genève, Lausanne (?), Gruyères, Lucerne and the canton of Ticino (Lugano, Locarno and Ascona).
My return date to Brazil is Setember 28th, from Zurich airport.

By now, thank you for your attention. I will be eagerly waiting for your answers!

Best Regards.

kja

I'm not an expert - just someone planning a trip of a similar length. If you haven't already seen them, you might check my planning posts -- there are 2, and you can just click on my name to find them. Other Fodorites very generously helped me refine my plans, so you might find some valuable information in those threads.

Just a couple of initial thoughts:
- Have you checked into open jaw flights? Flying out of a different city than the one into which you flew can save a lot of time that would go to backtracking.
- And even though I often opt for multiple one-night stays rather than backtracking to a base, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense to stay in both Davos and St. Moritz, or both Gimmelwald and Grindelwald. But again, I do understand that there are many good reasons for moving on - just checking!

I fully understand your anticipatory excitement, as I'm feeling it, too!

neckervd

In my opinion:
there is nothing to see and nothing to do at Vaduz, but you could easily spend 5 hours or so visiting St. Gallen;
Scuol would be a more scenic place than Davos, but I would rather go directly from St. Gallen to St. Moritz;
Zermatt is in the Canton o Valais. It is highly recommende to visit other places in this area (Aletsch Glacier, Loetschental, Sion, Martigny Roman theatre, Emosson MOnt Blanc area, etc.) but it might be easier to do that before heading to Berne;
as said above, 3 different places to sleep around Interlaken doesn't make sense, choose just one of them for a few nights.

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en

asps

Vaduz is not on railway lines so it is a somewhat inconvenient place to reach. There are only three reason for visiting Vaduz, that are: adding an extra country to your visiting count; opening an offshore bank account; or picking up some post stamps. There are no other things to do or to see in Vaduz. Be sure you do not leave St. Gallen before having visited the ancient library, it would be a pity to skip it just to get to Vaduz.

neckervd

Forget the Vaduz offshore bank account. This fairy tail gets not more true if it's repeated again and again by govenments of EU member countries.
For offshore bank accounts you have to go to
British Caribbean Islands
USA (especially Delaware and Florida)
Singapore

Pepper_von_snoot

There is absolutely no reason to switch hotels for Interlaken, Gimmelwald, or Grindelwald.

There is nothing in Gimmelwald but some houses and a hotel. It is remote and you will have to go into Murren if you want the Coop, shops, or a restaurant.

I would sleep in Murren or Wengen.

Thin

Ingo

It seems to me you want to see everything. I'd rather concentrate on some areas and explore these more in depth. Too much moving around, you'll lose much time with packing/unpacking, checking in/out, and watching the country from the train or bus instead of really exploring and getting in touch with people, culture and nature.

Totally agree on Vaduz. Not worth the time.

marcosguisilva

Hey, guys!
Thank you very much for your advices and recommendations. I've already thought about there isn't no sense for to switch hostels for Interlaken, Gimmelwald and Grindelwald! It was a suggestion by my trip partner.

And would I stay in Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen like a base to explore the Bernese Oberland region?
And about Wallis/Valais, what town/comuna would you recommend to stay in to explore the canton?

About Vaduz and Liechtenstein, I agree that there isn't'so much to do there! I'll skip this part of journey! And this additional day will be spent in Valais or Benerse Oberland.

Kja: Thanks for your suggestions! I'll look your plans and those threads that you said!