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22 days on the ground, my plans so far

Thought I'd throw open my current state of travel planning for our, my wife and I, upcoming mostly Switzerland trip, from late August into September. Right now leaning toward half fare cards instead of flexpass.
First four nights Luzerne. I loved the area on a quick visit 33 years ago and it was my grandmother's favorite part of Europe. A nice way to start the trip. Thinking of a boat trip for sure, just not sure on length. The Vierwaldstattersee is an amazing lake. Also, go up one of the mountains, either Rigi or Pilatus, if Rigi maybe in coordination with boat trip. For Luzern itself want to spend some time just wandering around, checking out architecture, the Lions monument and the Bourbaki panorama. It will be three full days in Luzern area.
Next six nights Wengen/Murren/Lauterbrunnen area. The snobbish side of me says to not spend so much time here as its such a Rick Steves emphasized area and my holier than thou attitude kicks in that I don't just want to follow the crowds. But then I start looking at photos of the area, and it looks like such a beautiful area with so much to see that in this instance, count me in. I know my wife and I will both really enjoy the area, based on our US travel likes. Planning some walks/moderate hiking, day trip to Brienzersee. and following Ricks recommended walking tour of Interlaken to see some of those old grand hotels.
Not sure about the Jungfraujoch experience because of crowds and costs. I do find that crowds take a significant amount of enjoyment of sightseeing type experiences away, so will have to weigh this issue.

After that, probable 3 nights in Lac Leman area. We would take the regular trains along the Golden Pass route to get there. My mother has a good friend who lives in Geneva, we'd want to spend some time with her, probably visit Lausanne and Montreux.

From there we would do a little geographic backtracking and go to Freiburg in Germany to visit the town where I studied for a semester all those many years ago. Perhaps four nights in the area, with day trips to the Black Forest and Baden Baden. My 19th century architecture interests are stirred up by Baden Baden. Still thinking about going as far north as Heidelberg, maybe, in which case get a Freiburg to Heidelberg IC ticket with 6 hours or so stopover in Baden Baden.

This is as far as I've gotten so far, for the last few nights thinking about getting back to Switzerland via Lake Constance and visiting St Gallen, and have our last two nights in Zurich.

In this scenario we are not seeing some of the iconic Swiss heavy hitters, like the Glacier express or Zermatt, but this does offer a pretty good balance of experiences. Still pondering about adding Ticino area as well, and of course trying to resist the ever present danger of trip over expansion.

Posted by
11775 posts

Luckily the Lauterbrunnen Valley has not suffered the over-tourism of the Cinque Terre, although who knows with all of the people here planning 2022 visits?

Seriously, we go there every fall and have never felt overwhelmed by American hoards and have met many Swiss people. There may be a resurgence of Asian tourists and tour groups as they do flock to the area but we seldom see more than a few people on any given mountain trail, just a lot of people at gondola and in train stations.

You will enjoy the area immensely. After many trips we have not seen all of Switzerland but there are only two other places in Switzerland that we will revisit other than the Lauterbrunnen area: Bettmeralp and Pontresina.

Posted by
3125 posts

Regarding crowds, when I was there in Sept., Luzern was so, so crowded. I was really surprised. But the areas outside of the old town were almost deserted—the lion monument and Mt. Rigi. So, I’d plan to do your checking out the architecture early in the am.

Luzern to Lugano is only 1 hour 40 mins. We didn’t mind the train rides at all as the scenery is spectacular. So, we considered it part of the excursion and not “oh it takes too long to get there.”

When we were in lauterbrunnen, it was not crowded at all. When we went up to Schilthorn one morning, there was hardly anyone on the cable car with us. So, while the RS crowd goes here, I’m not sure all tourists consider it a must see. Of course, I was there last year and it was not a typical travel year. But I expected the mountains to be crowded and not Luzern. Plus, the Luzern city center is so small compared to the Wengen/Murren/Lauterbrunnen area. So, please do not skip the mountains because you think they will be crowded.

I just watched this video of gimmelwald this morning (while I’m supposed to be working😊) and I can’t wait to get back there. I didn’t have much time to walk around on the last trip. The views from gimmelwald are just incredible. You have to go!!! 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_iWL5VrFS0

Posted by
21142 posts

Assuming you do get as far as Heidelberg, you could return to St Gallen using the Black Forest Railway to Konstanz, then crossing back into Switzerland and on to St Gallen. If your plane out of Zurich is late morning or after, there are direct trains from St Gallen to the airport in under 1 hour.

You may have to steal a day or 2 from Luzern, Berner Oberland, or Freiburg to make that happen.

Posted by
5604 posts

When I was in Switzerland last Sept., 2021, I found the cities to be quite warm, in the 80's, and I was sweating in my mountain layers, so bring a warm weather outfit.
Enjoy your visit in this fabulous country.

Posted by
408 posts

First off - there are definitely places that don't live up to the hype, but scenery-wise, the Lauterbrunnen Valley is hard to beat - so don't be scared off by its popularity. That said, peak summer can be very crowded (standing room only on the trains between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, huge crowds at Kleine Scheidegg, and lines for gondolas have been pretty much standard every time I have visited in the summer, with the exception of the last 2 years), especially on sunny weekends when Swiss residents also head into the mountains.

On the plus side for your trip, this year should still see fewer visitors than pre-2020 and the end of Aug/early Sept is usually less busy anyway. Also, as another person mentioned, the crowding tends to be mainly on the trains and gondolas, immediately around the stations, and at tourist attractions like Schilthorn, Jungfraujoch, etc. A lot of overseas tourists only come for the day, so they don't have much time for walking/hiking. If you go even a short distance away from the gondola stations, you will see far fewer people and I've never been on a hike here that was too crowded. Staying overnight and/or visiting on weekdays will also give you advantages over the average daytripper.

By the way- regarding Jungfraujoch: 70% of visitors to Jungfraujoch in 2019 were from Asia, so the crowd levels this summer will depend a lot on whether this market returns to Switzerland. If they don't, it could actually be a great time to go up there if you decide it's something you want to do.

Posted by
768 posts

Crowds in the Berner Oberland: By the last week in August, crowds are about 1/3 of what they were in mid-August. I would guess that there is a reduction in crowds for the Jungfraujoch as well at that time. In any case, I've always noticed that despite packed trains and restaurants in mid-summer, once you get out on the trails the crowds are non-existent.