14v days in switzerland
 

Hi,

After much help to the TA forum I have somehow managed to get my itinerary ready for our 14 day trip to Switzerland. This would be our first time there, and we would be going with my sister and my brother in law. I am the official tour planner...as I am in between jobs...and have time on my hands.

So this is how it goes...

Day 1 : arrive in zurich ( evening 6:00pm) , stay the night...any reaaally cheap place within 100USD? I know I am being ambitious...but we just have to sleep in the night.

Day2 : Leave early morning to Engelberg.(We have an apartment for four days. relax..explore the area)

Day3: Engelberg (Mt Titlus)

Day4: Engelberg (day trip: Lucerene)

Day5: Mt Rigi/ Mt Pilatus (not yet decided)

Shift to Bo for the next 6 days:
(We have been debating on staying in an apartment in Murren/ Hotel Eiger in Wengen/ some apartment in Wengen. We are willing to spend a total of about 300USD between the four of us for a great apartment...in mUrren we have found one...however after going through the numerous threads on this Murren/ Wengen...I've just managed to get even more confused!)Sometimes my family tells me too much research is bad thing...:)

Day 6: early morning to Murren (explore Murren)
Day7 : Jungfrau + grindelwald (is making a detour to Gimmelwald worth it?....all this depends on the weather!)

Day 7: Day trip to ...Bern + Speiz/ Thun/ Brienz (any suggestions here)

Day 8: Schilthron +falls

Day 9: Day trip to Montreux (the scenic train)

Day 10 : Zermatt!! ( My husband wants to drive to zermatt...early morning...and then drive back late night. This is a point of great contention as my husband does want to go to see the Matterhorn...and I want some time in the Engadin region!)

Day 11: Start at about noon for gruada/ Sils/ silvplana...spend 6 hours transferring all our selves...and our luggage.

Day 12 : take it easy...explore the area...train trip to Poschavio

Day 13: If we are not staying in gruada can we make a day trip to Grauda from Sils/ silvplana...

I was very keen on Gruada because of its lovely architecture...and the beautiful pictures that I have seen...posted on this forum and otherwise...but the others in our group have a point when they say that we are staying time and again in mountain villages and not doing any place right by the lake...so could any of you please suggest a way out...also we are looking for really budget accommodation here (in about 100-120USD/night/couple...with amazing views :)...)Another point to consider in favour of Grauda could be that we will do less train travel...while going back to Zurich...

Day 14: Leave for zurich. Explore Zurich...fly out at 8:00pm!)

Our points of indecision...

Wengen/ Murren

Lower Engadin/ Uppen engadin (Hotel recommendations pleaseee....esp for the Upper engadin area...in particular Sils/ Silvplana...or any other place in Uppen Engadin which has lovely lake side views?)

Recommendation for zurich hotel for a night?

I am new to this forum...and have really enjoyed myself reading loads of lovely trip reports on Switzerland. I often wonder how people can write in such descriptive ways about places and incidents...my last four days have been very meaningfully spent :)!!

It was a pleasure...

Hi genie29!

Nice to see you here!

Your first message is still here, it's just buried in the forum on another page. You can find it by clicking on your own name at the top of the page -- then you can bring it to the top of the forum by posting a "reply" asking for help or just say "topping."

I'll top your other post too.

Hope you get some new perspectives!

s

We're spending our last night in Zurich once again. Last time we got our room on Priceline.com - the 4* Intercontinental. This May we bid on priceline again and are staying at the Marriott. Bid $80, and with tax/charges, end up costing $92.07. It's a good deal as far as I'm concerned. Good Luck. ((b))

I went to Switzerland and Austria and loved it. I was on a 2 week guided tour and had a little free time. If you are taking public transportation, be on time especially in Zurich. Lucerne was interesting especially the covered bridges and we took a trip to Mt. Pilatus-cogwheel train up and two cable car rides to get down. I would recommend it. I loved Zermatt-no cars allowed, a quaint little town and you take a train up to the Matterhorn. We were in St. Moritz for a night-very expensive and touristy, but beautiful. We walked around the lake. We also stayed at Lake Geneva and saw the Chillon Castle, Rose Gardens in the Park of the Living Waters, Flower Clock at the Monument to Freedom, and walked around the lake. We went from Lake Geneva to Lucerne stopping at Berne to see the Bear Pitt, stopped at Interlaken, and stopped at Lake Brienz at a woodcarver shop.

Hey Swandav...

Thanks yet again...have been reading this forum for the past few days and really enjoyed myself...

Ohh...didn't realise that my message had been posted!...):...I am not so adept at these things yet!

Have been enjoying your comments here too...

Was wondering if you were going to be there in switzerland about the same time...we are going to be there from 9th June to 23rd June...if yes would like to get a small something for you from Tokyo...

Thanks you for all your help...

Re driving to see the Matterhorn.

Please remain aware of a couple of things:

You cannot drive all the way to zermatt but must park in the nearby village of Tasch and take the shuttle train (10 minutes) into Zermatt itself which is car-free.

Once in zermatt you have a couple of options as to actually viewing the peak.

You can take the Gornergratt Railway train up; the station is directly across the street from the Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn station where you'll arrive from Tasch.

Fortunately, the Gornergratt station has a livecam in the waiting room so you can see the view up above BEFORE you get there. Sometimes the view can be totally obscured at the top.

The other option is to take the series of cablecars/aerial tramways up to Kleine Matterhorn and view the peak from there.

I do not understand why your husband wants to drive BACK to where??????? (not clear to me) from Zermatt if you are going to visit the Engadine the next day.

Seems to me it might be easier to overnight in Brig (Swanday..Help with this, please) or somewhere else on the way East...

Day 7 - Bern/Thun/Spiez - TOO MUCH!!
Bern is a city - medieval - and could take 1/2 day or more to just walk around it's historic center. Personally, the Bear pits (Berne) were depressing. There's much more to experience in this city than that.

Thun is a lovely city. You could take a boat at Thun to go along Lake Thun and it stops at towns along the way. We stopped at Spiez and went into the castle there. It's a holiday town.

Not sure if you could take a train from Murren to Berne - we went from Berne to Interlaken and it passed through Thun. (You'd be going the opposite way.) The view from the train as you went towards the alpine region (around Lake Thun) was astounding.
Lucerne is like being in a fairy tale.

Switzerland is wonderful. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Hi Budman,

This seems like a great deal...

I am checking out on the website!

Thanks a ton...
Genie

Its lovely to get such quick responses...I think I have been a unclear on my post about a few things...

Dukey, we were planning to come back to Murren as we did not want to lug our luggage around...and change bases. We are planning to book an apartment in either murren/ wengen and would want to do trips from there. Also we plan to decide on what trip we would do on which date...depending on the weather...so tho I say that Day 10 is Zermatt...we may actually do it on an earlier day if the weather permits...so we would be playing around with it once we reach there...depending on the weather and where our mood takes us...tho these are the places that we want to visit.

Kenav I didn't mean Bern/ Speiz/Brienz all in one day...what I wanted to say was...Bern + one of the lake side plces...wasn't sure which one to go for...:)

Thanks for all your responses
genie

genie,

You are such a sweetheart! I would love to meet you, but unfortunately I'll miss you by about two months. I won't be at Lake Geneva until mid-August! I'm so sorry!

s

Understood..makes sense.

I would simply re-iterate that the weather can be a "probelm' with viewing the peak.

For example, a couple of years ago i was visiting a sick friend in bern where the weather was "overcast." i was on my way to Zermatt for the night and she assured me that "the weather up above will be fine."

I thought, "Oh, sure it will..." but she was right.

On another occasion we tro oped some friends of ours up to Zermatt (one of them was absolutely intent on seeing the peak) from Geneva...when we got to zermatt the weather seemed OK in the village but the Gornergratt cam showed that the peak was obscured above.

We perfectly understand and will take our chances...I am an Indian and a great believer in Fate!! :)

Swandav thats reaaalllly saad...me and the rest of my family would have loved to meet you too. I have been updating them about the huge help that you've been in planning this trip for us...

Some other time maybe...

Pleasee someone help me with my engadin itinerary...don't know what's doable.

Thnaks
genie

It looks like a really nice trip. I would recommend a boat trip along the Brienzersee (1 of 2 lakes around Interlaken), and maybe a short hike along the lake shore. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I think you need Ingo to help with the Engadine part.

Back to the Berner Oberland---it looks like you have 2 day 7's? Also, if you wish to visit Gimmelwald, you can do that on the same day as Mürren---it's about a 20-minute walk downhill. You can ride the cablecar back up to Mürren.

The Jungfrau and Grindelwald will be on a different day; they are in a different direction.

Between Wengen and Mürren, just pick the one that offers the accomodations you like. The views are different, but otherwise the two villages are pretty similar.

Hotel in Zürich---how many are you? One room or two? And are you flying from India? You will be very tired!

Thanks Bob...we were planning to take a boat trip...haven't yet decided if it would be brienz or Thun....maybe we will go for brienz...

Thanks Enzian...as of now we like the apartment in Murren more...haven't found any great apartment in Wengen...and the hotels are a little beyond our budget of 300USD for two couples.

My sister and my brother in law will be flying in from New york...but they reach abt 10:30 in the morning...so will check in earlier...and we are flying frrom tokyo...an even longer trip...and are reaching at 6 pm ...thats why want to take it easy...and just sleep the night in Zurich.We will need two rooms for 4 people.

Hi genie---well, I think you will like Mürren; that is where we stay.

In Zürich, you might try Hotel Bristol:

http://www.hotelbristol.ch/

It is a nice moderately-priced hotel quite close to the train station (5 minute walk). Double rooms start at 160 Swiss francs, which unfortunately is a little more than your $100 US. But Zürich hotels are notoriously expensive. If you fill out the "inquiry" form they will e-mail you back with a choice of rooms and rates. You might ask if there is a weekend rate since you arrive on a Saturday.

Budman has good luck with Priceline in Zürich, but I've never tried it myself.

Hi Enzian,

thank you for hotel Bristol. Seems like a good option...I have written to them, and waiting to hear from them. Have mentioned the special weekend tip....thanks for that :).

I am not very comfortable with priceline as it has a very strict cancellation policy...tho the rates that they offer are really attractive.

Maybe I will post my part of the engadin query as a separate post...no responses on that yet!

Thanks everyone here...will definitely come back with a trip report...tho really don't know if I can add anything to all that has already been said here!

Thanks

genie, I have a trip report on here from last year. We traveled a lot in the Engadine and spent a few nights in Guarda (loved it) We stayed at the charming Piz Buin and they were lovely there. If you park yourself somewhere in the Engadine, you can take train trip to all the lovely places- Scuol, Tarasp, Pontresina, Sils, etc. Incredible place.Skip St Moritz.Anyway, like my friend Budman, we used priceline for the "flop" night in Zurich and got the 4 star Renaissance for 78 dollars AND they upgraded us to the Master suite, lol! I can't tell from your post exactly where you are staying...but a really cool day trip is Kandersteg and the gorgeous lake. Have lunch up there, it's a ball.

Hi LLindaC,

I read your lovely trip report and immensely enjoyed myself. Unfortunately we just have 2.5 days in the Engadine area right now....am trying my best to wrestle one day away from Engelberg...and spend it here:). Tho bookings are already done...and I don't know if it would be fair to change now.

We will be staying at Murren for the six days in Bern Alps. We are planning to do day trips from there. We are already traveling soo much that I had purposely left Kandersteg out...though after seeing some lovely pictures...I feel really inclined to go there...

If you were look at our itinerary and suggest dropping some place out and doing Kadersteg...which day would that be?

As for the Zurich reservation maybe we would wait a while...and then use priceline...their cancellation policy is very tough! Tho I see no reason why we should have to cancel...all our bookings are done..but still...

Thanks..

Genie

Hi,

I am from the US... but live in Switzerland right now. You will love your trip... but if possible... maybe rethink your time in Engelberg... Mt. Pilatus, Mt. Titlis & Rigi are nice... but pale in comparison to Jungfrau and Matterhorn. If you're going toward Jungfrau & Matterhorn... I'd think about passing on Engleberg. SPend more time in Lucerne, Zurich or other areas.

Zermatt and Matterhorn are great... I'd spend more time there. It is also hard to zip in and out of Zermatt. In addtion, the Jungfraujoch tour (Top of Europe) is amazing... but this trip can take almost an entire day. Don't underestimate how long it takes to journey up and down these mountains... but with all of that said... Jungfraujoch is much cooler than the top of Mt. Titlis and/or Pilatus.

The myswitzerland.com website is a great tool. You can switch the langugae to English. On the webiste... click on the "Travel" tab... then click on the "Discover Switzerland" section. They have great itineraries for trips around Switzerland. This website is a great resource for lodging as well.

Finally... as far as lodging goes... if you see something you like on the myswitzerland.com website... but you are unsure of availability... just email the owners.... they're great via email.

Also... once you decide on a town to visit... do a google search to find the website for the town... most towns here have them... many of them have info. in English. Most of them have an accomdations section. These are great resources! You can email chalet owners directly for information/pricing.

Good luck,

JB