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1+ week in Switzerland - itinerary review for May 17-25

Posted by on

My husband and I will be in finishing a tour in Paris and want to visit Switzerland for about a week before heading home. I have a preliminary itinerary and would like some feedback. I'm thinking it will be easier if we stay at the same hotel in each city so we don't have to lug our suitcases from place to place so much. Planning to buy the Half Fare monthly card and thinking the BO card for 3 days. Some threads talk about the Swiss Travel Pass but I need to add up the cost of the trains we'll be taking to see if it's worth it.
1- TGV from Paris - Bern
take walking tour of city, look around the sites
sleep in Bern

3 days in BO area so buy a 3-day pass; thinking Hotel Interlaken. any other suggestions?
2- Bern-Interlaken in the AM
Lake Brienz cruise, Giessbach Falls
sleep in Interlaken
3- Niederhorn Berg/Lake Thun
sleep in Interlaken
4- Schynige Platte but I think that it doesn't open till 6/15 so we can do Jungfraujoch instead
Interlaken-Montreux train
sleep in Montreux

Montreux - figure better to take the train late on day 4 so we can get an early start to top of the mountain!
5-Rochers des Naye
Old town Montreux-PM
sleep in Montreux
6-AM-Chillon Castle via boat
Territet Funicular to Glion
sleep in Montreux

Geneva
7-Montreux-Geneva train
Old Town Geneva
sleep in Geneva
8- fly home

We could do another day in Geneva and go home on day 9. Any suggestions?
From other threads - buy the HF and BO card before we leave and put on app. Do we need to buy the other train tickets in advance or just the day before would be good enough. Guessing mid-May is not really high tourist season? Will we get lots of crowds?

Posted by
612 posts

You’re correct that Schynigge Platte will be closed. Other options to look into - Wengen/Jungfraujoch, Murren/Schilthorn, Grindelwald/First, Lauterbrunnen Valley, Aare Gorge/Meiringen, Ballenberg Open Air Museum, exploring the town of Thun….

You can get to the airport in Geneva from Montreux on an easy 1 hour direct train to the airport, so I personally wouldn’t change lodging to Geneva. Consider adding an extra night in the Interlaken area to allow more time for mountain exploration from the list above. Maybe something like 1 night Bern, 4 nights Berner Oberland, 3 Nights Montreux.

Posted by
2544 posts

I would skip Interlaken and continue on to Wengen as your base. Get up into the mountains. You won’t regret it. We easily did a day trip from Wengen to Brienz, took the ferry to Geissbach, then the funicular up to the hotel for lunch. Then we continued by boat to Interlaken and returned to Wengen by train. We were back in time for dinner.

While based in Wengen, you can go up and over the mountain to Grindelwald via Mannlichen. Wengen also gives you a head start to Jungfraujoch. We took the train around 7:40 am and arrived around 9:20. We were done by 11:45 and took the Eiger Express down to Grindelwald.

Posted by
612 posts

Männlichen isn’t an option for their dates - doesn’t open until May 25, 2024

Posted by
5602 posts

Interlaken is a transit center, not a charming Swiss village. Stay IN the Alps, in Murren, Wengen, or Lauterbrunen. Max out your time in this area for as long as you can. No one ever wants to leave.
Have a great trip I. This beautiful country!

Posted by
21 posts

Thanks for the replies!
Thinking about what everyone said about staying up in the mountains instead of Interlaken. My thoughts about staying in Interlaken was that it was a convenient transit hub and on day 4 we can grab our luggage from the hotel after our hike and take the train to Montreux. Does anyone know for sure if the train station provides luggage storage? That would make it easier.
Seems like it doesn't matter if we stay in Wengen, Murren or Lauterbrunnen. All short train rides but which town would be more convenient, more restaurants and grocery stores?
We still want to do a night or two in Geneva and check it out though.

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