chagheill

Hi folks, first time posting here. I'm currently planning a ~ 15 day trip - flying from Scotland to Vienna, travelling west through Austria into Switzerland, and then travelling by train to Holland and finishing up in Belgium. I've been able to work out a decent schedule for Austria, Holland and Belgium, but am having troubles figuring out exactly how to do Switzerland, and would appreciate some advice.

Ideally, these are the places I'd like to see / things to do while in Switzerland over a period of 4 days, if possible: bungee jump at the Verzasca dam, take a cable car to the top of Schilthorn in Lauterbrunnen, sightsee and / or boat ride in Interlaken, and finally spend a day in Zurich.

What would be the ideal way to route this trip? I would be coming from Innsbruck via train, and was thinking of doing this:

day 1: Interlaken - arrive from innsbruck early afternoon, do a bit of sightseeing
day 2: leave Interlaken and head to Lauterbrunnen - take cable car Schilthorn (spend night back in Interlaken)
day 3: train or bus south to bungee jumping @ Verzasca dam, and then make my way to Zurich
day 4: Zurich
day 5: train to Amsterdam

I'm not sure if this is making the best use of my time however - any alternate suggestions?

PalenQ

Yes it seems, given your interests it is a great use of time and i think the trip to Shilthorn is awesome - it's my favorite in the Jungfrau Region after taking all others, including the Jungfraujoch train.

The first day in Interlaken you may want to hop on a boat on Lake Thun and do a relaxing float - if the weather is fine then the ice-girdled Jungfrau Massif will be out in all its glory.

Given your several longish train rides you should investigate IMO the Eurail Select Saver Pass for 4 Countries - Austria, Switzerland, Germany (you have to pass thru to get to Amsterdam - consider stopping off at the Rhine Gorge near Kobelnz en route for a night and take the K-D boats that go thru it frequently - and Benelux - the 4th country Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as one unit for pass purposes. For lots of info for planning a rail trip in these countries i always spotlight these really info-packed sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com (special details on the Schilthorn excursion under their Switzerland section); www.ricksteves.com (check out his info on Gimmelwald, a great component of the Lauterbrunnen-Murren-Schilthorn-Gimmelwald-Stechelberg-Lauterbrunnen loop; www.seat61.com.

A Eurail Select Pass would cover all your trains except those going from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and Schilthorn lifts but it will give 25% off on trains above Interlaken.

DalaiLlama

Your schedule involves unnecessary backtracking. The train from Innsbruck goes to Zürich where, if you wanted to go on to Interlaken, you would have to change trains.

So instead, get off in Zürich and spend your desired time there. Do you know what you want to see, what it is that makes you want to spend time there? It's a big business and industrial city, nicely located on a lake, but not really a great tourist target unless you have found a special reason that makes you want to do it.

Anyway, that's for you to decide, but you should look at Lucerne - not because the town itself is so great - it's ok but because it gives you access to (look these up) the terrific Pilatus, Rigi, Einsiedeln, plus public boats on the lake that provide great views and relaxation for a few hours.

Then take the train to the Interlaken region - again, Interlaken itself is not the attraction, it's a useful strung-out town between two lakes, full of hotels etc., a good base for excursions into the region like the ones you have planned.

In addition to those, also look up the Niesen which, from the peak, provides a 360 degree view that is spectacular, and the hanggliders that take off from up there are fun to watch.

When it's time to head north, there is no need to backtrack to Zürich. If you take the 08:01 train from Interlaken-Ost (Ost=East - there is also an Interlaken-West station), you get to Amsterdam by 17:22, with only one change of trains, in Frankfurt (Main).

Or take the 11:01 and change in both Basel and Frankfurt and get to Amsterdam at 20:25.

But PalenQ's suggestion about the Rhine portion is a good one - you would take one of those trains as far as Frankfurt, then take the regional trains (look them up at www.bahn.de) to maybe Bingen or Füssen and catch the boat, to wherever down the Rhine suits you - switch back to regional trains and - probably from Cologne - get back on the superfast ones to Amsterdam. Probably would need an overnight stay though.

DalaiLlama

I wrote "...then take the regional trains (look them up at www.bahn.de) to maybe Bingen or Füssen..." and was distracted as I did that - Füssen doesn't belong in that sentence - make that Bacharach or Boppard. Sorry about the Brainphahrth

PalenQ

then take the regional trains (look them up at www.bahn.de) to maybe Bingen or Boppard and catch the boat>

IME the best place to board the K-D boats for the float thru the Rhine Gorge is at Rudesheim, where many of the services commence and you can nab the best seats IMO up front on upper deck - as many bus tours flood aboard here by the time the boat say reaches Bingen, across the river from Rudehseim it can be quite crowded

And from Rudesheim it is a downriver cruise so takes but 2. hours vs about 4 hrs going the otherway - most find 2.5 hours enough.

enzian

For the Verzasca bungee jump, you need to make your way to Locarno. Doing that as a daytrip from Interlaken makes for a loooong day. Intead, you could head to Locarno on Day 1, going Innsbruck---Zurich---Locarno. Spend the night there, and do your jump the next morning (remember to make a reseration for the jump). Then you could head to Interlaken by way of the scenic Centovalli railway (acronym is FART for the Italian name of this train). The route is Locarno--Domodossola---Brig--speiz--Interlaken and it takes 4 to 4.5 hours. Then continue with your Schilthorn and other plans from there.

Like DaiaiLlama I am puzzled why you want to spend so much time in Zurich. You could head to Luzern instead, traveling the scenic Golden Pass route from Interlaken.

chagheill

That's definitely good advice - but I neglected to mention that the Verzasca Dam bungee jump only operates on Saturday's and Sunday's in September. Due to the dates I have available, the only way I can work it into the trip is to do it this way.

As for Zurich, despite staying two nights, I'm only actually spending one whole day in the city itself. I think I will take your suggestion of checking out Luzern though, probably spending the night there on day 3 and part of day 4 before heading on to Zurich. Then spend the late afternoon and evening in Zurich as well as part of day 5 before heading on to Holland or Belgium (still tinkering with the itinerary).

Thanks for the suggestions!

enzian

So the earliest you could do the bungee jump is Day 3? In that case, you could still head in the direction of Locarno at the end of Day 2, to cut off a bit of your train time on the long day That would also get you to Verzasca earlier, so you'd have a wider choice of jump times.

Heading back north after your jump, via the Gotthard route, you could change trans at Arth-Goldau and end up at Luzern instead of Zurich that night. Luzern would be a great place for your lake boat ride if you can't fit it in at Interlaken.