Switzerland for 8 days - self guided, first time visiting
 

Hello, fellow travellers,
I am a 30 year old teacher that is looking to visit Switzerland for 8 days. I need some help with my itinerary. I will purchase a SwissPass for trains. I want to see a little bit of everything: the cities, the villages, take a scenic train ride, gaze at the mountains, explore the castles.
Fodor's guide suggests the following itinerary:
Zurich - 1 night
Luzern - 2 nights
Lauterbrunnen - 1 night
Zermatt - 1 night
Geneva - 2 nights

Thoughts? I particularly want to see the nature and the mountains. So, I am thinking to cut Geneva to 1 night and add one night to Lauderbrunnen? Thank you! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I generally steer clear of one night stays as it leaves me with so little time to see the place I am visiting. For example, many hotels expect you to check out by 10am and not check in until 2pm, then add travel time and the actual moving on time quickly swallows up your time to actually do the things you want to do.

Switzerland is a relatively small country with a lot to see. If you base yourself in, say, two places you can take long day trips without having to worry about moving hotels so frequently. You can leave at dawn and get home at midnight if you want to!

I'm sure Geneva has lots to recommend it but it is not on most visitors list of top places to see in Switzerland. If you want to visit the area, other towns on Lac Leman seem to offer more. It is also further afield being far West.

I recommend you pick two or three places only in a 7 night itinerary, especially if you want to do any walking (which to me is the highlight of Switzerland).

It's a beautiful place and you're sure to have a good time no matter what you decide.

Eight days is enough for 3 places max. Unless you are staying for an early flight out, drop Zurich and Geneva and really enjoy the others. They are all three great choices especially for your preferences.

Happy travels!

Where are you flying in/out of?

I've been to Switzerland five times and never stayed in Zurich. We usually head to Lauterbrunnen/Wengen after arrival in Zurich. You can stay in Luzern prior to departure from Zurich as the train takes you right to the airport in an hour. If you stay in Montreux/Vevey, you can visit Chillion Castle and make day trips to Gruyeres, Geneva, Zermatt or Lausanne. Zermatt holds a special place in our hearts. We go back every time we visit Switzerland. Same hotel, same room with a view of the Matterhorn.

Have fun. I LOVE Switzerland.

And what time of year are you planning to travel?

Depending on what time you arrive, you could skip Zurich altogether and train it directly to Luzern for 2 nights, then Lauterbrunnen 3 nights, Zermatt 2 nights and consider Bern for a night as well. It's a city, technically, but is pretty, compact and is the capital after all.

I too am not a fan of 1 night stops, but in this case you want to see a bit in your time and train travel in Switzerland will give you scenery galore, so you can "sightsee" as well a travel to your next destination.

Hi daria26,

Like all the other posters above, I also dislike one- or two-night stays. You really lose a LOT of vacation time because of the chores of packing up & checking out, then checking in & unpacking again. You may step foot in a lot of different places, but your experiences won't be grand, and your memories are likely to be confused.

I assume you are coming from outside of the European continent so would suggest that you fly in/out of Zürich; flying in or out of Geneva usually means more connections (and so more lost time!). So with that in mind, I would suggest:

Go directly to your first mountain destination, either the Jungfrau area or to Zermatt. Stay three nights.

Go to Montreux or Vevey on Lake Geneva,stay three nights

Go to Luzern or Zürich, stay one night, fly out the next day.

For more information on these areas, see:

www.myjungfrau.ch
www.zermatt.ch
www.montreux.ch
www.luzern.com
www.zuerich.ch

For train schedules and fares, use the Swiss rail site at

www.rail.ch

Have fun as you plan!

s

Fly into and out of Zurich. Forget Geneva.

Two-Three days in Bern. Not just for the city, which is lovely, but for the many side trips from there. You can easily get to the Lake Geneva waterside towns from there. Take a boat on the lake (Swiss government run.) Also can go to other towns in a totally different direction such as Friebourg. (Which I loved.)

Three days in Jungfrau (Berner Oberland) area. Stay in Interlaken (easy to get to the many mountain trips from there), or further into the area in Wengen or Lauterbrunnen.

You need at least 3 days (and more if possible) to do many side trips in the Jungfrau (Berner Oberland). Additionally, going up into the mountains - one never knows what the weather will be like and you may have to wait for a good weather day to go up some mountain.

Luzern for 2 days - Beautiful small city and many side trips from there too. Train from there to Zurich airport to go home.

I'd let the weather dictate where you go. If it's really nice when you arrive, head straight for the mountains. Those are best enjoyed in clear weather, whereas cities still have a lot to offer if the weather is poor. Of course, you'll have to be willing to travel with minimal reservations!

Lauterbrunnen has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. You do need to go later than mid April otherwise there is a big chance you won't see anything. You need also to allow a full day to travel by train to the top of the mountain, this is not to be missed.

If taking that route by train then be sure to investigate either the Swiss Pass, which covers trains and also boats, buses and even city transports and gives free entry to over 400 often pricey museums or the Half-Fare Card.

Great sights for lots of info on Swiss trains, boats, scenic specialty trains, etc and passes - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www/swisstravelsystem.com; and www.ricksteves.com.

novir - What do you mean by:
"You do need to go later than mid April otherwise there is a big chance you won't see anything."?

kenav, the weather is often so closed in before spring sets in that unless you are there for the skying, sightseeing could be a big problem or so I was told. Also a lot of the accommodation closes for the winter. I visited at the end of April and it was great. We hiked, took various day train trips, the streams were pouring with melting snow and there were not too many people around.

I'd stay out of Zurich and Geneva as two of the world's most expensive cities. Train system is very good so stay outside and visit the city from a nice hillside hotel

ditto to what bilboburgler says - though those are nice enough cities they are not what most folks come to Switzerland to see and yes are also outrageously expensive for hotels and restaurants, etc.

1 night in Lauterbrunnen and 1 night in Zermatt means seeing very little of the lovely regions these Alpine bases are situated in - taking into consideration the time it takes to get to those places and you seem to have little time. I'd scrub one in favor of the other and have at least two nights in one of them - Lauterbrunnen would be my choice as from there you can do the fantastic loop by thrilling aerial cableway up to Grutschalp, take a train along the cliff's edge to Murren, take the long aerial cableway to Schilthorn/Piz Gloria (as seen in James Bond On Her Majesty's service film) and then back to Murren for a caableway to Gimmelwald - lost in the Alps farming hamlet with awesome views and then a cablecar plunging back down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley at Stechelberg and postal bus back to Lauterbrunnen - every part fully covered by a Swiss Pass.

Sdchilthorn is an icy outpost in the middle of nothing but ice and rocky peaks - surreal and fantastic views 360 degrees around.

Thanks all!! I will by all means consider your suggestions, thanks again!!

Hi Everybody,

I got lots information while going through this discussion.We are planning a trip to switzerland this July.

we have planned our trip as follows.

2 days at Lucerne
2 days at Zermatt
3 days at Interlaken

Now after taking lots of suggestions we are planning to stay 3 days at Berner Oberland area instead of staying 3 days at Interlaken.We need to finalize a small car free village kind of place.Please suggest which one will be the best.As of now we are thinking Lauterbrunnen or Wengen. From where we can cover Jungfrau and other beautiful places ?

Hi SmitaSurya,

Lauterbrunnen isn't car-free, and it sits at the bottom of a valley with cliffs that overhang the town. Those cliffs always depress me -- though many others find the cliffs dramatic and charming and others don't even see the cliffs.

I personally would head to Wengen, which is car-free and sits up in the mountains.

www.mywengen.ch

Have fun as you plan!

s

Thanks swandev....Now we are planning 3 days for Wengen...What do you think 3 days at wengen is good or 3 days at lucerne is good ?? Which is having more site scenes ??

As of now we have thought to travel to Jungfrau & Interlaken while staying at Wengen. (Including Wengen).Please suggest what else ???

and from Lucerne we are planing to go to Titlis, Pilatus and Rigi.(Including Lucerne).

From Zermatt We are planning to go to Matterhorn.(Including Zermatt).From here can we go to any place near by to see typical castle ??

I hope all the places are different to each other or else one will get bored :-(...

Please suggest something else if you didnt like this plan :-)

Reference flying into Geneva: there are several N/S routes to Geneva from the US