Switzerland Itinerary and questions
 

We are thinking of visiting Switzerland in mid April for 10 days. Here is our draft itinerary, suggestions welcome.

Day 1 - Arrive in Zurich airport in the morning, get half fare card and take train to Lucerne (I calculated the swiss saver or flex saver and it seems that the half fare card is better)

Day 2 - Lucerne (the usual sights around town)

Day 3 - Mt. Pilatus or Mt Rigi? The cogwheel train to Pilatus is not operational during this time..

Day 4 - Train to Interlaken, I read that there are many opinions on where to stay around Interlaken, but we think we would like to stay in Interlaken due to the central location

Day 5, 6, 7 - Schilthorn, Jungfraujoch (hope that the weather is good on one of those days), and Lauterbunnen falls are the three things we want to do. We may go to Harder or the lakes once we are done with them.

Day 8 - Train to Zurich

Day 9 - Zurich (any suggestions on what to do there?)

Day 10 - Go back home :-(

Have a question about the half fare card, can you use it to get day passes in Luzern and Interlaken and Zurich?

Does that sound like a do-able trip?
We like to take things slow :-)

In May last year we travelled to Lauterbrunnen by train and spent a wonderful 5 days based there. Each day we did something different; cog train to the Top of the World ; one day in Interlaken; a hike from Kleine Sceidigg to Wengen; a hike to Trummelbach Falls; visit Grindelwald. It was very relaxing and the high point of a 7 week European trip. Has to be one of the world's most beautiful places. If you are under 50 you might find Lauterbrunnen a bit quiet once dinner is over.

Zurich is nice, but I think you should add one night to your Interlaken stay, and deduct one from your Zurich stay. A long afternoon there is plenty to walk thru the town on both sides of the river, see the lake, pop in a couple churches, etc.

Be prepared for any peak to be obscured by fog/mists/clouds but sometimes the trip up and back is even more spectacular than the view from the top.

Interlaken..yeah it is central but not nearly as fun/attractive as staying in Lauterbrunnen IMO and if you are in the area for a couple of days there is a good bet you'll be going to/through Lauterbrunnen to somewhere else.

At least consider a visit to the Trummelbachfalle while in the BO

http://www.truemmelbachfaelle.ch/

We stayed at the Hotel du Lac in Interlaken -- across the street from Interlaken Ost train station. The trains up into the mountains run from Interlaken Ost, including the little train to the botanical gardens at Schnynige Platte. Also at Interlaken Ost you catch the boat for Lake Brienz. But both of these may not have yet started service for the year. I see the Open Air Museum at Brienz opens in mid-April, so you could go there by train if not by boat.

2 caveats. April is between seasons in Switzerland, after skiing, before the summer hiking season. There's still a lot of snow in the mountains, and many of the trains, gondolas, etc are under repair. And the summer attractions are not open.

Second, Interlaken is a long, skinny town strung out along the Aare River between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. It's a fair walking distance between Interlaken West (where the boats for Lake Thun leave) and Interlaken Ost.

I think you have planned this trip about as well as anyone could plan a trip such as this in a little more than 1 week.

I like your getting off the plane and hooking up with the train over to Lucern. That is exactly what I would have done and in fact I have done that very same thing on some past trips. Since Lucerne is only about a 1 hour train ride from the Zurich airport train station, this is just a good plan IMO.

Now this is strictly a judgement call, but I like that Mt Titlis trip in the Engleberg area, but Rigi and Pilatus are nice trips also. Engleberg is just an hour out of Lucern by train. I would get out of Lucerne as early as possible to do the Engleberg deal.

Another trip I enjoy in this area is the Stansahorn mountain trip. Maybe I just caught those Stansahorn excursions on days that just were not well traveled, but this trip did not seem to attract the big crowds that some of those other trips attracted.

You did well in planning. or Yah Done Good. lol

Now playing:

The Beatles: Eight days a week

Thanks to all who replied..

Novir - We will look into Lauterbrunnen as a base instead of interlaken.

Travelnut - Since it is our first time in Switzerland, we will probably stay with the one day in Zurich, hopefully, we can come back to do more in the BO area in a couple of years.

Dukey - Thanks for the information, we will definitely go to Trummelbachfalle

Mimar - I understand about going in April that some of the rides may not be available, but unfortunately, that is the time where our vacation days intersect..We hope some of the rides will be open :-)

Sunstar - Thank you, we tried to read this forum and use it as our main travel advisor.

And now to the weather:

If you find that it's rainy and cold in the area you're visiting, take a look at the weather forecast. You might find the south of Switzerland sunny and warm. If this is the case, grab a train and head south!

Locarno and Lugano are approx. 2 hours south and a great destination to escape to when the weather is dismal.

Thanks Schuler for the suggestion, we will do a backup plan with Locarno in mind, but we are crossing our fingers that the weather is good for the BO region.