Hi

I'm visiting Switzerland for almost two days in September on my way for a business trip. I will arrive to Basel on Saturday 6pm and leave on Monday 2pm. I will be alone and would love to see as much as possible as to plan for a longer trip in the future. is the below itinerary doable

Saturday arrive to Basel at 6pm take train to colmar and return back to basel by 10 pm
Sunday early morning train to Lucerne arrive around 7am visit mt rigi and sight seeing in lucerne until lunch time then take golden pass train to interlaken arrive around 4pm. Change train and visit lauterbrunnen until 7pm return to interlaken and sail to Thun spend the evening then train back to Basel.

Monday morning Basel sight seeing

Impossibly impossible plans - just go to say Interlaken area for the day - anyway for lots on Swiss trains and where to go check www.sbb.ch; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. But, really impossible itinerary - can't see all of Switzerland in one day.

Sunday early morning train to Lucerne arrive around 7am visit mt rigi and sight seeing in Lucerne until lunch time then take golden pass train to Interlaken arrive around 4pm. Change train and visit Lauterbrunnen until 7pm return to Interlaken and sail to Thun spend the evening then train back to Basel.>

Arrive Lucerne about 8:30 - wait for boats - float to Vitznau - say 11am - train to Rigi ar 12:30pm - look around and get on same train before leaves - Vitznau 2 pm - boat back to Lucerne - 4pm? Train to Interlaken ar 6pm - well understand why that is an impossible literally day's schedule - just take train to Interlaken and up to Grindelwald - much better views than from Lauterbrunnen, sunk in a gorge and that will be a full day for sure - investigate day passes from Swiss Railways that would save you tons: www.sbb.ch.

Must you return to Basel at night - two days would make your desire to see all those places a little more realistic.

Thanks for the advice. I know I don't have time but eager to see a place with a wow factor. Will definitely take your advice and slow down. So i have sunday as the only full day and I wanted to explore one of the best outdoors and natural beauties of my dream destination. Is Grindelwald the choice? Any other suggestions

Thanks
Ray

Grindelwald would not be my choice; YMMV. With the time you have, I would think you might consider either Lucerne OR Lauterbrunnen / Wengen. Have you consulted a good guidebook?

It's possible to have dinner at Colmar, of course, but you will see almost nothing of the town. The most famous sites are closed at this time and the famous markets take place in the morning.
Timetable: Basel dp 18.51 - St. Louis (airport) dp 19.00 - Colmar ar 19.35, dp 21.53 - Basel ar 22.39.
I suppose you know Basel very well, as there would be a lot to see and to do.

Central Switzerland:
Basel dp 7.04 - Rigi Kulm ar 9.47 (change trains at Arth-Goldau). Rigi Kulm dp 11.00 - Lucerne Transport museum ar 12.35 (change from train to boat at Vitznau). Visit Lucerne.
Lucerne dp 15.06 - Interlaken ar 16.55, dp 18.05 by bus - Beatenberg ar 18.37, dp 19.44 - rope railway - Batenbucht ar 19.54, dp 20.03 - steamboat (until Sept 22nd, except Sunday and Monday) - Thun ar 21.20, dp 21.33 - train - Basel ar 23.00

Why aren't you planning to spend any time in Basel? It's an attractive city with some beautiful historic neighborhoods (St Alban, for example) and plenty of nice restaurants. Monday morning alone seems too little and bad timing. I may be biased since I live here, but I think Basel deserves a visit as much as Colmar!

If you really want to have a dinner in France, you can do well much closer... La Cave in St Louis or La Couronne d'Or in Leymen are just two possibilities...

OK- for WOW factor visit Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen/Wengen - take train to Intelaken-Ost the train to Grindelwald and onto Kleine Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch - return by train via Kl Scheidegg-Wengen-Lauterbrunnen - spend whole day in this area:

https://www.google.com/search?q=inte...hrome&ie=UTF-8

better to spend the night there in say a Wengen with awesome views from your hotel balcony. Next day go to Lucerne and putz around lake and back to Basel.

Well yes that day trip or night trip really to Colmar is not that awesome - nice town but yes you may want to trek around Basel, a very pleasant Swiss city - but again you could just take train Basel to Interlaken that first night and have the whole day there - train to Lucerne next day just for a look and back to Basel.

Thanks everyone I've decided to save colmar and lucerne for another trip and book 2 nights sat and sun in wegen or lauterbrunnen. I did some research about things to do and see and got lost 😀. First day will explore wegen surrounding area and the next morning will do Eiger walk and maybe something else as well .i appreciate suggestions

If taking the expensive Jungfraujoch train in Interlaken area - as many do - check out the Half-Fare Card - buy it at any Swiss station - as 1/2 off that trip alone nearly pays for the Half-Fare Card. And you of course get 50% off everything transit-wise in Switzerland.

Wengen or Lauterbrunnen? IMO Wengen has better views since it is plopped right under the majestic Jungfrau Massif with awsesome scenes right from most hotel balconies - Lauterbrunnen is sunken in a deep gorge-like valley - different nice views but IMO - IMO- Wengen would be better and also is car-less - only accessible by train - Lauterbrunnen is much busier with vehicles and tour buses - a much bgger lively town if into that - but for that I'd recommend Grindelwald which also has superlative views of high Alps and much livelier than Wengen (which many love for its tranquility).

You can't predict the weather in the area, and so need to be flexible. I don't understand how / why you got lost exploring your options -- any decent guidebook should have the information your need! Or consult some of the MANY trip reports posted on this forum....

A great easy walk from near Wengen is the famous Panoramic Trail between The Mannlichen and Kleine Scheidegg - from where you can do the Eiger Walk too - from Wengen take the cable car up to The Mannlichen, famous vista point and start of the gently descending wide trail to Kleine Scheidegg - with views over both the Grindelwald Valley and Lauterbrunnen Valley (sometimes called the 'Ridge Walk'). Anyway a day of walking is great - you can take trains from Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mann...w=1280&bih=631

Thank you all. I landed in Zurich took a train to lauterbronnen spent the afternoon and night walking around the valley. The next day took a train to wengen walked a bit then cable car to Mannlichen, walked down to Kleine Scheidegg. The weather was not perfect for jungfrau so I took the train back to lauterbronnen then cable car and train to murren walk around and back to lauterbronnen then train to Bern. Spent the night and all next morning walking around then took a train to Basel and off to Cluj. it was perfect but tiring with 4 hours sleep each night

Thanks for reporting back! Some things are worth a lack of sleep.