advice on Switzerland
Oct 9th, 2005, 06:47 AM
#21
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edward2005 thanks for sharing your photos - lovely. I am thinking I am gonig to be seeing more snow there in Dec./ the green looks so lovely, I'll have to save that for a spring/summer trip another time. kwren, I chose Lauterbrunnen for reasons previously mentioned, I am confident at this point it will work for me, but you say your kids are younger, so maybe someone who has been w/ young ones will be able to help you better - maybe try a post listing your ages of kids, like "lauterbrunnen/wengen/etc which for 9 yr olds"
Oct 9th, 2005, 10:05 PM
#22
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It's hard to tell you when you might want to rent the car. If you think your husband will be stir crazy without access to a car for 4 days, then you could take the train from Zurich Airport to Interlaken or Thun the morning your arrive and rent a car in either place, then drive to Lauterbrunnen. Either train trip is not long and neither requires any changes. The drive from either place would be easy, it is very easy from Interlaken, basically a straight shot up the valley.
The trains are very easy to use and figure out. Go to rail.ch for schedules. If you take the train all the way from Zurich Airport to Lautterbrunnen, you would have to change 1 to 3 times, depending on what time train you are able take. All trains require that you make a change at Interlaken Ost (i.e. Interlaken East station), for the little local train to Lauterbrunnen. The train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen takes less than half an hour.
I would make a reservation for the train on Christmas Eve from Zurich Airport to wherever you decide to go in the Jungfrau region the day you arrive. That way, you can be sure of getting seats, and of getting seats together, as the trains are going to be crowded. It is my understanding that you can only make seat reservations for first class, so you should buy a first class Swiss Pass and then make a seat reservation as soon as possible. First class is a good idea for holidays generally as trains tend to be very crowded, but first class is less crowded, so even if you don't have seat reservations you have a better chance of getting seats. What time does your flight arrive into Zurich? I would add about 1.5 hours to that and make a reservation on a train departing 1.5 to 2 hours after your arrival. (If for some reason you miss that train, you can switch your reservations to a later train at the airport train station.)
You can purchase tickets, including the Swiss Pass, on line through the Swiss Rail website and have them mailed to your home. You can do that now as you have time. Rail Europe and most other places in the US will charge you a surcharge for buying tickets through them. You can also e-mail Swiss Rail with questions. You can also call the people as Swiss Rail by dialling 011-41-900-300-300. They have English speaking operators. While it is not cheap to call from the US, they are very helpful and a good source for questions.
If you are only taking the train from Zurich to the Jungfrau area, and then maybe just the train up to the top of the Jungfrau and maybe a few trips to Wenge or Murren you might want to add up the train costs and decide if the Swiss Pass is the best deal for you. Point to point tickets might be cheaper. The Swiss Rail people could also work this out for you.
Lauterbrunnen is a tiny town of basically one main street. If you don't end up having a rental car when you arrive, the hotel may be able to collect you, send them an e-mail/fax and ask. This is usually a free service, at least in car-free towns. You would tell them what time train you are arriving on, and they would be at the station to meet you. Otherwise, you would walk, one website I saw says the hotel is 200 metres from the train station, but I don't think that is entirely correctly, and if it is, then it is 200 metres straight uphill. I believe there are taxis in town. There is a public bus service, but it would not run to where the hotel is.
The drive from Lauterbrunnen to Berne takes about an hour, the scenery is essentially identical to what you would see on the train, as you go down the same valley. The drive is all highway, unless you want to take back roads, although the scenery would be essentially the same because the back roads go through the same valley; there are some small towns you would go through that you would not pass by via the highway, I have to say in winter this is not quite as pretty as in summer, no flowerboxes or cows on hillsides, etc. By driving either the highway or back roads you could stop at places like Thun (which has a nice old town and a castle) or go up the Kandersteg valley or up the Gstaad valley to Gstaad. You could also back track a little and go east towards Brienz and drive around that part of the lake and then head to Berne via the north shore of lakes Brienz and Thun and stop Thun if you want. The distances are not great and they are all nice trips, it is really up to you and the weather. However, you will not find beautiful medieval churches and charming cobblestone villages like San Gimignano or parts of the French countryside; it is mostly the gorgeous snowy Alps and some pretty lakes to see, so bear that in mind. The train is also fine too.
I haven't driven from Berne to Basel, I agree that Solothurn is a nice stopping place, with a very well preserved old town area kind of dramatically set at the bottom of a hill, mostly baroque which you don't see a lot of in Switzerland.
I have not driven from Basel to Konstanz, but have done Zurich to Kontanz, a lot of this would be highway and frankly not that scenic as it is not mountainous just a little hilly. A good stopover would be Winterthur which has several excellent museums, esp the Kuntshaus, go to http://www.kmw.ch, which is quite small and can be "done" in about 2 hours and they have a nice restaurant/café. You could also take a more northern route and go via Schaffhausen to see the waterfall at Rheinfall or go to Stein am Rein which has a very lovely old town along the river with some painted buildings, hard to find in Switzerland. From the map, this route looks like less highway and more back roads, this would take longer but might be more scenic, don't know for sure.
You can certainly take trains between all these destinations, and either walk from train stations to your hotel or take trams/street cars (in Basel and Berne), buses or taxis depnding on how far the hotel is from the station and how much luggage you have. Taxis are very expensive in Swizteralnd (and I am person that loves taxis so for me to say that is something), so I would not use them for intercity transport but for short distances like train station to hotel they are fine.
The trains are very easy to use and figure out. Go to rail.ch for schedules. If you take the train all the way from Zurich Airport to Lautterbrunnen, you would have to change 1 to 3 times, depending on what time train you are able take. All trains require that you make a change at Interlaken Ost (i.e. Interlaken East station), for the little local train to Lauterbrunnen. The train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen takes less than half an hour.
I would make a reservation for the train on Christmas Eve from Zurich Airport to wherever you decide to go in the Jungfrau region the day you arrive. That way, you can be sure of getting seats, and of getting seats together, as the trains are going to be crowded. It is my understanding that you can only make seat reservations for first class, so you should buy a first class Swiss Pass and then make a seat reservation as soon as possible. First class is a good idea for holidays generally as trains tend to be very crowded, but first class is less crowded, so even if you don't have seat reservations you have a better chance of getting seats. What time does your flight arrive into Zurich? I would add about 1.5 hours to that and make a reservation on a train departing 1.5 to 2 hours after your arrival. (If for some reason you miss that train, you can switch your reservations to a later train at the airport train station.)
You can purchase tickets, including the Swiss Pass, on line through the Swiss Rail website and have them mailed to your home. You can do that now as you have time. Rail Europe and most other places in the US will charge you a surcharge for buying tickets through them. You can also e-mail Swiss Rail with questions. You can also call the people as Swiss Rail by dialling 011-41-900-300-300. They have English speaking operators. While it is not cheap to call from the US, they are very helpful and a good source for questions.
If you are only taking the train from Zurich to the Jungfrau area, and then maybe just the train up to the top of the Jungfrau and maybe a few trips to Wenge or Murren you might want to add up the train costs and decide if the Swiss Pass is the best deal for you. Point to point tickets might be cheaper. The Swiss Rail people could also work this out for you.
Lauterbrunnen is a tiny town of basically one main street. If you don't end up having a rental car when you arrive, the hotel may be able to collect you, send them an e-mail/fax and ask. This is usually a free service, at least in car-free towns. You would tell them what time train you are arriving on, and they would be at the station to meet you. Otherwise, you would walk, one website I saw says the hotel is 200 metres from the train station, but I don't think that is entirely correctly, and if it is, then it is 200 metres straight uphill. I believe there are taxis in town. There is a public bus service, but it would not run to where the hotel is.
The drive from Lauterbrunnen to Berne takes about an hour, the scenery is essentially identical to what you would see on the train, as you go down the same valley. The drive is all highway, unless you want to take back roads, although the scenery would be essentially the same because the back roads go through the same valley; there are some small towns you would go through that you would not pass by via the highway, I have to say in winter this is not quite as pretty as in summer, no flowerboxes or cows on hillsides, etc. By driving either the highway or back roads you could stop at places like Thun (which has a nice old town and a castle) or go up the Kandersteg valley or up the Gstaad valley to Gstaad. You could also back track a little and go east towards Brienz and drive around that part of the lake and then head to Berne via the north shore of lakes Brienz and Thun and stop Thun if you want. The distances are not great and they are all nice trips, it is really up to you and the weather. However, you will not find beautiful medieval churches and charming cobblestone villages like San Gimignano or parts of the French countryside; it is mostly the gorgeous snowy Alps and some pretty lakes to see, so bear that in mind. The train is also fine too.
I haven't driven from Berne to Basel, I agree that Solothurn is a nice stopping place, with a very well preserved old town area kind of dramatically set at the bottom of a hill, mostly baroque which you don't see a lot of in Switzerland.
I have not driven from Basel to Konstanz, but have done Zurich to Kontanz, a lot of this would be highway and frankly not that scenic as it is not mountainous just a little hilly. A good stopover would be Winterthur which has several excellent museums, esp the Kuntshaus, go to http://www.kmw.ch, which is quite small and can be "done" in about 2 hours and they have a nice restaurant/café. You could also take a more northern route and go via Schaffhausen to see the waterfall at Rheinfall or go to Stein am Rein which has a very lovely old town along the river with some painted buildings, hard to find in Switzerland. From the map, this route looks like less highway and more back roads, this would take longer but might be more scenic, don't know for sure.
You can certainly take trains between all these destinations, and either walk from train stations to your hotel or take trams/street cars (in Basel and Berne), buses or taxis depnding on how far the hotel is from the station and how much luggage you have. Taxis are very expensive in Swizteralnd (and I am person that loves taxis so for me to say that is something), so I would not use them for intercity transport but for short distances like train station to hotel they are fine.
Oct 9th, 2005, 10:52 PM
#23
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Escargot .. this is a great thread, see also my just completed posting on our recent trip. Swiss Rail pass was excellent. You will have a great trip, we all loved Switzerland. You probably don't want me to confuse the issue by suggesting Zermatt. It was well worth the 'detour' to get there, I will never forget the Matterhorn.
Oct 10th, 2005, 06:20 AM
#24
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pleiades: how do i find your recent posting on your completed trip? would love to see it. Cicerone, wow - thanks for all the input - I am printing out to absorb and look through our proposed itinerary and make some calls and I think we will defnitely book train from zurich to lauterbrunnen 1st class as you suggest - husband won't get stir crazy w/out a car for four days as we will be going around murren, wengen, etc and will have to sit and give some thought to driving to Bern, sounds like we could skip that and maybe get hte car in Bern b/c I would like to stop in Solothurn from what posters have written about it and then drive to Konstanz and I am going to look into some of the stops you suggested. Info on my questions have been fabulous - many thanks and i'm sure i'll be back with more questions 
Oct 10th, 2005, 01:24 PM
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HI .. original posting was September Sojourn but at Rex's suggestion have relisted it as Trip Review - Switzerland/France
Agree with Cicerone re first class travel .. Swiss Rail pv efficient & pleasant. For travel to Lauterbrunnen, some trains temporarily transfer to bus b/c of flood damage but you can avoid this by detouring via Bern and stay on the rails, with just one change of train.
Agree with Cicerone re first class travel .. Swiss Rail pv efficient & pleasant. For travel to Lauterbrunnen, some trains temporarily transfer to bus b/c of flood damage but you can avoid this by detouring via Bern and stay on the rails, with just one change of train.
Oct 15th, 2005, 12:57 PM
#26
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Final help on rail please?
Was on phone with Swiss Rail: gentlemen thinks this is what I should do.....any comments? I would like to book w/in next few days
He thinks I should get Swiss Flexi-Pass for all 4 of us -some companion price where as long as we all travel together, which we would be doing - and get my son a eurorail pass separately for his month in Germany)
1. Arrive Zurich 12/23 @ 8;30am - take 9:47am train from airport to Luzern (takes about 1 hr) arriving around 10:49. Have 3 hrs. in Luzern, store luggage and have lunch, stretch legs and take panoramic train at 1:55 to Interlaken. Change at Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. Stay Lauterbrunnen 4 dys. (use swiss pass for discount if we do Jungfraujoch) ***so this doesn't handle cables/etc to Wengen/Murren? I do those separately?
2. Take train from Lauterbrunnen to Bern on 12/27
3. Take train from Bern to Basel on 12/29
4. Take train from Basel to Zurich and change to go to Konstance on 1/2.
**Does this make sense? I was going to drive, if anyone remembers, from Bern to Basel but now I am rethinking since only stop was going to be Solothurn (if we want, can we do that as day trip from Basel?) And we thought of driving from Basel to Konstanz, but train spokesperson said he thought easier to take train.....and just take train from Konstanz to Zurich for our flight home.
any input greatly appreciated.
Was on phone with Swiss Rail: gentlemen thinks this is what I should do.....any comments? I would like to book w/in next few days
He thinks I should get Swiss Flexi-Pass for all 4 of us -some companion price where as long as we all travel together, which we would be doing - and get my son a eurorail pass separately for his month in Germany)
1. Arrive Zurich 12/23 @ 8;30am - take 9:47am train from airport to Luzern (takes about 1 hr) arriving around 10:49. Have 3 hrs. in Luzern, store luggage and have lunch, stretch legs and take panoramic train at 1:55 to Interlaken. Change at Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. Stay Lauterbrunnen 4 dys. (use swiss pass for discount if we do Jungfraujoch) ***so this doesn't handle cables/etc to Wengen/Murren? I do those separately?
2. Take train from Lauterbrunnen to Bern on 12/27
3. Take train from Bern to Basel on 12/29
4. Take train from Basel to Zurich and change to go to Konstance on 1/2.
**Does this make sense? I was going to drive, if anyone remembers, from Bern to Basel but now I am rethinking since only stop was going to be Solothurn (if we want, can we do that as day trip from Basel?) And we thought of driving from Basel to Konstanz, but train spokesperson said he thought easier to take train.....and just take train from Konstanz to Zurich for our flight home.
any input greatly appreciated.
Oct 15th, 2005, 01:50 PM
#27
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The SP covers the transportation from Lauterbrunnen to Murren, Wengen, Gimmelwald and Grindlewald. But it's only worth a discount from Murren to the Schilthorn, or from Wengen to Jungfraujoch.
And don't forget, the SP also covers all city transportation such as buses, which will be helpful in Bern.
And don't forget, the SP also covers all city transportation such as buses, which will be helpful in Bern.
Oct 15th, 2005, 08:02 PM
#28
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thanks edward: do you or anyone else have an opinion on that last leg of the trip from Basel to Konstanz? Will it be easier to train from Basel to Konstanz, or to drive and have car in Konstanz area and then drive to Zurich Airport? I can't seem to figure if that is a worthwhile car "scenic drive" or if the train will do the trick and make life easier all around.
