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10 day itinerary help

I'll be in Switzerland and Germany for 10 days with my husband and 4 yr old daughter before embarking on a 8 day Danube river cruise from Germany to Hungary. We bought a ticket with arrival in Zurich with a plan to visit some locations in Switzerland, then move onto Germany ending with 3 nights in Munich where we meet up with my inlaws pre-cruise. The cruise will include Salzburg.

We are hoping to do most transportation via train, but are open to renting a car if it's really helpful. We'd love some feedback...

Tentative Itinerary:
1. Day 1: arrive in AM in Zurich and go straight to Bern.
2. Three nights in Bern. One day trip to Murten or Gimmelwald (or another town in that region), and 1-2 days in Bern.
3. Two to three nights in Lucerne. Mt Pilatus, etc. Perhaps half a day in Zurich.
4. One to two nights in Bavaria (probably drive from Lucerne, visiting Liechtenstein and/or Appenzell on the way). Stay in Fussen or Obergammerau or other. Visit the big castle, plus perhaps another castle, or luge.
5. To Munich for three nights. Day trip to Nuremberg, etc.
6. Total of 10 nights, already set by flights.

Please share your thoughts if you're willing to help!

Posted by
21196 posts

Where does the cruise leave from, Nuremberg?
Looks fine, but I would wait until I got into Germany before renting a car. International drop fees. Everything in Switzerland you can see by train.
And why does everybody want to go to Liechetenstein? It is indistinguishable from the surrounding areas of Switzerland and Austria. You could ride through on the train, but blink and you'll miss it. The only train station is a tiny commuter platform in Forst, next to the Hilti factory, if you're into power tools.

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks for the feedback! The cruise leaves from Regensburg.

Posted by
1530 posts

I personally would skip bern and spend the 3 nights in the Lauterbrunnen valley!

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks for the feedback. Would you mind elaborating on why? What sorts of things you like better there?

Posted by
1530 posts

I live in Colorado and love the mountains. Yosemite is my favorite national park. There is no place like the lauterbrunnen valley! It is incredibly beautiful. I like to hike so that's mostly what I do there. But even if you don't hike just riding the high mountain lifts and walking through the very small villages like Murren and Gimmlewald is fun!

I guess it depends on what your family is interested in. There aren't any real "sights" in the lauterbrunnen valley other than the magnificent mountains.

I do tent to prefer small towns to big cities in Europe (other than London). Having said that I did enjoy a day I spent in Zurich more than I had expected.

We've been to the Berner Oberland 3 times. On our trip next year we will spend 5 nights there with 2 nights in Luzern.

Just to comment on part 4 of your trip also - we stayed in Pinswang (in Austria not far from Fussen) at RS recommended hotel with a farm Gasthof zum Schluxen I believe. This would be a great place with a 4 year old. If you want to do a luge and Neuschwanstein there is a luge very near the castle if I remember correctly.

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks your feedback is so helpful. We are struggling on plans. I feel confident about the Lucerne plan - Mt Pilatus, transportation museum, boat trip. I feel less certain about Bern. My husband likes the idea of being in a city for access to museums, restaurants. I would love to hear more about people's experiences and thoughts about spending three nights in Bern, with a day trip from there to Murten or Grimmelwald or other.

I would lean more toward staying in Murren, but he's concerned that if the weather is bad there won't be anything to do with our 4 yr old. And, that it's unclear what we'd do with her there even with good weather, since we won't be hiking. Our trip is in the middle of June if that's relevant to the weather issue. I'd love to hear what people think we could do in Murren with our daughter.

I appreciated that lead about the Pinswang accommodation. Sadly, it's booked already!! So, I guess we'll look for something else. Sounded awesome though.

Thanks!

Posted by
28167 posts

I like Bern and appreciate that it has a lot of arcaded streets, so it's more pleasant than many other places on a rainy day. However, three days is more time than you need there, and not to have some mountain time would be a real shame. There are places where you can take short, relatively flat walks.

As others will note, mountain weather in unpredictable, so planning a one-day trip to Mürren or Gimmelwald leaves you at risk of missing what is great about the area. If you planned to stay in Lauterbrunnen (just one possibility), you would be within a reasonable train ride of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz in the event of a foggy day but close enough that you could take advantage of good weather to do some walking from one of the higher villages.

By the way, be careful about your spelling when checking transportation schedules. Murten and Mürren are different places. Both are nice, but only Mürren is in the Alps and near Gimmelwald. Murten is near Bern.