After months of research my partner and I have decided on the following Itinerary for our trip this summer:
Fly in to Paris - 4 days
Colmar - 2 days
Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen valley - 3 days
Fly out of Zurich
Need help with transportation between cities. I have read so much online it is overwhelming.
Flying out of Zurich is slightly more expensive but seems more convenient. Thoughts?
Any other words of wisdom or advice?
We are interested in food and outdoors. Not so much nightlife.
You would book in advance the TGV train Paris Gare de Lyon to Colmar
Then the train Colmar to Basel to Interlaken.
At Interlaken buy the ticket to Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen valley
On the way out Grindelwald to Zurich via Interlaken. That is the easy part.
The hard part is deciding between whether you need to buy the Swiss Half Fare card or The Swiss Travel Pass
in order to save money for train travel and gondolas needed for any mountain excursions you have may be considering.
One tip I can give you is to look for Super Saver fares for Basel to Interlaken and Interlaken to Zurich
These are usually half the price but they are only good for the time and train you take and they sell out.
And if you do get the Swiss Half Fare card you get an additional 50% off!
https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html
I don't recall which of those passes we used, but in the Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken region we were able to use oour on all (or most of) the cog railways, funiculars and lake cruise ships. (The spectacular Jungfraujoch trip was extra, I believe.) Your interests in the area will help you select the right pass. The Swiss rail system is so good it's unnecessary -- but a nice luxury -- to pay for first class.
The direct TGV to Colmar actually leaves from Gare de l'Est. It can be reached from Gare de Lyon with a connection in Mulhouse taking an hour longer to get there.
