hollisunc

My husband and I will be traveling to Gstaad for a wedding in early September and will be taking our 9 months old son with us. This will be our first time traveling in Europe as a family and the first time to Switzerland for both of us.

We will be flying into Zurich and will go straight to Gstaad for the wedding. Since our accomodations are being provided for us, we will be basing out of Gstaad for the entire time we are there which is 6 days. With the wedding being on one of those days we will have 5 days to travel through out the country. Understanding that we are not going to be there very long we want to make the most of our time and see as much of the country as possible. I am feeling very overwhelmed with planning the itinerary and deciding on how to get from one place to the other. We would prefer to travel by train only, if possible. Please, please offer suggested itineraries for day trips and must-see things throughout the country.

Here are some of the things I have been looking at doing:
1 Day - Gstaad to Interlaken via the Golden Pass Line
2 Day - Montreaux Day trip
3 Day - Gruyeres Day trip
4 Day - Zermatt / Matterhorn
5 Day - Lauterbrunnen

Lauterbrunnen came highly recommended but I can not figure out how best to get there from Gstaad. Also, we had wanted to do the Glacier Express but I have read on here that it is overated and not worth the 8 hours. Any thoughts?

Lastly, we will be flying out of Venice and it is our plan to take the train from Gstaad to Venice where we will spend 2 nights but we will really only be there 1 day. We are willing to stay one night somewhere else in Switzerland on our way to Italy but I can't see that we would really get to Venice any more quickly than from Gstaad. Any suggestions for must see things in Venice? We already have a hotel room on the square.

Also, we were planning on getting the Swiss Saver Flex pass but would it be better to get the Eurorail 3 country pass since we will be going to Italy?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

zeppole

There are people who post on this board who know Switzerland far better than I do, but I am going to say that

1) Gstaad is a very beautiful place, and

2) I think you are possibly making a mistake by adopting the premise that "making the most" of being in Switzerland means leaving a very beautiful place in order to race around a lot with an infant.

Nine month old babies are great because they are so portable, but don't you want a vacation? If at all possible, skip Venice and just enjoy the extraordinary beauty of Gstaad. If you can't skip Venice because your flights are booked, look for a way to fly to Venice and once you are there, just enjoy your lovely hotel perch, without a tourist agenda. (Which "square" is it?)

swandav2000

Hi hollisunc,

I agree with zeppole about leaving a beautiful place to race around to see other places; I think that would be a lot of trouble and wouldn't give you the best memories!

You can take a look at the Swiss rail site to see how long your journeys would be -- it's at

www.rail.ch

I have come to realize that a trip longer than two hours (in each direction) is a bad idea, so I think going to Lauterbrunnen would be a bit too far. Zermatt is too far, by far! And doing the Glacier Express would be a real nightmare (getting to one end of it, sitting for 7-8 hours through it, then getting from the other end back to Gstaad).

Getting to Montreux is a wonderful and worthwhile trip, and also getting to Gruyeres is a great idea. You could also very easily get to Spiez and Thun -- take the train to Spiez and then take a ferry to either Thun or to Interlaken.

Some other ideas are to bicycle down that beautiful valley -- maybe get a sitter for one day or use a backpack for your son. There are dediated bike trails that are wide and easy. Bike from Gstaad to Zweisimmen or to Chateau d'Oex or to Rougemont.

If you might decide to skip Venice, I would say to add on a few days in a mountain village above Interlaken just to see what that is like.

Anyway, good luck!

s

kleeblatt

There is so much to see in the Gstaad area that I wouldn't race around with an infant. I agree with Swandav: train rides over 2 hours aren't worth it. Actually I think train rides over 1.5 hours each way aren't worth it.

I can imagine you'll get lots of ideas and maybe invitations for trips at the wedding. Take advantage of the locals. They'll show you the "true" Switzerland. Don't overplan.

kleeblatt

Lauterbrunnen in itself is not worth the long train ride. The real beauty is the mountains. Getting up to Schilthorn or taking the train up to Kleine Scheidegg and walking over to Männlichen.