5 days in switzerland

Old May 30th, 2016, 01:00 PM
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5 days in switzerland

Hi Guys,

I am planning a trip to switzerland from 20th to 26th july 2016.
I will be having 5 days with me.
We are 2 people.

My question is related to train travel pass.
I will go from zurich to lucence , lucerne to interlaken , interlaken to bern and then back to zurich.
I plan to cover mount titlis , Jungfraujoch. I also want to include the glacier express trip in this

I have following questions:

1) is there something must watch which I am missing?
2) Is it worth buying a travel pass or half price pass?
3) How to fir glacier express trip while covering lucerne , interlaken , bern.

Thanks in advance.

Ali
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Old May 30th, 2016, 01:42 PM
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You may find that the Berner Oberland Pass or the Half-Priced Card to be your best bet - doubt if a pass would be as cost effective but check prices - I'm not sure. BO Pass is bought locally - no need to buy online, etc same as HPCard.

1/2 pass pass will nearly pay for itself in the Jungfraujoch train alone.

Glacier Express just not practical to fit into this intinerary - would take two whole days to do so and IMO it is not the most scenic train in Switzerland - just the most hyped one.

Between Interlaken and Lucerne you can take the Golden Pass scenic train up and over the Brunig Pass - it has observation cars, etc.

For lots on Swiss trains and passes check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Do Bern as a day trip from Lucerne - changing hotels takes a lot of time. Two bases at most - Lucerne and one of those charming mountain towns like Grindelwald, Luaterbrunnen, Wengen.
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Old May 30th, 2016, 02:27 PM
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There actually IS a way you could include the main part of the Glacier Express in your itinerary but you would have do so carefully.

You could take the train from Zurich to St. Moritz the night before and stay overnight IN St. Moritz instead of in Zurich. Take the GE the next morning as far as Brig (do not go all the way to Zermatt).

Change in Brig for your train to Interlaken and go on from there in your subsequent days.

This would not entail "two whole days" but rather one very long one and you would end up in Interlaken easily.

Pal has long ago decided, on his own, that the GE trip is "over-hyped" and I suspect the many hundreds of passengers who have taken and enjoyed it would likely disagree.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 05:27 AM
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Hi PalenQ and Dukey1 : Thanks for your replies

I have kind of decided to take the golden pass train , I have one question related to it. I am checking the route available at this link :

http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass/gettingthere

my itinerary is :

Day1 ) In the morning go to rhine falls and visit the nearby village , come back to zurich

Day2 ) Take train to lucerne and visit mount titlis , stay overnight at lucerne

Day3) Take golden pass train . I guess this will take the whole day? Now when I reach Montreux on day 3 what else I can plan that day? or there wont be sufficient time to do anything else and the golden pass journey will take the whole day
Spend the night in montreux

Now I have day 4 and Day 5 and I have to reach Zurich on day 6.

My que: I want to plan a trip to Jungfraujoch. And I guess for Jungfraujoch the starting point is interlaken OST? Now from the golden pass train i dont think i will have enough time time to stop at interlaken , do trip to Jungfraujoch and then start again the golden pass journey the same day. So can you guys please help me how to fit Jungfraujoch in this itinerary. I have day 4 and day 5 on which I have not decided anything. A trip to Jungfraujoch and bern is what I have in mind. Please help me how to plan it OR I can include do something better on these days.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 06:24 AM
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Stay in the Interlaken area those two days - do the Jungfraujoch train one day and day trip to Bern the other day.
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Old May 31st, 2016, 12:01 PM
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This would not entail "two whole days" but rather one very long one and you would end up in Interlaken easily.>

What you described what two days - one day Zurich to St Moritz
then all the next day to Interlaken - so how is that not two days?

Help me out with that!
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Old May 31st, 2016, 12:54 PM
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Pal has long ago decided, on his own, that the GE trip is "over-hyped" and I suspect the many hundreds of passengers who have taken and enjoyed it would likely disagree.>

No in these discussions there are a fair number of folks who take the whole 8-hour marathon trip Zermatt to St Moritz who do say it gets rather tiresome after a few hours - the best scenery is at either end - Visp to Zermatt and Reichenau up the Albula Spirals to St Moritz.

But in between is a lot of same ole same old - nice enough scenery but boring to many after a while and they start to dwell on the tilting wine glasses more than the scenery perhaps.

It's a nice scenic trip but I have taken other rail lines in Switzerland just as or more scenic - like the Bernina Express, the most awesome of all.

Why do people always ask about the Glacier Express- well IMO because they've heard of it and yes the marketing of the train IMO is the reason.

The name Glacier Express is a misnomer now - oh yes at one time the GE trekked up and over the Furka Pass and did pass by glaciers - long glaciers but years ago a new Furka base tunnel was opened so you now go under the glacial scenenot by it.

You will find trains in the Jungfrau Region just as or more awesomely scenic - like to Kleine Scheidegg from Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald.

I stand by my opinion of the GE and I respect Dukey's as well - some folks see things differently.
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Old Jun 1st, 2016, 01:09 PM
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The Jungfraujoch can be fogged or clouded in in foul weather and that makes the trip up there rather a waste of money - leave your schedule flexible - stay in Interlaken and look at the weather forecasts before shelling out over $200 for the return trip - again the Half-Fare Card can about pay itself off in this trip alone and will be well worth it for you on your others journeys. Buy it at any station in Switzerland.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2016, 03:13 AM
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Thanks PalenQ for your replies. They are very helpful

Yes I am not doing any booking as of now and keeping the plan flexible.

So what I understand from your feedback is once we finish the golden pass trip we stay at Montreux for that day/night and the next day we should take train to Interlaken OST? And with base as Interlaken OST we should cover Jungfraujoch and Bern? Am i right?
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Old Jun 2nd, 2016, 07:37 AM
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Right -Interlaken-Ost is a train station in Interlaken which also has an Interlaken-West station - so both are about a mile apart and in Interlaken, which yes can be a great base for that jaunt.

Yes if going to Montreux stay the night and you can then take the mainline back to Interlaken via Bern - put your bags in a station locker there - explore the town and end up in Interlaken at night.
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Old Jun 2nd, 2016, 12:01 PM
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And stay two nights in Interlaken so you can do the Jungfraujoch train at a leisurely pace - there is a lot to see and do once up top - don't want to be rushed.

To save money there is an early bird special train connection from Interlaken-Ost - you have to change trains twi but that is just from one train to another waiting train - the changes are necessitated by different track widths so it is impossible to run a direct train from Interlaken-Ost to Jungfraujoch.
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Old Jun 7th, 2016, 06:24 AM
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Thanks for ur help PalenQ .. I am finalizing the itinerary and will ask you more questions if I have. Thanks again !
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Old Jun 7th, 2016, 06:45 AM
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I assume that the trip to Jungfraujoch is this one "Jungfraujoch via Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald" at this link?
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Old Jun 7th, 2016, 10:43 AM
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Yes - for variety go up one way and back down another - Interlaken-Ost to Lauterbrunnen - change trains to Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg change trains for the Jungfraujoch - everyone gets off one train and onto a waiting train or Interlaken-Ost - Grindelwald - change trains - Kleine Scheidegg - change trains for the Jungfraujoch.
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Old Jun 7th, 2016, 12:04 PM
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I think with a return ticket you can go up one way and back down another but ask when you buy or board the train.

going up you see the Lauterbrunnen valley if via Wengen and down to Grindelwald the lovely Grindelwald amphitheatre.
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Old Jun 8th, 2016, 03:33 AM
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Thanks PalenQ.
I need help with Day 1 i.e when i go from zurich to rhine falls.I dont think reaching rhine falls will take long time.Can you please suggest which side of the rhine falls is better? And also what other activities I can plan once at rhine falls. Some Nearby village i heard is worth visiting?

Another que is on day 2 i want to do the titlis trip so I guess it will be better to be in Lucerne in day1 itself in the night? I was thinking of taking a train at 8 in the morning on Day 2 so that I can see the scenic beauty between Zurich and Lucerne during sunlight but may be then i get late for titlis trip or?
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Old Jun 8th, 2016, 10:41 AM
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Yes the Rhine Falls are close to Zurich than I thought - just 38 minutes by train to Schlaffhausen - you can do a few-mile walk along the Rhine there to the falls or there is a small train station right by the falls- not sure the name of it or how to get there by train - it may be a German station I think.

but Schlaffhausen is the nice nice larger town right near the falls.

Which side is better - to me I do not remember any difference but it was a while ago:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rh...09!4d8.6155799

I guess you want to go to the viewing platforms shown in these images (not sure what side it is on):

https://www.google.com/search?q=rhin...w=1745&bih=868
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Old Jun 12th, 2016, 09:18 PM
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Don't think that the folk of Schaffhausen think of their city as a village; it's a fairly good sized little town.

When we visited the falls, we parked somewhere on the left bank, which is across the river from the main part of town, and walked down to the observation area. You can get right up to the flow of the river over the falls on this side, though the walkways get a little tight in some spots -- you are passing through some crevices in the bedrock that are (usually) above water level.

You can view from the right bank also, but we didn't go there so don't know the specifics. That's also the side the train runs on, and you'll get a good view of the falls as you come in to Schaffhausen from Zurich.

The Bahnhof is in Switzerland, and the rail line from Zurich actually manages to stay IN Switzerland the whole way -- but the border is so incredibly convoluted in that area that you pass from Switzerland to Germany and back over the course of a few hundred meters in some spots. Other than a small sign at the border, and a change in color of the stripes on the roadways, you often can't tell which country you're in!
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Old Jun 12th, 2016, 09:37 PM
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Should have mentioned -- it is a fairly easy walk all around Schaffhausen, though to walk from the bahnhof to the left bank observation area will take a while. Google the town and look at the map; you'll see the bridge closest to the bahnhof is a fair distance above the falls, probably a bit over a mile.
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Old Jun 13th, 2016, 09:20 AM
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There is a German train station right by the Left Bank Observation point, right - Loften or something like that.
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