Day 1 Zurich-Rapperswil
Day 2,3 Interlaken & Villeges near by
Day 4 Luzern
Day 5,6 Paronamic Tour -Bernina Express-St Moritz-Lugano
Day 7 Zermatt
Day 8,9 Montreaux-Lavax Vineyards-Geneva
Day 10 relax & return


Travelling with a 2 year old.. which towns you guys suggest to stay overnight??

Wow!!! you intend doing this with a two year old. Please think again. With a toddler that age you need two maximun place to stay. You mention Interlaken, I love Interlaken, many don't, but I would suggest in this instance you think about Wengen or Murren both are car free and close to Intewrlaken. Days 5&6 you are sitting on train. Day 7 Zermatt is doable as a long day from Interlaken, but again I would not want to take a two year old on that long a trip. Lucerne is a two hour train trip from Interlaken so not worth changing hotels and all that entails. There is plenty in and around the Berner Oberland to occupy you.

hmm can interlaken be a base while we visit: Bern, Thun, Lucerne, Wengen or Murren. May be we will spend 1-2 days more there. Can these toens be a day trip from there?

Also any good hotel suggestion in Interlaken.

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Also which Paronamic Tour is better Bernina vs Golden Pass?

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We might be inclined to skip Montreaux-Lavax Vineyards-Geneva to make it more comfortable and not a rush. any thoughts on that are we missing something must see?
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Thanks

My thoughts would be to skip the most western part of the trip (Geneve, Montreaux)to decrease stress and to build more relaxation time into the reamining days in the Berner Oberland.
While I do not personally love Interlaken it is a good transportation base for the towns on your list (but so are Spiez, Thun and Luzern itself).
And YEAHH for Rapperswil! I spent 6 days there last November (lovely town, just 35 minutes by train from Zuerich).
If interested, click on my name and check out my Trip Report from last fall!

Thanks!

I think I have a few questions I need help with which will help me decide how to plan the trip:

1. Which town is best in Berner Oberland to stay as a base?

2. Can we do day trips from Zurich to Thun, Bern? Reason being if I say in Zurich I will save $$ as have a friend to stay with. But if its too hectic do not want to spoil the vacation to save $$s either.

3. how to plan zermatt and Bernina Express? right from Zurich or next thing from Oberland ??

I hope I am not making it more confusin by every post :-s

Day 1 Zurich-Rapperswil - Take a boat ride from Zürich to Rapperswil. Return by Train. Stay in Zürich.
Day 2 Visit Rheinfalls near Zürich. This is not far and you will have time to rest later in the day. Stay in Zürich.
Day 3 Start early - go to Chur and take the Glacier express to Zermatt. Stay in Zermatt.
Day 4 Stay in Zermatt. Stroll around. Go to klein matterhorn if possible.
Day 5 Travel to Lucerne. Stay in Lucerne.
Day 6 Visit Mt. Pilatus. Return back to Zürich.
Day 7 Go around Zürich Bahnhofstrasse or up the Uetliburg or a lake stroll.
Day 8 Take enough rest.
Day 9 Travel to Lausanne. Take a boat trip to Montreux. You will see Vineyards along the trip which takes you through Vevey. Come back to Zürich. This will be a long day!
Day 10 relax & return

It looks good kunjumon, but with a two year old as well, it's still a lot of travelling. I like the OPs idea of using Interlaken as a base for the day trips in the Oberland, which are all easily doable from Interlaken, as for recommending hotels I don't like doing this because what suits one person won't suit another. Yes you could do Thun and Bern from Zurich Thun would be about a two hour train ride Bern about 30 minutes less. The best place to look for train information is www.sbb.ch/en

I am getting more and more inclined for a base either in zurich or in/near Interlakken and go to places from there. I guess the Bernina will be done in next trip...

here is my revised one:

1 -zurich,
2-6 -Lauterbrunnen
7 -Zermatt
8-9 -Luzern
10 -zurich

sounds reasonable??

Hi viveknyc,

Luzern and Zürich are less than an hour apart by train, so you'll lose more time with switching bases than you would by staying in one and visiting the other as a day-trip (especially true with the two-year-old). In fact, Luzern is just an hour from the Zürich airport with many direct (0 changes) trains, so you can reasonably stay there even the night before your flight.

Zermatt seems like an awfully long way to go for a one-nighter. If there is bad weather on the few hours you are there, it will be an expensive and a time-consuming trip for nothing.

You haven't mentioned the time of year you're going. If you're going in the summertime, you may want to experience one of the glorious car-free villages, either Wengen or Mürren. I much prefer them to staying on the valley floor and having those towering cliffs overhang me. Your views will be over to the other mountains and down into the valley. Plus, being in a car-free village is a special atmosphere that isn't duplicated in many places.

Anyway, have fun!

s

I think you should skip Zermatt for this trip and either spend time in Lauterbrunnen-Luzern or Lauterbrunnen-Montreux though you may in latter case wanna fly back from Geneva instead of Zurich.

thanks all... my trip has started now ..... in the great country .... now the fun begins....

just came back.. it was an amazing trip!!!!

hi viveknyc.. saw from your post that you just came from zermatt...
which hotel did you stay in?

i'm hoping to take a similar route by end august or september.

hi nylebur...
apols but we skipped zermatt eventually. next trip we plan to do southern part. good luck with your trip and search.