I a need help desperately. I am trying to put together a Switzerland Itinerary. Help!!
It is so complicated! How in the world do you people plan such trips?.

So many places to see how can I ever cramp it in to one week time. Anyway. I have about 5 days in Switzerland. Two of those days I must be in arosa. I will be arriving to Switzerland on Wednesday.

I can arrive to Geneva or Zurich. I was thinking of doing

Wednesday Lucerne? What is there to see in Lucerne?
Mt. Pilatus.
sleep in lucerne.
Thursday Interlaken and the Jungfrau.

Friday Head to arosa?

My big problem is I cannot find transportation from Interlaken to Arosa. How does this Itinerary sound? I could go to Geneva and montreax. Is that nicer?

Friday and Saturday I will be in arosa. I still have Sunday any suggestions?

Thank YOu

Hi there...

It's very rare in Switzerland where one can't get from an established A to established B.

It takes between 4.5 to 5.5 hours to get by train from Interlaken to Arosa (www.sbb.ch).

Arosa is closer to Zurich than it is to Geneva.

I assume that you have to arrive and leave at the same airport.

It sounds like you would either come into Zurich and do Luzern/Interlaken or Geneva/Montreaux.

It's a difficult choice.

Here are some options.

Day 0:Arrive in Zurich, depending on your flight time, head directly to Luzern and check-in. Maybe check out the town at night

Day 1: Luzern - The Lion, Glacier gardens, Pilatus

Day 2: Jungfrau or Schilthorn

Day 3: Cruise Lake Thun/Brienz. Maybe late train to Arosa.

Day 4/5: Arosa.

This would cover some lake seeing.

There could also be a possibility of:

Day 2: Early bird at Jungfrau. Train to Montreaux. Check out montreaux at night.

Day 3: Chateau Chillon in the morning, general montreaux. Afternoon train to Arosa.

So day 3, you'd either do a lake in the interlaken area or on lake geneva.


If you could come into Geneva and out of Zurich, that's even better.

Hope this helps.

Arosa is a lovely little mountain town in the midst of beautiful mountains, you will enjoy your time there. It is not very well known by US tourists. It is outside of Chur, a major rail center. It is very easy to get to anywhere from Chur.

To get to Interlaken, you can take a train from Zurich or Geneva; the trip takes 2 hours from Zurich and 3 hours from Geneva, so it is bit of a toss up as to which city you fly into, that would depend on where else you want to go.

From the Interlaken area, you can get to Chur/Arosa by train in about 4 hours. You then take a little cable railway up the mountain to Arosa for another hour. It is very easy to do. The website for Swiss Rail is rail.ch, it is very easy to use.

With 5 days, 2 of which you have to be in Arosa, my suggestion would be to stick with your original plan of the Interlaken area, as both Arosa and Interlaken are in eastern Switzerland. However, you could go to the western side near Geneva, and Montreux would be a good choice. From the Montreaux area to Arosa would take just over 5 hours by train, so it is really a toss up as to whether you go to Interlaken or Montreux. If you were to do this, my suggestion would be an open jaw flight into Geneva and out of Zurich (about 2.5 hours by train from Arosa, versus - 5.5 hours from Arosa to Geneva) to save time and backtracking.

What time of year would you be going? Interlaken can be foggy at some months. Also, if you aren’t interested in mountains, or feel you will get enough in Arosa, then Montreaux would be a good contrast. In either case, the train ride is very beautiful.

Personally, with only 3 days, I would skip Lucerne and either spend all my time in the Interlaken area (preferably Wengen, Murren or Gimmelwald) or spend it in Montreux. However, this is a personal decision and if being in the mountains is not that important to you, then by all means go to Lucerne.(There are also several nicer smaller village on the same lake as Lucerene which you might prefer, consult a guidebook.)

You need a good guidebook to give you basic information and geography. While this site is helpful, it is more useful after you have a basic understanding of what there is to see and do in a country and what YOU want to see and do.

You could spend your Sunday with a one day tour of Zurich.

Hello Ind,

Have you looked up Switzerland under "destinations" at www.fodors.com?

I must be getting old--this seems like a nightmare, rush-rush-rush trip in the making.

Assuming you arrive in Zurich and have 3 nights outside of Arosa, I'd suggest staying all three nights in Luzern and take one day trip to either Jungfrau/Schilthorn or, if cloudy/foggy, Lake Thun/Brienz area. This way, you're not constantly packing/unpacking and lugging bags on/off/to/from trains. You can't see everything in 3 days, so do yourself a favor and settle down in one town and do one day trip to see another beautiful area.

Ind9jo- It is not so complicated if you plan a simpler trip! (meant most kindly). or that's how I do it anyway.

www.vevey.ch and www.montreux.ch will give you an idea about these two lovely towns along the lake within 1 hour of Geneva. both incredibly easy to reach by train from the Geneva airport. i have friends there and many times have spent 2 weeks in just these places with a few day trips tossed in.

Sorry I am no help about your overall question and schedule.