Komalmkaundal

Hello experts, need your help on my itinerary

I will be travelling to switzerland in august second week and doing a part tour/ part on our own kinda tour

we have the following itinerary :

- day 1 interlaken( will be coming in by coach from Paris)

- day 2 jungfraujoch

- day 3 mount titlis and lucerne

now since both jungfraujoch and titlis are optional add ons am confused which one should we opt for. We are also keen yo explore mt rigi if its fits in the itinerary somewhere

- day 4 bernina express to lugano

- day 5 back to zurich

enroute we were planning rhine falls or mt rigi since we do not really want to explore zurich

please advise

PalenQ

Are you on a coach tour or traveling by yourself? If going by train to all 5 places then look strongly at a Swiss Pass, valid not only on trains but postal buses, lake boats (lovely floats on the two lakes bookending Interlaken!), city trams and buses and gives free entry to 400+ Swiss museums - give 50% off gondolas or trains to mountain tops (Jungfrau 25% from Grindelwald or Wengen - 100% up to those two cities.)

Hop on any train anytime except official Bernina, Glacer Expresses and Golden Pass (which you could take between Interlaken and Lucerne via the Brunig Pass route) - those may require seat reservations that are extra above the pass.

Some superb sites for planning a Swiss train trip IMO- www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; www.ricksteves and www.seat61.com.

michelhuebeli

<quote> now since both jungfraujoch and titlis are optional add ons am confused which one should we opt for. We are also keen yo explore mt rigi if its fits in the itinerary somewhere <>

To help you make a decision, look at some travel DVDs and also on YouTube - to get an idea of what these look like.

The Jungfraujoch is in a league of its own, while Rigi and TItlis are - in a way - similar, as are these that are much closer to Interlaken: Niesen (www.niesen.ch) and Niederhorn (www.niederhorn.ch/en.html) and Brienzer Rothorn (www.brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch/en.html‎). The views are all very different from these, but what they have in common is the distinction that they are not among the real BIG ones.

Jungfrau is one of THE BIG ones, the Joch is the saddle between Jungfrau and its adjacent big one, while all the others are lesser peaks from where you admire THE BIG ones.

The Joch is only worth the time and considerable expense if it's a clear day - often it's not, and down below in places like Interlaken they have monitoring stations etc, so you know whether you should go or not on any given day.

The Niesen for example is a splendid half-day excursion, from Interlaken you take a train to Spiez (most trains in the direction of Bern and beyond stop first in Spiez), then you switch to the local train that takes you two stops to Mülenen where the cograil contraption begins that takes you to the top. There is a restaurant, a 360 degree view, probably some daredevil parasailing folk - a great place!

Across Lake Thun is the Niederhorn, also accessible via a cograil or funicular or some such contraption, first via Beatenberg, accessible by postal coach (Postauto) or by public boat to Beatenbucht then a funicular up to Beatenberg.

If you choose Titlis or Rigi, you'll have a few brief moments to stroll Lucerne, don't miss the wooden bridge (rebuilt after a fire, made to look like the centuries-old bridge it had been).

Toucan

I would replace Titlis with Pilatus and maybe do the Golden Round Trip to the top which includes bus, gondola, cable car, cog train and boat (or reverse).

Another option is the Stanserhorn double decker cable car with an open air top level. It is fairly new and I haven't been on it but it's on my list! Both Pilatus and Stanserhorn are closer and take less time from Lucerne. IMHO Titlis isn't worth the extra time when on a tight schedule. And if you get to Jungfraujoch you'll see enough of ice caves and glaciers!

Don't miss the Lion monument while in Lucerne.

neckervd

"enroute we were planning rhine falls or mt rigi since we do not really want to explore zurich"

Lugano is a nice place. Stay there until you must board your train to Zurich airport. In the case your plane leaves in the morning, take a late train from Lugano to ZRH in sleep there.

michelhuebeli

If you need to sleep close to the Zürich airport for an early flight, search for hotels not in Zürich but in the town of Kloten which is adjacent to the airport, they know how it goes and how to get you to the airport in the morning, they do that all the time.

Search for "hotels Kloten ZH".

The light-rail line S7 goes to Kloten (the town, not the airport) from the central station in Zürich, called HB for Hauptbahnhof, where your train from Lugano arrives.

To get from Zürich HB to the airport you take not the light rail but the regular train (the Winterthur line), the airport has its own below-ground station.

Dukey1

You can very easily do the Titlis trip by rail and then the 3-phase cable car up from Engleberg in a half day from Luzern. However, it does not compare with the trip up to the Jungfraujoch in terms of the views. It isn't the height of the top that matters because Titlis is at 10,000 feet but the views from the top at the Jungfraujoch are much better IMO and I justt did the trip earlier today.

PalenQ

The views from Jungfraujoch south are awesome - right over the large Aletsch Glacier for miles as it descends towards the Rhone (?) Valley. but if you can't do Jungfraujoch Titlis is also a classic Alpine wonderland with ice and snow at upper els.