Switzerland - 10 Day trip10th Anniversary Aug'24 Advice
 

Hello All,

Thank you in advance for helping me through this. My wife and I (mid-30s) are planning to visit Switzerland from Tennessee, USA for our 10th Anniversary in August 2024. I have read through multiple threads and am overwhelmed by the information. Can you guys help me plan 8 night vacation in Switzerland and would like to try Paris if possible in the last two days.
We love nature and nice scenic places and we do not want to rush with lots of stops but spend some quality time at each place.
Please help us get started, I am thinking of flying into Zurich

"We love nature and nice scenic places"
You can get that almost eferywhere in Europe.
May be you tell us a bit mor what you are looking for. What are your interests?
What would you like to do most?

Eight nights is seven full days. I'd pick two areas and spend four nights in each. Which areas really depends on what you want to see, how you plan to travel (train I hope!) and what you enjoy doing.

Just about the entire country of Switzerland is scenic, so it's hard to choose, I know. Most first time visitors to Switzerland from the US tend to head to the Berner Oberland for their alp fix, and many enjoy Lucerne (about an hour from Zurich) for their city and lake fix. I'm not suggesting you do either, but it's a place to start. Keep in mind that August will be very busy in touristy spots and accomodation will be at a premium.

Do you enjoy lakes? Does an excursion to the top of a mountain appeal to you? Do you enjoy hiking?

You've made the first step...choosing Switzerland, and flying into Zurich, both excellent choices.

Yes, suggest you watch some youtubes about the different regions of Switzerland and see which appeal to you most, then narrow it down. The languages spoken in the different regions might be a factor, but not necessarily. My second language is French but I don't really care for Geneva, Lausanne and the French-speaking region. Be prepared for some hot days in August. One of the nicest things about Swiss summers -- but not mentioned in most guidebooks -- is that throughout the country you can find wonderful outdoor pools in scenic settings. Perfect for a hot day when you don't feel like hiking and just want to relax. Some of the lakes have good swimming beaches as well (Lake Zug and Lugano come to mind).

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c157e7895d.jpg


Just an FYI: Because we had such a mild winter, it's expected that there will be a bumper crop of wasps buzzing around this summer.

Thank you for your reply, we like to stay a nice calm hotels and would love to shop and try local food and good dinner dates. Also enjoy trekking(not the super difficult ones), train rides.
Sight seeing castles and historic places is also a favourite.

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Thank you for the reply,. Yes we are open to travel via trains and also take a nice scenic train ride.
as of now the places we have in mind is as below
Zurich and around (including Lucerne)
Interlaken and around (Lauterbrunnen)
Zermatt/Matterhorn
Yes we do enjoy lakes.

thank you very much, I am watching those beautiful videos daily :D absolutely love all of the those, however I want to be careful to not be overwhelmed by tourist crowd.

We did a similar range of places in Switzerland in 2022…flew to Geneva, hired a car, drove to Grindelwald for 3 nights and did some lovely, easy hikes from there.Then to Zermatt via the wonderful Grimsel pass.Then the Gornergrat train, a fantastic ride, from there up to the viewpoint and visitor centre overlooking the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa.Magnificent! We did the hike down to Riffelsee, very easy on a really good path.If anything, this was even more spectacular than the mountain scenery at Lauterbrunnen Valley though the vistas there are superb too.

We visited Lucerne also, a really beautiful city with an overnight in a hotel overlooking Lake Lucerne.

Lake Geneva didn’t wildly appeal I have to say, neither did Montreaux.The route to Zermatt took us through some really lovely, very old villages of timber houses which were gorgeous and clearly being refurbished to be habitable.

Zermatt itself was really enjoyable, despite how busy it as.I must say, although Grindelwald is very touristy the setting is magnificent and , surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than Murren and Wengen.That may however, have been influenced by my interest in the history of the Eiger’s North Face which our Airbnb chalet overlooked.

Every place on your list will be slammed with tourists. I think three spots in seven days is a bit much, especially since Zermatt is 3:45 by train from Lucerne (or longer) and about 2.5 hours from Interlaken (longer from Lauterbrunnen).

If I had only 1 week and had to visit the places you mention, I would skip Zurich and go directly from Zurich airport to Lucerne (direct trains), move then by Brunig Pass train to Interlaken and by scenic Loetschberger train to Brig and finally tgo Zermatt.
Zermatt - Paris is a scenic 7 hrs train trip: Zermatt dp 6.37, 10.37, 15.13. Change at Visp and Lausanne