hi ,
my husband and me are looking travel in july end -aug 2015 to switzerland for 14 days .Please suggest an itenary ..we r really into nature and scenary ..
thanks

Natural scenery Alpine wonderland... the Jungfrau Region just south of Interlaken will fit that to a T! To me and many the most awesome of any place in Switzerland with so so much varied stuff to do - glacier-girdled peaks rise thousands of feet above lush meadows - take it in from your chalet-style guest house or hotel.

toy-like mountain trains and thrilling aerial gondolas going off in every direction - hikes for all degrees of energies - on easier trails just regular foot gear is fine.

rides on Switzerland's iconic lake boats on either lake bookending InterLaken and on and on

Take a train to Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station and a sea of ice and snow and walk to a glacier!

Say 5 nights here - one arriving

Then for variety head say for the French-speaking part of Switzerland - like Montreux on Lake Geneva, a sweet base for many neat short day trips - like to Gruyeres - a perfect walled old town or the Broc Nestle Chocolate Factory for Willie Wonkaesque tours - take the Golden Pass scenic train to Montreux from Interlaken - one of Switzerland's ballyhooed spcialty scenic trains - commentary en route and awesome panormaic observation cars - perhaps stop off in Gstaad for a few hours or days - another neat Alpine resort though very different from the Jungfrau Region

Some days in Montreux - again lake boat rides are neat - many love Vevey even more than Montreux - but either one is a great base.

Then maybe move over to Lucerne for another neat base - on one of Switzerland's loveliest lakes - Mt Pilatus is a unique trip up by thrilling mountain train and back down by thrilling aerial gondola - do a tour of Lake Lucerne with places like Mt Rigi easily accessible from boat docks.

End up in Zurich if that is where you're flying out of.

There you have some of Switzerland's nicest natural scenery and simply dreamy areas.

Trains are the best way to get around - cars are not even alloweed in the Jungfrau Region beyond a few parking lots on the edges of towns - for lots of great info on Swiss trains - check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. Check out the 14-consecutive-day Swiss Pass that covers not only trains but lake boats, postal buses and gives 50% off gondolas and trains to most mountain tops it doesn't cover in full.

Ensconce yourself in a cute mountain village eyeball to eyeball with the soaring Alps - Grindelwald, Luaterbrunnen, Murren and a perpetual favorite of Fodorites - Wengen, a car-less village only reached by foot or train.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...=1600&bih=1075

August 1 is Swiss National Day, a holiday with closures, parties, and such. Plan accordingly!

Aug 1st then would be a good day to be in Lucerne and take a boat to the Rutli Meadow, where the Swiss confederation was born centuries ago - think William Tell!

http://www.expatica.com/ch/out-and-a...st_103060.html

Or at other special places - good tip from Edward about that day and nothing much being open - trains and boats will be running I do believe regular Sunday schedules however.

"Please suggest an itenary"

Do you really want to visit a country without knowing why you will do so and to which places you want to go?
Do you really want to do what OTHER PEOPLE find you should do instead of doing what YOU like to do?

You may have a look at
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en

@Edward2005@PalenQ: thank you for the info .
@neckervd: have researched and shortlisted the places we wanna go just was not sure on where to go first

we are thinking
5 n in interlaken or grindelwald
[jungfrau .schillthorn ,bern ,murren ,thumberbach falls ]
3n in lucerne [ mt.rigi ,mt pilatus ,mt.titlis ,chapel bridge ,}
montreux 3 n [gruyeres ,castle chillon ,]
2 n [st moritz ]
zurich

is zermattt worth going ?
what about lugano

I suggest that afer 5 days in the BO, you can skip Zermatt. San Moritz was nothing special but can take the Bernina Express to Tirano and return.

Lugano is a great lakeside city to visit. You can ride the Centovalli Railroad from Lugano. Have lunch in Domodossola and return. Great scenic trip.

To correct myself, Centovalli RR runs Locarno to Domodossola.

I'd probably skip Zermatt since you're already doing the Interlaken area. I have not been to the Lake Lugano area, although by all accounts it is beautiful.

3 nights in Luzern is probably over-doing it. It's worth 2 nights max, imo.

Bern is worth looking into. It has an intact medieval core, a great Einstein museum, and a Paul Clee museum. Very close by are medieval Murten and Avanches, which has some nice Roman ruins.

Zurich is a fine town but you're not really missing anything special if you skip it.

5 nights in the Interlaken area is just right. I'd stay in one of the mountain towns rather than Interlaken. Grindlewald is a good base for hikes, but it's very touristy and pricey. Wengen and Murren are nearby traffic-free towns overlooking the Lauterbrunnen valley. Tiny Gimmelwald is my personal favorite.

I liked Lausanne as a home base for the Lake Geneva area better than Montreux because it's a bit closer to some of the more interior sights. You can easily visit Chateau Chillion on the way or as a day trip from Lausanne.

Also be prepared to adjust your itinerary on the fly depending on the weather. Clear days should be spent in the mountains.

thank u very much everyone ..
thinking of skipping zermatt ..will do lugano ..is st moritz not worth at all ?

also i m not sure if should go to lucerne first or interlaken

Hi divisha,

I personally far prefer Montreux (or Vevey) on Lake Geneva over Lausanne -- but then I just prefer smaller towns to larger cities. Montreux & Vevey are smaller, and there are more opportunities to find a hotel at the lake than at Lausanne, where most of the town is on a hill above the lake.

I also loved Luzern and spend 4 nights there two times; you won't run out of things to do. You could spend two days just exploring the towns and villages that dot the lake.

Are you flying in and out of Zürich? You should try to keep your travel linear so that you don't make any time-wasting loops or backtracks. A logical route would be to go to Montreux first (the farthest destination), then see Gruyeres enroute to the Jungfrau region, then the Jungfrau, then Luzern, and then Zürich.

Yes, the Engadin Valley (St. Moritz and area) are well worth the time, but it is a bit of a big detour. It will take you all day to get there and get back. So, it will really eat up the days to get there.

I would just use your "extra" days in the other destinations and spend maybe 4 nights Montreux, 5 nights Jungfrau, 3 nights Luzern, 2 nights Zürich. You truly won't run out of things to do and see.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Do you really want to do what OTHER PEOPLE find you should do instead of doing what YOU like to do?>

Yeh what others recommend after being there perhaps many times is great - like swandav, edwards and especially you- a Swiss resident's take on things (though sometimes I find foreign tourists know more what foreign tourists do and would like than more jaded locals - like those Swiss here who diss the Interlaken-Jungfraujoch region as overhyped - something that awesome just cannot possibly be overhyped.

Yes what others have done and enjoyed or not is very relevant so I think you are off mark in your rather tart criticism!

" those Swiss here who diss the Interlaken-Jungfraujoch region as overhyped"

Nevertheless, according to recent statistics, only 2/3 of all Swiss people never go to Jungfraujoch in their life and more than half of the Swiss population knows that Jungfraujoch exists. So, Jungfraujoch seeems to be extremely popular with Swiss people too. Several times more popular than Schilthorn, Titlis or Pilatus for sure!

How about Zermatt vs Jungfrau for Swiss? Would be curious at to that - suspect about the same but maybe some Matterhorn glimpse tourists?

@swandav:thank u for ur inputs ..
thinking of flying into zurich and out of geneva
will be going to lucerne
interlaken
montreux
fly out of geneva
really wanna do lugano ..is it possible post interlaken

Lugano is not easy to get to from Interlaken but a novel way takes you by iconic postal bus up and over a dramatically scenic pass to Goschenen, a stop on the Zurich to Lugano main Gotthard route rail line - the bus goes from Meiringen - a short distance by train from Interlaken-Ost (railpasses valid but there is a 10 Swiss Franc Alpine surcharge I believe - I took the bus a few years back and remember about 10 CHF on top of using a pass, which would be valid the whole route by train from any Interlaken area base to Meiringen, the bus and then the train to Lugano.

A really REALLY pretty route and if you haven't tried the iconic postal buses yet go for it!

The alpine post bus surcharge doesn't exist any longer.

There are several itineraries from Meiringen by bus to the Gotthard railway line:

Meiringen - Susten Pass - Goeschenen
Meiringen - Susten Pass - Andermatt - Gotthard Pass - Airolo
Meiringen - Grimsel Pass - Nufenen Pass - Airolo
Meiringen - Grimsel Pass - Furka Pass - Gotthard Pass - Airolp
Meiringen - Grimsel Pass - Furka Pass - Andermatt - Goeschenen

I think those other routes may be more scenic with more mountain buses but would off hand seem to take much longer than the bus right to Goschenen and swoosh to Lugano.

They will take longer, of course, but you will see more!

I'laken - Lucerne - Lugano (all by train): 5 hrs; no layover
I'laken - Susten Pass - Lugano: 5 1/2 hrs; 15 min stop at Stein Glacier, 60 min stop at Goeschenen
I'laken - Grimsel Pass- Nufenen Pass - Airolo: 7 hrs; 30 min stop at Grimsel Pass, 30 min stop at Nufenen Pass
I'laken - Grimsel Pass- Furka Pass - Lugano: 7 1/2 hrs; 70 min stop at Rhone Glacier, 30 min stop at Realp
I'laken - Grimsel Pass - Furka Pass - Gottardo Pass - Lugano: 8 1/2 hrs; 70 min stop at Rhone Glacier