Transportation through Switzerland
 

I am planning a trip to Europe with my husband from June 4 to June 24, 2016. Will travel from Munich to Switzerland. On my search I found that the cheapest option was traveling by bus to Zurich. Not familiar with the transportation system and not interested in driving a car. Would like to visit Chillon castle, Zurich and Lucerne. Planning to visit 2 days. I would need help on how to travel within Switzerland.

Publid transport in Switzerland is easy, it's integrated so that you can switch from from bus to train and back. Use the Swiss Rail webite for both bus and train travel www.sbb.ch/en. Enter your departure point and yur destination and you will get the route. The only thing to remember when doing this is that the fare shown is the half fare, because most Swiss have a pass of some kind. If you cost all the trips you think you might make then check if a pass of some kind would benefit. Passes are also on the web site.

I usually do a practice run make a dummy booking and see what happens. Oh yes, unless you go for 'supersaver' fares which are sometimes available for have conditions attached, they are only valid fr a specific train on the day on the ticket, ordinary ticlets are valid all day for any train, with a few exceptions, and you can break your journey with these tickets.

Yu may find it helpful to map out an itinerary and then came back and ask questions.

You have labelled this a trip report by error - and thus many folks with knowledge may not open it - have the editors remove the trip report icon - that red thing to the left of the thread's title.

Would like to visit Chillon castle, Zurich and Lucerne. Planning to visit 2 days.>

Possible but you will be on trains and relocating most of the 2 days.

I'd cut the castle as it is way out of your way - you are going to Italy right? And do Lucerne for 2 days - one day by boat around the lake and to say Mt Pilatus or Mt Titlis - easy train ride from Lucerne to Engleberg and then thrilling rotating gondolas up to the glacier-strewn summit area.

For lots on Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - no pass or anything is warranted.

The bus is quicker than the train to Zurich from Munich by more than an hour and as your Swiss time will tick away quickly go for the bus - 19 euros tickets may sell out quickly - book as early as possible. Lucerne is a short train ride from Zurich.

Agree that you really can;t see everything on your list in only 2 days (and assume that your trip from Munich is part of one of those days - so really only 1.5 days). Zurich is really a business city so I would head straight to Lucerne (1 hour on the train) and just stay there.

That will give you time to tour the town and see the museum and monuments and the next day you can take a lake steamer to see a couple of charming villages and ascend one of the mountains assuming the weather is good at the mountain tops. If you do Mt Pilatus you can do cog wheel railway one way and cable car the other.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I really appreciate it! I am still planning maybe can make arrangements and add another day. I arrive from Frankfurt Germany June 4 and going my way down. My plans are not Italy. I was planning after Switzerland going to Hungary and Czech Republic not necessary in this order.

Without knowing which other places you are going - and where you are flying home from - it;s difficult to help you plan a trip. But if you are going to start inMunch why not land there versus Frankfurt?

I am traveling from Puerto Rico. Best rate non-stop flight and already purchased it one way. To be honest, I sometimes think its better to plan with a tour to avoid all this work that involves previously to traveling but then again traveling alone has its benefits, does not need to be on a tight schedule and stuck with a group. This is what I would "like" but I am aware I will need to adjust due to travel time and limited days to each cities. Any help and recommendations would be great. Thank you all.

* Germany- Rothenburg ob der Tauber, hamburg, Munich (3 days)
* Switzerland -Chillon castle Montreaux, Zurich, Lucerne (2 days)
* Czech Republic Prague (3 días)
* Hungary Budapest, Esztergom, Aggtelek (3 days)
* Poland Krakow, Auschwitz Oświęcim (2 days)
* France París (3 days)
* Belgium Bruges, Brussels (2 days)
* Netherland -Amsterdam (2 days)

With those tight days, I agree travelling with a tour would be easier. You will be more on the road than actually seeing something and once you finally get to a destination, you'll have to figure out how to get to the sights and exactly what to see.

Montreaux in itself will take one full day. The castle is located just outside of the city limits but you can take a bus. You will have no time for Zürich.

I agree with everything above.
But if you really want to rush around all these places, you should at least do it in a logical geographical order:

Frankfurt - Rothenburg - Ulm - Basel - Montreux - Lucerne - Munich - Vienna - Esztergom - Budapest - Aggtelek - Kosice - Krakow - Oswiecim - Ostrava - Praha - Dresden - Berlin - Hamburg - Amsterdam - Bruxelles - Paris - Frankfurt
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Frankfurt - Hamburg - Amsterdam - Bruxelles - Paris - Montreux - Lucerne - Munich - Vienna - Esztergom - Budapest - Aggtelek - Kosice - Krakow - Oswiecim - Ostrava - Praha - Nuernberg - Rothenburg - Frankfurt

nancy - if visiting all those places by train some kind of railpass is a no brainer =- hop any train anytime in most countries.

Thank you all for the help. I really don't want to be in a rush, I just want to maximize my trip and I am fully aware it's to much in so little time. I have been changing my list many times and taking out places. This was my last list and was not in order. Thank you Neckervd in organizing the route. I will review my list again and not visit some cities. Any suggestions on which cities I "must see now" and "must see later" maybe some other time.

Hi!!! what about this schedule?

* June 5 Frankfurt Germany
* June 6 Germany- Rothenburg ob der Tauber
* June 7-8 Switzerland Lucerne, Chillon castle Montreaux
* June 9-10 Germany- Munich
* June 11-13 Czech Republic Prague
* June 14- 16 Hungary Budapest
* June 17-20 Poland Krakow, Auschwitz Oświęcim
* June 21-23 Hamburg, Lübeck
* June 24-25 Amsterdam, flight from Amsterdam to Puerto Rico

Not really interested in Amsterdam thats why I am considering the last day (1)

Any suggestions are welcome, thank you.

I'm a big fan of Vevey and Montreux and have been there quite a few times. There is so much more to see than only the Chateau de Chillon. It's a shame you have to rush thru the country like that.

Hi nancy_41pr,

You can't really see both Luzern and Montreux (Chillon) from one spot (well you can really -- more on that below). They are about 2h45 or 3h apart by train, so it will be very difficult and time-consuming to stay in one and see the other one as a day-trip and return. My personal rule of thumb is that my day-trips have to be 2h or less, or else all my memories of the day are of the train and movement -- there is seriously decreasing joy as the transport time increases.

The way you can see both and stay in one spot is to stay at either Thun or Bern. Thun-Montreux is about 2h, and Thun-Luzern is 1h30 or 1h50. Bern-Montreux is 1h30 or 1h50, and Bern-Luzern is 1h or 1h20. But the problem with this plan is that neither Thun nor Bern were on your wish-list, and I'm assuming you don't want to stay in a city that . . you didn't want to stay in!

I really think you need to slow down and prioritize a bit more.

You can see the Alps from either Luzern or as a day-trip (or a stay) at a town outside of Munich. If your desire to stay in Luzern and Munich is to see the Alps, perhaps you could eliminate one of these and spend more time at the other.

Anyway -- good luck as you work it out, and have fun as you plan!

s

You are completely ignoring travel time which, besides sleeping, is 80% of your trip on a schedule like that.

You say you don't want to rush. Have you actually looked at the time it will take to go from A to B? Going from Rothenburg to Montreux itself will take 8 hours and 45 minutes and you're still not at the castle. That's a whole day of travelling without actually visiting a place. Your entire itinerary is like that.

nancy if you do all those by train investigate a railpass of some kind that lets you just hop on any train anytime just about in those countries - consider a first-class pass for a much more relaxed ride though 2nd class is comfy enough - just first class more so - especially for folks carrying bulky luggage IME

kleeblatt sums up the major flaw with this proposed itinerary perfectly.

At best it's an overly aggressive pace, but you haven't taken travel time into account in any way!

Yes indeed less can be more.

You can see the Alps from either Luzern or as a day-trip (or a stay) at a town outside of Munich.>

Like Garmisch-Partenkirchen, about an hour by rail from Munich and the start of the Zugspitze mountain railway for real Alpine scenery on Germany's tallest peak.

From Luzern about a one-hour train ride takes you to Engelberg and fabulous Mt Titlis and its renown revolving cable cars!