This was supposed to be a 8/9 day trip so was looking at other options besides Switzerland but just made it almost 2 weeks, now I think Switzerland could work!

Please comment on our itinerary below and suggest any changes. Also a little concerned about the apparent additional crowds this year.

Aug 27th - Arrive in Lisbon on a Delta fight at 10.45am - already have that ticket. (Have been to Lisbon previously).

Aug 28th - Easyjet flight from Lisbon to Geneva (not cheap any more, unfortunately!) Arriving at 4.45pm - Train or bus to Montreux? - 2 or 3 nights?

Aug 30th - Zermatt - 2 nights

Sept 1st - Interlaken - 1 night - Not sure if we should spend one night in Interlaken so we can do the lake cruise/s and then proceed to Wengen the next day or head straight to Wengen & come back for the cruise? Or we could leave our luggage at Interlaken station, do the boat cruise & proceed to Wengen.

Sept 2nd - Wengen - 3 nights (or 4 if we do not stay in Interlaken)

Sept 5th - Murren - 2 nights. Really want to spend one night in Murren just for the experience but most hotels have a 2-night minimum. Tho we could switch the hotel. I know the sensible thing to do would be to just stay in Wengen but we don't mind moving - how long would it take to get to Murren from Wengen ? We would visit Murren in any case. Want to visit the other BO areas as well such as Gimmelwald, Lauterbrunnen etc and do some short hikes.

Sept 7th - Zurich - 1 night

Sept 8th Fly out of Zurich


Would also love to hear of any lesser-known places where we could squeeze in 1 night if we did 1 night in Murren - any suggestions?

FYI, we have been to Zurich and Lucerne previously on a 4 night stopover in Zurich, so do not need to visit Lucerne.

Thanks all! I really rely on the help I get on this forum, truly appreciate it.

Seems I posted the same thread twice since I did not see the first one appear and thought it may have timed out or not gone through since I took a long time writing it! Now I see them both - Switzerland Itinerary & Switzerland Itinerary help, but I cannot seem to delete one. I have emailed the Administrators but if anyone knows how to delete a thread, please let me know!

Perhaps Portugal, which is far more interesting than Lisbon

Direct trains from Geneva airport to Montreux run every 30 minutes.There are no buses.
IMO a Lake Geneva boat cruise (historic paddle steamboats) is as pleasant as a Lake Thun cruise.

It takes about 48 minutes to get from Wengen to Murren

I deleted the duplicate.

Thanks for deleting!

Any input on the itinerary itself?

Thanks!

Why aren't you flying round trip to/from Zurich? I don't get the Lisbon stop for one night. I understand you've already booked/bought the ticket, but can it be changed for less than the cost of the Easy Jet ticket to Geneva? Otherwise, IMO too many short stays in the entire itinerary.

Only 2 nights (noit even 2 full days) for Zermatt and almost a week in the Jungfrau area?
https://matterhornalpinecrossing.com/en

As for the itinerary -

I'd extend your two nights in Zermatt to three (two nights is only one full day).

I'd skip Interlaken, and spend that extra night in Murren for a total of three. Backtracking from Wengen to Interlaken will only take about 40 minutes.

And...if your flight from Zurich leaves later in the day, I'd not spend that last night in Zurich, but would add it to one of your other spots - but only if you have an afternoon flight.

I absolutely would not try to "squeeze" in another night anywhere. You have plenty on your plate already.

I will leave Montreux to others as I'm not that familiar with it.

You haven't asked about the always confusing train passes yet - have you done any research on them yet?

Also, using nights instead of days will help us help you. Less confusing. As it is, I'm still not sure how many nights you have.

Hi all, thanks for the responses.

The flight to Lisbon arriving on Sept 27th cannot be changed but I am fine with it. The first day after a transatlantic overnight flight is not very productive anyway since DH naps for most of it!!

So basically our Switzerland trip starts on the 28th - (we get into Geneva around noon), for a total of 10 nights. our flight out from Zurich is at 5.40pm on Sept 7th Hope that helps clarify things!

I had actually replaced that night in Interlaken with a night in Lauterbrunnen, but I can add that to Zermatt instead. Would adding it to Zermatt be a better option than adding it to Montreux (then we could do a day trip to Lausanne as well)?
Is there more to do/see in Zermatt even if we are not going to do any serious hiking?

In any case, then the itinerary would be as follows, how does it sound?
Montreux - 2 nights
Zermatt - 3 nights
Wengen - 3 nights
Murren - 2 nights (Or 1 with the last night in Zurich)

Putting our luggage in the station locker in Interlaken and doing the lake cruise before heading to Wengen could be an option.

Melnq8, I was going to ask about the rail pass but decided to wait until I had my itinerary squared away first! Based on preliminary research, I think the 8 day (not consecutive) Swiss pass may be a good option but will spend some more time putting in routes etc and ask my questions then! Also, have to see if there is a senior discount. Of course, any expert advice is welcome!

Thanks!

If you do your Lake Thun "cruise" before arriving at Wengen, you completely waste your last Zermatt day.
But if you want to do so, it might be way easier to leave the train at Thun instead of Spiez, to board the Lake Thun boat at the Thun railway station boat's pier with all your luggage and to leave the boat at Interlaken West railway station boat's pier.

No senior discount that I'm aware of, unfortunately. I'd compare the Half Fare Card to the 8 day Swiss Pass - the only way to do this is to crunch the numbers. Keep in mind that the Swiss pass covers museums, but it only gives a 25% discount on the Jungfrau, so it you plan to go up there, it will make a huge difference.

I suggest you make a list of all the train/bus/funicular/cable cars you want to take and compare the two passes. And since you'll have 10 nights instead of 8 days, if you buy the Swiss Flex pass, you won't have the luxury of hopping on and off trains for your entire trip - you'll need to plan even better.

Look at the validity map for the Swiss Pass carefully:

https://shop.swiss-pass.ch/assets/docs/Overview_Map.pdf

The Half Fare Card is 120 chf per person, so to make it pay off you'd need to spend at least 240 chf per person.

We used to buy Swiss Passes, but these days we always buy the Half Fare Card (our trips are a month or longer) and this year we're hoping to buy the year long Half Fare Card, as we plan to return again before the year is up.

With a 5:40 pm flight, I'd definitely not spend the night before in Zurich. You can can get to Zurich airport from Murren in ~3 hours, and if you stay in Zurich you'll have to vacate your hotel many hours before your flight.

I still think you should say in either Murren or Wengen, not both, as it so easy to get from one to the other. If you spent four nights in one or the other, that would free up a night for Montreux. I don't know Montreux specifically, but I've traveled enough to know that three nights in a given place is always better than two, especially as your one full day there will be spent making a day trip to Lausanne.

You mention Lauterbrunnen??? Absolutely no need to stay there - it's very close to Murren and Wengen - pick one and spend all your nights in one place. Very easy to get from one to the other and with a pass, it's not going to cost much either. Less is more.

If budget is the overriding concern, then, yes, the only way to determine whether a half fare card or 8 day pass is cheaper is to crunch the numbers. However, when I did a 2 week trip to Switzerland, we purchased that 15 consecutive day pass and were glad we did as it gave us so many options. For example, while I tend to agree with the advice that you should choose either Wengen or Murren (whichever you don't pick will only be about 45 minutes away, and visible across the valley), with 5 nights in the Lauterbrunnen valley, if you end up with some bad weather, you can take the train to places like Thun, Bern, Brienz (the open air musuem), etc., as easy daytrips, but you're more likely to do so if you have a pass where there is no additional cost.

Montreux would be fine, but there are other places along Lake Geneva that would be good, too, especially if you have a rail pass. We stayed at Auberge de la Gare at Grandvaux (in the middle of the Lavaux vineyards, a few miles outside Lausanne) and loved it, but that was because we could hop on any train without worry about the cost.

With a Swiss Pass, day trips from Montreux are super easy. Lausanne (can take a boat ride on Lac Leman to stop near Olympic Museum), visit a vineyard/winery in the Lavaux area and train back to Montreux. Day trip to town of Gruyeres (cheese, castle) and Broc (Cailler Chocolate Factory). Also boat or bus ride to Chillon Castle. All except the winery visit would be covered by the Swiss Pass.

I have been to Switzerland six times and always end up with the Swiss Pass. It is so easy to just jump on the train, bus or boat to visit places. We visited museums and other venues included in the pass that we would not ordinarily visit.

I agree that you should chose either Murren or Wengen. Personally I have stayed in Interlaken (never again), Lauterbrunnen and twice in Wengen. Wengen hit the sweet spot. Easy day tripping to Murren, Breinez, Mannlichen and Jungfrajoch.

Thanks all for the advice!
Still having a hard time letting go of our stay in Murren! Right now I have 3 nights in Wengen at the Hotel Alpine & 2 nights at the Hotel Edelweiss in Murren, with mountain view rooms in both. Would welcome any input on the hotels?

As far as the passes go - leaning towards the Half Price card & the 6 day BO pass. We save 110 on the BO pass with the half price card which costs 125 euros & pay half price for travel during the 5 days prior.
Day 1 Probably just take the train to Montreux from Geneva airport, go to Chillon Castle that evening.
Day 2 We may go to Lausanne, Lavaux etc.
Day 3 Montreux to Zermatt - Golden Pass Railway?
Day 4 Matterhorn - weather permitting. Is that covered under the Swiss rail pass?
Day 5 Zermatt to Interlaken, at which point the BO pass will kick in for the trip from Interlaken to Wengen.

Does the Swiss Pass cover cable cars the same as the BO pass? I know it gives 25% off Jungrau but was asking about getting to the other villages. If not, & the BO pass does cover them, then that would probably make the most sense. But if coverage is the same. then I have to see how much the travel on Days1-5 will cost with the half price card., it may still be less than 170 euros which is the approximate difference in the price for 2 between the Swiss flx pass (860 euros)) and the 1/2 price (257 euros) + BO pass (437 euros ) = 694 euros. And that still leaves 2 days - (probably the first two), that we would have to buy full price tickets. Or of course, we could just do the 15 day swiss pass for 900 euros & call it a day!! (And make it less confusing)! Just ends up being more expensive than I expected!

May be a silly question but I have to ask - would renting a car for part or all of the journey be a good option? Just love the idea of driving through scenic Swiss villages but admiring the views from the train sounds pretty good too!
Of course I know Wengen & Murren are car free so would have to leave the car in Lauterbrunnen & the same for Zermatt too.

Thoughts? Thanks all!

You might consider using the postbus in Switzerland, they are very clean, very on time and go to some very small places. https://www.postauto.ch/en/timetable.../route-network
normally when I end up in the middle of nowhere and I stop a car I watch the postbus pass me going up roads that I can barely see.

The Half Fare Card is 120 chf, not 125 euros. Make sure you're buying it from the source, SBB.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holida...fare-card.html

Yes, your Half Fare Card is valid on the Gornergrat Railway (Zermatt):

https://www.gornergrat.ch/en/pages/p...ornergrat-bahn

Swiss Pass coverage map:

https://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/validity

Berner Oberland Pass coverage:

https://www.myswissalps.com/regional...rland/validity

In our two dozen trips to Switzerland we've never rented a car. We can get everywhere we want to go by bus, train, funicular, cable car, etc. Renting a car adds another layer of stress - you need a vignette for some roads, parking is expensive, and parking can be quite scarce. We've seen paid parking in some surprisingly remote places; and the driver can't enjoy the scenery as much as from a train or bus. And of course a car is useless in a car free village.

Traveling by public transport is one of the joys of visiting Switzerland.

ZERMATT
Swiss Travel Pass: free ride up to Zermatt.
Montain railway/cableway RT fares from Zermatt in August (in September about 10 per cent cheaper). :
Rothorn: 82 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 41 CHF
Gornergrat: full fare 126 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 63 CHF
Riffelberg via Riffelalp: 80 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 40 CHF
Riffelberg via Furi: 60 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 30 CHF
Schwarzsee: 60 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 30 CHF
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise 120 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 60 CHF
Testa Grigia: 185 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 93 CHF
Breuil/Cervinia: 240 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 140 CHF
Aosta via Testa Grigia: 250 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass or Half Fare Card 150 CHF

ALETSCH GLACIER
Swiss Travel Pass: free ride up to Fiesch
Gondola Fiesch - Eggishorn: RT 60 CHF, with Swiss Travel Pass of half Fare Card 30 CHF

JUNGFRAUJOCH
Swiss Travel Pass: free ride up to Wengen or Grindelwald
Wengen/Grindelwald - Jungfraujoch, Grindelwald - First, Wilderswil - Schynige Platte,: https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/prices-and-tickets/

My recollection is that the Swiss Pass just gets you a 50% discount above certain points (and only 25% on Jungfrau). I believe you are correct on the BO pass covering more. We stayed in Wengen with a Swiss Pass, and had to pay to take the cable car to Manlichen (with the applicable discount).