asmama

My Husband and I are planning a vacation to Switzerland for a 1 week ( Aug 30th - Sept 6) with our kids (5 yr old and 8 mnth old). So far, I have only my flights booked from the US to Geneva and back. Spent the last 2 days trying to figure out a decent itinerary such that we enjoy the place and keep the pace relatively relaxed keeping in mind that we have a baby. But I am overwhelmed...so much to see and and so many places and also want to make sure that the kids enjoy it as well. This is my first shot ...

Mon 30 Aug : Reach Geneva in the morning, Take Train to Interlaken ( 4-5 hr ride). Thinking of spending 3 nights @ IL. Any suggestions of how we can spend this evening?
Tue 31 Aug : IL -Griedenwald -Jungfraujoch -Wengen -IL. Question is will my kids be OK adapting to the change in altitude?
Wed 1st Sept : IL- Zermatt Either do Gornergrat or Klein Matterhorn? What do you recommend? Also is this doable in one day? Come back to IL
Thurs 2 Sept : Head to Lucerne/ Zurich for the next 2 days( depends on where I will get a hotel to stay). via Mt Rigli. Evening relax in the city ..city Lucerne ...Chapel bridge, lion monument or Zurich ( Recommendations please)
Fri 3 Sept : Day trip to Mt Pilatus and back
Sat 4 Sept : Train to St. Moritz.....need suggestions here. Should we spend the night here?
Sun 5 Sept : Head back to geneva .....will have to spend the night here since we leave for the US on Sept 6 @ 9:00am


Please please review, recommend and help me plan this trip better. Read a lot about Murren/ Wengen...but was not sure if we would be able to manage luggage in a car free village by ourselves. Should we do all Jungfrau, matterhorn, Pilatus or should we look into doing one of Neiderhorn/ Neisen...Please recommend.

Few more questions:

1) What kind of baby food is available in Switzerland? Do we get Gerber/ beech nut jar foods?
2) Silly but still going to ask...Strollers are allowed on the swiss trains, right? Will the strollers be a problem when we are going to the Jungfraujoch, Matterhorn etc?
3) If we are going to be moving from one place to another ( IL, Zurich/ lucerne, St. Moritz, Geneva)....how difficult is it transporting luggage. I know I shud pack lite..but with the baby, there will be stuff to carry.

Thanks in advance to you for helping out

asmama

PalenQ

I can tell you a lot about Swiss trains, which i have ridden for decades now and can attest to how easy it is to get around on this fantastic system of not only trains but public transports.

And for the number of trains you are taking some kind of Swiss Pass - which covers not only trains but lake boats (older kid may love one on Lake Thun in Intelaken), postal buses and city trams and buses and gives 50% off on gondolas to tops of mountains - actually since you are moving every day somewhat an 8-day consecutive pass may be the best - even if only using it 7 days if i figure - or the 3-day flexipass, which gives you 3 days of 100% covered travel for your longer days - like between Interlaken and Zermatt and over to St Moritz, etc and then in between the first and last 100% covered 3 days you get 50% off everything almost the other days - the pass is good over a one-month period. A Saverpass is two names on one pass and about 18% cheaper than two solo passes - and for the 5 yr old he/she gets a free Family Pass to match what the adults buy and the 5 yr old never pays a dime for anything - even things that are only 50% off

Now as i look at your itinerary i think you should forget about St Moritz and Bernina Pass as it is just too far remote from Interlaken and Zermatt and a long long way from Geneva

Concentrate on the Interlaken and Zermatt areas or Interlaken and Lucerne

It is illogical to go from Interlaken to Zermatt then back to Lucerne, not far from Interlaken

If you want to see both then go from Interlaken to Lucerne then to Zermatt - well on the way back to Lake Geneva.

And IMO traveling with two small kids i would pay extra and get a first-class pass - as you then will always be able to find several empty seats together and kids can move around without bothering others like they may in 2nd class, typically much more crowded.

sr_milione_miglia

the Lion of Lucerne is the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.
Samuel Clemens

I'm 72 and this still brings me to tears.

sunstar

You asked which excursion that you should hook up with in the Zermatt area? . I like the Gornergrat. Hands down! Gornergrat is somewhat touristy, but for good reason. The train ride going up is spectacular with awesome views. When the weather is good (lots of sun and blue skies), I enjoy getting off the train at Rotenboten and walking up from Rotenboten up to the Gornergratt.In my opinion The walk up is about an hour as I remember and can be a little strenuous for some. The views are great. You can do that in reverse easy enough if you prefer. Some people like to do the downhill thing.Should you decide the downhill deal hill, you can get back on the train At Rotenboten for the return trip back to Zermatt. Kleinne Matterhorn is good also, but I like the Gornergrat excursion. Again as is anything in life,we all have our person opinions and this is just my own personal opinion!

sunstar

Just an after thought here. It might more difficult for You to do a walk that I suggested with two small Children;however, you all can get out at Rottenboten for some nice photo opps. Along the Gornergrat line, you can get off at Riffealps also. If you all can find a way to somehow do that walk up to The Gornergrat, by all means go for that!Depending on your rail ticket, you might be able to pull in a discount though!

asmama

Thanks for your replies...We are keen to do Zermatt. planning to stay @ visp the first night.Any suggestions for a good accomodation at visp? Sunstar..we are sure to do the Gornergrat!!

asmama

revised itinerary..

day 1 land @ geneva. Go to Visp and stay overnight
day 2 head to Zermatt -- Gornergrat. Evenig head to luzerne
day 3 luzerne
day 4 luzerne
day 5 interlaken/ griedenwald
day 6 interlaken
day 7 geneva

Is this better?

PalenQ

Definitely better

i would though go right to Zermatt instead of stopping in Visp the first day - then you would be in Zermatt in the morning and have more time to do the Gornergrat excursion and get over to Lucerne. You could leave your bags in the Visp train station - lockers - as you obviously have to come back thru there and then not have to deal with heavy bags in Zermatt.

I would strongly look at an 8-consecutive-day Swiss Pass that would cover all your travels from get go to get gone - but you would pay 50% for the Gornergrat excursion - otherwise all would be covered - including boats on either of Interlaken's lakes or on Lake Lucerne - IMO the most gorgeous of all of Switzerland's gorgeous lakes.

sunstar

You're spending a full day in Interlaken on day 6? If you are going to spend a full day in Interlaken,why not hop on the boat going to Thun. If the weather is nice and even if it is not, ride that boat over to Thun. You will get to see all of the lake villages along the way. Once at Thun, You can walk up to the castle or stroll around the old town there. What I would do is stay another day in Grindlewald instead of spending day 6 in Interlaken. That would give you another day in the Grindlewald area to take in some of the spectacular scenery up above the Grindlewald area. Now that is just how I would do this. When day 7 comes around and you get ready to train back to Geneva. Grindlewald is but 45 minutes away by train. From Interlaken Ost (East)train station you can connect to the Geneva train. You should not lose too much off your schedule.If should you decide to stay in Grindlewald on day 6 rather than go back to Interlaken, there are some really great excursions up above Grindlewald. Since you're traveling with small Children, doing any hiking is probably out of the question. From just over from the Grindlewald train station, I would take the buss up To Grosse Scheidegg. There are some really good views up there. On Your revised itinerary, you would not be able to visit the Jungfraujoch excursion until day 5 at the very least. You might wish to do that on day 6. Once you have done that, stop off at Kleine Schediegg and have lunch there. Plenty of good food there. You can sit outside underneath the Eiger and Jungrau chain practically towering over you. Trust me, you will never forget that experience ever! I hope this does not sound too confusing. Since Interlaken is not far from Grindlewald, I would suggest you spend day 6 in Grindlewald. Unless You have other reasons for staying in Interkane, I would spend day 6 in Grindlewald. Then catch the train back to Interlaken Ost train station to train back to Geneva. I would also head to Lucern on day 3 rather than take the evening train on day 2.Why not spend a relaxing evening in Zermatt strolling around the town? Is there a specific reason why you want to get to Lucern on day 2? On day 3 you can train over to Lucern. You should get there early enough in the day to enjoy the sights around Lucern. You can also take one of those lake steamer boats on Lake Lucern on day 3. You have the full day in Lucen on day 4 to do whatever excursions you might want to do there. If you decide on doing an overnight in Zermatt on day 2,You can have a nice dinner in Zermatt. After dinner, stroll around town for a bit! Maybe take a relaxing horse carriage ride through the entire town before nightfall. I think this would work out best for you and cut down some on all of that train travel. This would give you all some time to catch your breath. Think it over!

PalenQ

If you are going to spend a full day in Interlaken,why not hop on the boat going to Thun. If the weather is nice and even if it is not, ride that boat over to Thun. You will get to see all of the lake villages along the way. Once at Thun, You can walk up to the castle or stroll around the old town there>

I have done this Lake Thun boat several times and always marvel at how sweet the float is - on a nice day the ice-girdled Jungfrau Massif is out in all its glory high above the lake - and get off at Oberhofen - a cutesy lakeside town with a castle of your dreams - boats go about hourly so you can spend a whole lovely day on the lake - getting off and on. And Thun itself is a really cute town with a roaring river running smack thru the heart of town. With a first-class pass you can sit on the vaunted open-air upper deck - reserved for first-class pass or ticket holders.

asmama

Thanks PalenQ and Sunstar for your frank advice and recoomendations. We have a change yet again. We shall stick to Interlaken and Luzerne only ( As much as I wanted to do Zermatt, we think the schedule is getting too tight with the kids..so will leave it for another trip..maybe combine it then with the Glacier express).

Having said that, here is what we are thinking ( of course accomodations permitting). From Geneva head straight to Interlaken / BO area for the first 3 nights and then to Luzerne for the next 3 nights and then back to Geneva for the last night.


Aug 30, 31, 1, 2 - Interlaken area ( BO Area). Suugestions for whihc place are welcome...need to get a place with good train connections, close to the train station with good eating options nearby.
Sept 3,4 - Luzerne
Sept 5 evening head to Geneva for the night for the early morning flight

Given that I have 4 days in the Jungfrau/IL area...we should be able to do Jungfraujoch, Lake thun, Grosse Scheidegg, Neiderhorn ( any thoughts on this one?). Open to recommendations to how to use these days best.

Luzerne - Titlis, Lake luzern ..again open to more options here in terms of sightseeing.

Also, We are debating if we should rent a car. While I understand that nothing beats the swiss railway, my problem is 2 fold. As much i as I try, i will still have decent amount of luggage ( baby stuff takes up too much space). Second, with the kids I thought it would give us a little more flexibilty in terms of time and the place we stay. On the pother hand, I guess we will loose out on the discounts for the excursions and will have to pay for the kids as well...Still debating. Don't want my husband dragging luggage around.

sunstar

Now remember that you can still do that Jungfrau excursion and other great excursions from Interlaken. I recommend the Chalet Oberland Hotel in Interlaken. Not far from Interlaken west station.Good luck to you. I hope you all have a great trip!

PalenQ

Given that I have 4 days in the Jungfrau/IL area...we should be able to do Jungfraujoch, Lake thun, Grosse Scheidegg, Neiderhorn ( any thoughts on this one?). Open to recommendations to how to use these days best>

My favorite excursion in all of the Interlaken/Jungfrau area goes from Interlaken-Ost station to Lauterbrunnen, then up a thrilling aerial cableway to Grutschalp - then along the edge on top of the deep Lauterbrunnen Valley to Murren, a famous watering hole made famous long ago by wealthy Brits i understand, then from Murren hop the longest aerial cableway in the Alps to Schilthorn - a remote icy outpost on a spit of rock made famous in James Bond movie OnHer majesty Service in which the famous revolving restaurant was featured

and back to Murren and then take the cableway down to Gimmelwald, a lost in time and remote Alpine scenery - a farming hamlet with awesome views of glaciers and ice-bound peaks and then another awesomely thrilling cableway down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley at Stechelberg to hop a postal bus back to Lauterbrunnen and train back to Interlaken.

Now i note you have a toddler but on this journey you have nearly no required walking except a few-minute trek thru Murren from the train station to the Shilthorn cableway

so not much more than doing the Jungfrau in terms of that

And best of all the whole Interlaken-Murren Loop is covered in full by a Swiss Pass - except the Schilthorn portion from Murren is 50% off - so is a whole lot cheaper than the Jungfraujoch train supplement and IMO just as thrilling.

asmama

Thanks again for this recommendation. Added it to my itinerary.

Here it is :

Day 1 : Head to Luzerne from geneva. Unwind @ hotel, Evening Do local Luzern ( Chapel, Lion monumnet, Lake promenade, Boating)

Day 2 : Titlis Excursion

Day 3 : Head to Interlaken. Check in and explore Lake Thun/ Neiderhorn

Day 4 : Jungfrau

Day 5 : Lauterbrunnen Murren Schilthorn Gimmewald (Spend time @ gimmewald ) head back to hotel

Day 6 : ????? We were thinking of a day trip to Zermatt to do Gonergrat. Any thoughts?

Day 7 : Check out, drive to Geneva via Montreux/ Laussane. See local sights here and check in Geneva hotel late evening

Day 8: fly out.

We have rented a car. But I need to figure out how much I will be paying for these excursions if we don't buy the rail pass...or rather for our needs what kind of rail pass should I buy to avoid buying individual tickets all the time. Any thoughts on this one ?

Again sincerely appreciate all your help.

Thanks

asmama

Quite specifically, how do I figure out how much will the Schilthorn on day 5 cost me? and how much will the boating trips @ Thun and Lake Luzerne cost me? Any thoughts if we shud do both Thun and Luzerne?

PalenQ

Day 6 : ????? We were thinking of a day trip to Zermatt to do Gonergrat. Any thoughts?

Day 7 : Check out, drive to Geneva via Montreux/ Laussane. See local sights here and check in Geneva hotel late evening

If you also do this - and take the train to Geneva - the fabled Golden Pass train links Interlaken to Montreux and Lake Geneva - perplexed why driving that only one portion? But if do both those and IMO they are doable then the Swiss Pass would be a no-brainer and all you calculating fares moot as the Swiss Pass would cover 100% to Murren and then you would pay about $40 for the 50% Murren to Schilthorn and back - the boats on Lake Thun and Lake Lucerne would also be covered 100% in full by the pass - sans pass depends on how far you boat - Lake Thun circle probably abour $40 i would guess and perhaps more on Lucerne as you may and can go farther afield than on Lake Thun.

But if you are renting a car to get to those places then no a railpass would be a waste of money.

I would ditch the car personally and take trains - once you are in a place like Lucerne there is no need for a car - ditto you other stops and when driving you will be on autobahns mainly or else on sinuous sideroads face IME tediously slow going. Plus the driver really never sees that much, having to keep eyes on the road.

From Interlaken to Schilthorn and back i would think it would run $100 or more without a pass - you could though drive to Lauterbrunnen and pay to park the car and knock off say $20 of that - perhaps about what it would cost to park the car.

Switzerland is one country IMO where cars are not the best option - trains go everywhere all the time, etc.

Ingo

The rented car is of not much use at all given your itinerary. The cost will definitely be lower if you buy railpasses and ditch the car. The trips to Titlis, Jungfraujoch and Schilhorn alone will cost you almost as much as a railpass.

PalenQ

and like in Zermatt you must ditch the car several miles out of town and take the shuttle train in as no private vehicles are allowed in town

Ditto for Grindelwald though in this case you can drive to the edge of town and then pay predatory parking fees to park well away from your hotel overnight.

asmama

Appreciate your frank opinion PalenQ & Ingo. Since we are travelling with 2 kids, packing light is very difficult and we also need flexibility in terms of time, goingout for dinner etc. Also, we are not staying in Interlaken proper but in Beatenburg. Thus the car.

PalenQ ...we have rented the car for the entire trip starting from Geneva & back to Geneva ( not only for Day 6 and Day 7....I guess I was not clear on that front).

Having said that can you please help me decide between half fare card ( 99CF per person) or regional BO card ( currently @ 230CF but buy 1 get 1 free).

Places I would like to cover :

Luzern : Titlis/ Pilatus
Boating on the lake

BO area : Jungfrau,
Lauterbrunnen Murren Schilthorn Gimmewald loop
Lake Thun

Zermatt : Gonergrat (kept this optional will decide there if we are upto it and how the kids are doing. Plan is to drive to Visp/ Tasch, park and then go up...Like a day trip and drive back to IL)

I have drwan up a spreadsheet but not sure how I could shar this with you. If someone could look at this and just tell me if the nos. look right it will help me decide better.

Please Please respond ASAP. I think I am already late in buying the rail passes.

THANKS A MIO!!

PalenQ

Well investigate the Jungfraubahn Pass as well. Car makes sense given having 2 small tykes

seems the Regional Passat135 CHF p.p.is a steal and your kids go free - the 5 yr old may or may not need the free Family Pass (which could cost something if not buying a Swiss Pass, card, half-fare, etc. i don't know -maybe kids 5 get free travel without any Family Pass-generally under 4 on european trains go free as long as they do not occupy a seat in some countries.