After a lot of false starts over the years we are finally going to Switzerland next month for 3 weeks. I have gone through a lot of these forum posts which has helped me identify what all I would like to see and where to base myself. However, I am a bit confused as in how to arrange this into a well-oiled itinerary – as in what to club with what on which day. While I understand the weather is unpredictable and the exact day may change but it would be good to have a general plan of action and thus seek this forums help.

A brief introduction – we are a family of 5 traveling together which includes my Mother (age 65, slightly reduced mobility), my wife (37) my two kids (10 & 6) and myself (41). We arrive into Zurich late evening of 3 June and go straight to the hotel to rest and sleep. Next morning (4 June) we travel to Montreux for 7 nights and then on 11 June we travel to Wengen for another 7 nights. On 18 June we travel to Zurich for 6 nights from where my mother takes a night flight (2215 hours) back while we fly back on 24 June (same the flight at 2215 hours). Our accommodation is booked for all three bases and there is no flexibility in changing these.

At Montreux besides the city itself we were looking at covering Geneva (Quays, Old Town, Jet d'Eau, Place di Bourge-de-Four. Musée Ariana, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire), Château of Chillon, Rochers-de-Naye, Vevey (Nestle Museum, ALIMENTARIUM, Chaplin's world, Grand-Place and maybe the tue/sat market if we are on the right day), Lausanne, lakeside village of Cully, Ouchy (promenades along the lakefront especially the, Quai de Belgique and Quai d'Ouchy), Steamer to Evian-les-Bains, Gruyeres (Castle and Cheese factory) clubbed with the Chocolate factory, Lavaux Vineyards, Glacier 3000 & Gstaad. Trying to understand whether I have too much scheduled? Also, how to arrange these to make the most of the day and not criss-crossing through same places everyday while getting to the next.

At Wengen we would like to explore the mountain villages and areas of Murren (Thrill walk??), Gimmelwald, Grindelwald (first Cliff walk), Lauterbrunnen (Trummelbach & Staubbach Falls), First, Balchapsee, Maennlichen to Kleine Scheidegg walk, Excursions to Jungfrau and Schilthorn. Interlaken (Tell-Freilichtspiele), Lake Brienz and Lake Thun (which or both for cruise?), Unterseen, Harder Klum, Thun, Beatus Caves, Ballenberg Museum. Again the same question – is this too much for those days? How much time should we allot for each and what do we club with each. We like to remain busy most of the day but don’t like to have rushed travels or too much running around.

At Zurich we were looking at excursions to Lucern and one mountain top (given the other mountain tops we are covering which one would you suggest between Titlis, Pilatus and Rigi), Basel (with Colmar – is this an easy trip?), Schaffhausen with Rhine falls.

As the itinerary suggest we have 3 big travels days – Zurich to Montreux, Montreux to Wengen and Wengen to Zurich – would you suggest stopping in between these journeys to cover any of the above mentioned places or maybe something else? I would also love to include Bern if possible – do you see any gaps in my itinerary where this could be fitted in?

I have wanted to keep my itinerary varied so that we don’t end up repeating same kind of experiences but maybe I haven’t really done a great job so if someone could critique this as well to advise what experiences are being duplicated (besides the mountain top and glacier excursions which we really love but even here advise if we have gone overboard).

Thanks in advance

Very well researched, gratulations!

I don't want to criticize your choice or suggest to cover even more places. Nevertheless a few remarks (from a Swiss citizen who loves his country):

Zurich - Montreux:
There are 2 main itineraries (either via Solothurn - Biel/Bienne - Neuch tel - Yverdon or via Bern - Fribourg) with tons of possible side trips.
Solothurn - Biel/Bienne - Neuch tel - Yverdon can be done by boat too (Aar river, Lake Biel, Lake Neuchatel).
Things to see along this itinerary:
Solothurn (medieval city center, batoque cathedral),
Biel/Bienne (small but charming medieval city center, Lake dwellers museum, rope railway to viewpoint Magglingen),
Ligerz (rope railway through the vineyards to viewpoint Preles),
La Neuveville (tiny) medieval city center with citywalls and city gates),
Neuchatel (tiny medieval city center with castle and cathedral, Lake dweller museum, art museum with 18th century music boxes, ethnographic museum....),
Estavayer (cstle with frog museum),
Grandson (castle, menhir),
Yverdon (menhirs, spa, castle, small medieval center)

Things to see alont the itinerary via Bern:
Bern: biggest medieval city center of Switzerland, city gates and towers, cathedral, museums (Art, History, Albert Einstein, Commmunication, Alpine Museum....), rope railway to viewpoint Gurten with childrens playground...
Fribourg: medival city with cathedral

Things do do around Montreux (in addition to your liest):
Aquapark and Swiss Vapeur park at le Bouveret,
Salt mines at Bex
Spas of Lavey and Saillon,
Roman theatre and Fondation Gianadda at Martigny,
Fields of booming wild narcissus flowers between Paccot and Cret d'y Bau (stations of Rochers de Naye railway),
Historic steam trains Blonay - Chamby,
Gruyeres round trip (all by small local trains): Montreux - Vevey - Lavaux vineyards - Puidoux - Plezieux - Chatel-St-Denis - Bulle - Broc (chocolate factory) - Bulle - Gruyeres (cheese diary, medieval city with castle) - Montbovon - Les Avants - Montreux,
Roundtrip to Lake Emosson (in front of MontBlanc). Montreux - Martigny - Le Chatelard - steepeswt rope railway of the Western Alps - Les Montuires - smallest train of Switzerland - Pied du Barrage - futuristic funicular - Lake Emosson https://verticalp-emosson.ch/en/

Bernese Oberland:
You may have a look at the Meiringen area:
Brienz - Rothorn steam railway, Ballenberg village museum, Aar Gorge (a lot of water in early June), Trift Bridge, Gelmer rope railway, Giessbach (historic Belle Epoque hotel and waterfalls), https://www.grimselwelt.ch/en/excursion-tips
Lake Thun: don't forget the castle and museum of Oberhofen and the Wocher panorama at Thun.

..and if the weather is bad in the Berner Oberland and fine in Valais: Visp is less then 30 min by train from Spiez

Things to do from Zurich:
Rhine Falls and Rhine Falls adventure park, medieval Schaffhausen with castle, Rhine river boat from Schaffhasuen to Stein am Rhein (scenic tiny medieval town) - Reichenau Island (monastery) - Constance;
Boat rides on Lake Constance: from Constance or Romanshorn to Mainau Island botanical gardens - Unteruhldingen Lake dwellers village/Salem monastery and monkey hill - Meersburg castle - Friedrichshafen Zeppelin museum - Lindau medieval Island city - Bregenz and viewpoint Pfaneder (cableway).....
Train ride to the palm trees and botanical gardens along Lake Lugano or Lake Maggiore (a bit more than 2 hrs OW),
Baroque monasteries of St. Gallen and Einsiedeln,
Historic train and car museums at Mulhouse.

If you want to enjoy Basel with the cathedral and the medieval center, the tons of museums, the Rhine river cruises (up to Rheinfelden), the big zoo, the Roman theatre and villas at nearby Augst....you will need a full day and cannot combine that with other places (otherwise the most logical loop would have been Zurich - Basel - Schaffhausen/Rhine Falls - Zurich).

Instead of going to boring IMO Zurich why not stay say 4 days in Lucerne and take boat cruises and mountain trains and simply enjoy one of Europe's prettiest cities - day trip to Bern, to me just about the nicest Swiss city.

Thank you neckervd for these beautiful suggestions – they sound lovely, let me research.



Do you think you could elaborate some more“Gruyeres round trip (all by small local trains): Montreux - Vevey - Lavaux vineyards - Puidoux - Plezieux - Chatel-St-Denis - Bulle - Broc (chocolate factory) - Bulle - Gruyeres (cheese diary, medieval city with castle) - Montbovon - Les Avants – Montreux” I am certainly looking at doing Vevey, Lavaux vineyards, Broc, and Gruyeres = can all of these be fit into a single day? how should we be look at dividing the time?



Any suggestions on how to plan for Gstaad and Glacier 3000 (obviously on a good weather day)? Are both possible on a single day and if so how much time should we be looking at each place?



I am totally clueless on how to arrange my Wengen part of my trip – I looked at the map but given that this is a mountainous region it is hard to understand what to clubbed with what and how much time for each. Can I please, please request if you could help me with this?



Also, between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz – would you suggest taking a cruise on one (which one?) or both? We of course are interested in covering areas of both lakes just wondering if we should use the train on one side and cruise on the other?



Given that we are planning for Glacier 3000, Jungfrau, Shilthorn, Harder Klum – which mountain excursion would you suggest from Lucerne – Titlis, Pilatus or Rigi to give us a different experience to the ones we are already covering? or maybe swap?

I do agree Lucenre may have been a prettier alternative. We deliberated this for long and then decided to go with Zurich for we felt it would be a nice contrast given that we are largely in countryside for the first 15 days and that we would be covering Lucerne as a daytrip anyways.

Hey Adelaidean, thank you for the link to swissfamilyfun website - it is such a good treasure-trove on information and has really helped me fine tune some of my plans. And thank you also for your wonderful advice - well taken

Sounds great to me! I'm sure you'll need to tweak your plans along the way -- that's part of the adventure.
And FWI, I did not find Zurich boring AT ALL!

NeckerVD has given you excellent ideas. More than you can handle so really great choices to make!

I would say that Bern and Solothurn are essential. Bern is "drop dead gorgeous" and full of little nooks and crannies to explore. Solothurn is splendid - the most beautiful Baroque town in the country. Bern you could stop over at between Zürich and Montreux. Solothurn - do from Zürich at the end of your time here.

A note on Vevey - this year because of the Fête des Vignerons (18 July - 11 Aug) the entire place du Marché has been taken over by an enormous arena (seats 20'000!). The market is therefore not in Vevey this year. It is now at la Tour de Peilz, a little way down the lake towards Montreux. Perhaps a 20mns walk from the centre of Vevey or take a boat or a bus. Saturday market is well worth going to. Tuesday one is great IF you live in the area and need groceries. Not so much for tourists.