Day trips from Lucerne?? Need help
 

Hi. I am going to be in Lucerne for 3 nights in mid-June. I am travelling from Geneva meeting up with a friend there coming from Zurich. I had wanted to move around and try see as much as possible but was nervous to book 2 or 3 different towns so I chose Lucerne as a base. Does anyone know if we can make it to Murren and back in the same day? Or even take the William Tell Express down to Lugano and back the same day? Any other ideas? eventhough I found great websites on Switzerland like myswitzerland.com, there is SO much information that its difficult to tie it all together. I would be very glad if someone gave me some sound advice. Thanks!! Annie

You can make to Mürren and back in one day. It is more than a 3 hour trip by train. You can do it faster by car.

Lugano and back is too much for one day. Do a search on INTERLAKEN, there are really beautiful trips from there, taking a small train up into the mountains that you can do in one day -- as long as you have a good, sunny day.

Yungfrau -- the spelling is not right, but that's the mountain you want to head to, even if you don't climb all the way up.

--- I recall the name of this resort town up on the way to the Yungfrau -- WENGEN. The train trip from Interlaken to Wengen is one of the most beautiful I have ever taken in my life. It's a small local train, it rids very slow and the scenery is just GORGEOUS!!!

There is a train that comes back to Interlaken from the other side of the mountain, via Greendelwald (sp?).

Again, this is good only on clear days, or at least days with high clouds. If the skies are really clear, and the weather is warm -- it may be worth to go all the way up to the Yungfrau.

Thank you, thank you so much. Now I can concentrate on a day trip to leave Lucerne very early one morning and go off to Interlaken, Murren, Wengen and the mountain, I think its Jungfrau or the Schilthorn. I am not even going to attempt Lugano. One full day in Lucerne and one full day exploring the Interlaken/Murren/Wengen area should be fantastic!!! Im SO excited. Thanks again. Woo Hoo

A slightly different thought. If you're going up the mountain to see Wengen, Murren, Jungfrau etc, why not use Interlaken as a base and take day trip to Lucerne instead. We spent 6 days in Interlaken and 4 in Lucerne a couple of years ago. I'd much prefer Interlaken. Definitely go up the Jungfrau. If you don't have time, I'd suggest skipping Schilthorn. It's nice, but not as great as Jungfrau.

Thanks Steve, is Interlaken prettier? At the risk of sounding corny I am trying to get the whole Swiss Mountain/Swiss town experience into the 3 days we have. I think I will have a look at hotels in Interlaken and stay there maybe 2 of the 3 nights. Does that sound like a good plan?

NOOOO! Stick with your original plan and base yourself in Lucerne. Make the daytrip to Mürren/Schilthorn or Wengen/Jungfraujoch (weather permitting).

And spend the second day doing a boat trip on Lake Lucerne. Do the full tour to Flüelen and back by train, or hop on and off the paddle steamers in several nice villages along the lake (Weggis, Vitznau, Gersau) and explore.

Aine,

I absolutely agree w/Ingo! In my view, Interlaken is a CITY -- with noisy traffic, crowded sidewalks, and lots of souvenir shops. Yes, the mountains appear at a distance, but it's not the "village" or "town" atmosphere you seem to be looking for.

Luzern is also a city, but its old town and lakeside areas seem to be isolated from modern time. The mountains also seem to be closer.

I encourage you to take a look at each town's website and look at some photos.

s

Obviously, it's a matter of personal opinion. I agree with the boat tour of Lake Lucerne, it's wonderful. We even rented a motor boat from SNF in Lucerne to tour the lake just by ourselves. In terms of reaching Jungfrau and the other mountains in Bernese Oberland, we really liked Interlaken as a base. Given the ever changeing weather, we could look at Jungfrau early AM to decide if we wanted to go that day.

How about staying way up there in Murren or one of those little places for a night altogether? Thing is, I have to please my friend also, I'm married and she is single and eventhough I dont really care about nightlife whereas she DEF does, I want to balance both of us having fun. I drag her all over the mountains all day, she drags me all over the nightclubs all night (maybe she will be too tired!). Lucerne, Interlaken, Murren? Or just Lucerne?