Please help w/ itinerary traveling by rail.
 

DD, 23 and DS, 27 will be in Switzerland July 21 - 30 and plan on getting 8 day rail passes. Need to finish w/ hotel/hostel reservations. Please check itinerary.

Arrive Geneva pm, stay 2 nights
Montreux or Lausanne 1 night
Bern 2 nights
Interlaken 2 nights (could not get 3 nights here, so will arrive early and leave late)
Lucerne 1 night
Zurich 1 night and depart

DD plans to take the Golden Pass line from Montreu, get off for line to Bern; then backtrack to Interlaken, and back on Golden Pass Line to Lucerne.

Does this make sense or should they plan another route?

Thanks in advance for advice. I have spent so much time helping DD plan this trip, I want to go there w/ DH sometime. Switzerland sounds wonderful.

Hi susan4,

Lausanne is only about 40 minutes from Geneva, and Montreux is only about an hour from Geneva. So no need to switch hotels for that -- just pick one and stay there for three days.

Same with Bern & Interlaken; they're so close together that you lose more time switching hotels. Just pick one and do the other by day-trip.

s

A lot of this is personal but -

Yes, you're staying at too many places too close toegether - choose fewer hotels

Lucerne is about 5 times as interesting as Bern (if it were me I would bag Bern, do a couple of nights near Lake Geneva, a couple in the hills of the oberland and at least 3 in Lucerne).

t

If they can combine Montreau w/ Geneva, and do Bern as a day trip from Interlaken,is there time to go to Zermatt? How about Montreau - Zermatt - Interlaken - Lucerne? Or is train route Montreau - Interlaken more scenic?
Thanks all

Hi susan4,

Well, they'll spend a lot of time on the trains. If all they want to do is see the mountains as they whizz by them, it'll be fine.

Better to stop, stay, and get the shoes on the mountainside.

s

You've got 10 days, so consider three stops:
--Somewhere on Lac Leman for a few nights
--somewhere in the Berner Oberland for a few nights, day tripping to Bern
--Luzern for two or three nights, going to the Zurich airport from Luzern if your flight is at a reasonable time.

Personally, I would not invest a night in Zurich unless you absolutely had to. The move sucks up much of your time, and, quite frankly, I did not find it near as enjoyable as Luzern. Bern may be worth a day trip, but again, I don't think it compares to Luzern for an overnight stay location. Unless you like to be rushed, you might save Zermatt for your next trip.

Hi,
Thanks for the advice. They will have an 8 day rail pass. Trip starts in Geneva July 21st pm and DS flies out of Zurich in the evening 30th, 9 days later. So they need to spend first 2 nights in Geneva and not use pass until 23rd, Or start using pass 22nd, train to Zurich the 29th and not have pass last day. Of course they could just pay transportation out-of-pocket. Which city would you recommend they spend 1 day in, Geneva or Zurich?