leelee100

My family of five (two adults and three young adults) will be traveling to Paris at the end of May and we have decided to spend a few days in Switzerland also. We have four days there and despite my constant research I am still confused. We have chosen Lucerne as our base. We are not extremely athletic so not looking for any long hikes...just a good walk or two. We love beautiful scenery and charming towns. We will not have a car so all traveling will be done by train, etc. Questions:

1) Is Lucerne an appropriate base? It seems centrally located from my research.

2) Will one day be enough for touring the Alps? We don't have to see them all and like I said we aren't looking for long hikes. Should we do Rigi, Titlis, or Jungfrau? Do we need to do all or can we get by with one?

3) Should we see Berner Oberland? And can we combine this with our Alp day?

4) We would like to go to the Montreux area one day. Is this possible in one day?

5) We do want to tour Lucerne and possibly Bern. So what am I missing? I know we can only hit the highlights in this short amount of time.

6) Is the train system easy to navigate? We know very little French and even less German (which I believe are the main languages spoken, along with some Italian and another that I cannot recall at the moment). We will do our best to communicate in their language but is some English spoken? Also how about in most restaurants?

Thank you very much for any help you can offer. We are so excited to finally see this beautiful part of the world!

gruezi

This is a tough group of questions. Will you have 4 full days or are some just arriving and leaving?

I think Luzern is a good spot as you can take a day from there on a riverboat around the lake and see the mountains or go up Mt. Rigi one day and of course there is Luzern itself. I would choose Luzern over Bern for sure.

I love the Berner Oberland - but I would pick one town there with your limited timeframe. Perhaps Wengen with a trip up Jungfrau if the weather is good... Take the lift up to Mannlichen then the nice, easy gorgeous hike from Mannlichen to where the trains go up to Jungfraujoch (about an hour hike). Spend a few hours going up Jungfrau and hanging out up there...

The trains are very easy and just about everyone in the major tourist areas will be able to speak some English.

I think I would do it this way:

2 days Luzern with one day an excursion from there up Mt. Rigi or on the lake elsewhere if the weather is nice.

2 days Wengen with trip up Jungfrau and a hike.

This will give you a tiny taste of Switzerland. My only concern is are things open in the mountains in May as I've never been that time of year. Check first...

Enjoy.

gruezi

zorrosf

Please permit me to piggyback on this thread. If one wanted to add Days 5 and 6 (or 7) to the 4 days already scheduled, what would you suggest within a short train ride?

quokka

Sorry, I disagree with the previous post. Stick to one base for such a short visit. For a simple reason: You cannot plan the weather. Nobody can guarantee you clear weather on one or two particular dates. If the sky is overcast you will not see anything of the mountains.

Luzern is a perfect base because it has options for outdoor/mountain activities at the doorstep and enough to do in the city if the weather is not favourable, so you can adjust your plan to current conditions. Weather forecasts for the Alps are of no use for more than one day in advance, and even then you cannot 100% count on them. Check conditions every morning and then decide what to do that day.

gruezi

My experience has been that the weather forecasts are pretty good with exception of heading up very high to top of Europe or Schilthorn expecting views - this can be determined daily by using the webcams.

Typically the mornings in Wengen start well with clouds building over the day. I usually hike or do my activities early as a result.

You could just hang out in Luzern and see how things turn with the weather then hope to catch a sunny day in the mountains, but I personally find the mountains a lot more thrilling than Luzern (although it is a lovely city) and would take my chances.

I have been to Wengen many times - it is in what is referred to as 'the pleasure zone' meaning that it gets a generous allotment of sunshine. I stay at the Alpenrose. Again, see if they are open yet...

gruezi

elaine

I had a 6.5 day visit to Switzerland last summer, my first visit there. I had always wanted to see Zermatt and the Matterhorn, so I flew to Geneva (from Paris, you can also TGV train) and took a train ride to Zermatt. Time, I think, was about 4 hours,maybe a bit more. Spent a beautiful 3 days there, two days would have sufficed, there's not much to do except do a bit of hiking or take some cog railways to viewing platforms. I am still thrilled that I went there.
The Matterhorn and the Alps did not disappoint.

Took a train from Zermatt to Vevey on Lake Geneva, and stayed there for the remaining three days. Charming town in its own right, not as much to see and do as in Montreux. I did take a local bus from Vevey to Montreux and back again (easily done) and visited the Chillon Castle, and then walked from Chillon (lovely walk, framed with beautiful flower plantings)to Montreux where I spent a good part of the day. I also did a day trip from Vevey to Lausanne, going by train, coming back by leisurely ferry on the lake.
Vevey was then an easy train ride to Geneva airport for my flight home.

nytraveler

You need to know that the tops of the mountains are n the clouds - so even on days when the valleys are full of sunshine there may be no views from the Mountains (you can just about see your hand in front of your face.

I would stay in Lucerne - so you have a choice of options. That way you can tour the town, take a boat trip to smaller towns around the lake and do brief walks or hikes from there, take a cable or train up Mt Titlis or Pilatus - or the train to Interlaken to ascend the Jungfrau. For the latter call the train station in Interlaken in the am - or check online - to see if the top is open. (In late May we had to waut 3 days for one that was open - but we toured Interlaken, Brienz, Thun and Gruyere - by car.

Smart3

Paris to Geneva, or Paris to Bern.

And that "other" language is Romansh.

Ingo

1) I agree that Lucerne is an excellent base. No moving around needed.

2) I personally would go to Mt. Titlis as it is the nearest peak that is really *in* the Alps. Mt. Pilatus and Mt. Rigi are at the edge of the Alps. Jungfrau is quite a train ride away and if you're not absolutely sure the conditions are perfect I'd rather say don't go.

3) It's not *that* different from other Alpine regions. Engelberg/Mt. Titlis is not exactly as impressive as the Jungfrau region, but end of May there will be enough snow on the mountains to appear very similar. With four FULL days it might be an option to do an additional excursion to the Jungfrau region, but with 4 nights and only 3 FULL days I would not do that.

4) Possible but not recommended. Too far IMO. You'd spend too much time on the trains and not enough time in Montreux to really enjoy it IMO.

5) Actually, I would skip Bern. Concentrate on Lucerne (one day), do the excursion to the Alps on another day, spend another day with a cruise on the lake, hopping on/off the steamer here and there. If there's really another fulll day left you might do another excursion to the mountains.

6) Very easy to navigate. English is widely spoken. You'll have no problems at all.

leelee100

Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful information.