Hello: We will be in Switzerland the first week in October for 5 days with a hub in Lucerne. Need some guidance on our itinerary. Is it doable?
The following day trips:
Mount Rigi or Mount Pilatus
Lauterbrunnen
Zermatt
Thoughts on should we add a day trip to Zurich.
Aside from the day trips we will cruise Lake Lucerne and browse the Old Town of Lucerne
I am assuming we should invest in the Swiss Rail Pass
Appreciate the help.
I don't think you necessarily need the Swiss pass. Have you priced it all out? For a longer trip, I went with the half fare pass--the total pass costs exponentially more.
Have you timed out all of those trips? I am operating on memory alone, but I would find Zermatt too far for a day trip. I would determine how long you wish to spend on a train each day and then search each trip to see if it works for you. I don't like to be on a train more than two hours per day at most. Your mileage may vary, as they say! I get that it's tough to split up five days, but sometimes a change in bases makes sense. Perhaps share where you enter and depart the country as well.
Warning....when you go to Lauterbrunnen, you are going to wish you had given yourself another day here. You could easily hike one side of the valley one day (Murren) and the opposite side the next day (Klein Shiendegg). I have been there twice and can't get enough of it. I agree that Zermatt might be an aggressive daytrip based in Lucerne. Zurich is worth a couple hours but would not prioritize it over Lauterbrunnen. Have fun!!
Zermatt is 3h 14 minutes each way. Add time to get to the train station and board the train, you are looking at 3.5 hours x 2 for 7 hours in travel time. Plus the expense of the journey, which depends on the type of Pass you buy, if any. Remember that the ticket prices you see when you look on the SBB.ch website assume you have a Half-Fare card, so if you do not, then you will be paying double the fare you see.
It looks like Half-Fare card is indeed the best option, as suggested above.
Note that both the Rigi round trip and the Pilatus Golden trip include a lake cruise.
Thank you so much. This is all very helpful information.
