7 Day Itinerary

Interlaken is a commercial transit hub. Recommend staying in Lauterbrunnen, or Wengen or Murren, actually in the Alps. What all Do you want to see, how many people, interests?
Safe travels.

Thanks for the info! There will be two of us, I've been to Europe many times, but never to Switzerland, and it's a first trip for my friend. We want to do a little hiking and lot's of sightseeing in the smaller towns and villages. We are still working on a list of things we want to see so it's very early in the planning stages.

Are you flying in and out of Zurich? If so, I’d start in Lauterbrunnen, or Wengen or Murren as Pat suggested and finish in Lucerne. It’s an easy train ride from Lucerne back to inside Zurich airport. There is lots to do in and around all of those locations.

Last summer I stayed one night in Schaffhausen (Rhine Falls), a week in Interlaken and the last night in Zurich. Transportation was never more than 40 minutes. The Jungfra region (Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Wengen and Grindelwald) can easily take up 3+ days with First mountain, Jungfrajoch, and Schynige Platte. Brienz, Meiringen and Kandersteg areas have a lot of attractions. More than a week of activities, we ran out of time to see all I had on my list for this area. You could get by with a regional pass to cover all the transportation including cable cars. The Schilthorn cable car may not be included in some passes. It was the only attraction that didn't stack up to the other attractions.

I'd stay in Mürren. If you can afford a room with a jaw-dropping view, go for Hotel Alpina (which I'm sitting in right now!) or the Edelweiss (which is right next door). The views across the Lauterbrunnen Valley are phenomenal (until today -- we're fogged in). Make that your first stop: land in Zürich and hop on a train (right from the terminal) all the way through to Mürren (or Wengen). Stay 3-4 days. But you won't do much day-tripping from here -- it's spectacular.

Then go back to Lucerne. It's a great little city, and you can easily day-trip to Bern or easily and quickly get back to the Zürich airport.

Hi Sonya,

I would highly recommend to split your trip and spend 2 or 3 nights in the French region as well. Since is your first trip to Switzerland, it would be nice to get a sense of the complex Swiss spirit. I possible, I would fly into Geneva, spend 2 or 3 nights in Lausanne or Vevey (far better for the logistics and money wise than Geneva) and discover the Swiss French history and heritage. Lake Geneva is stunning, the views from the cities and the Lavaux vineyards are glorious and September is perfect in terms of weather conditions.

I would then take a train to the German side and choose one of the recommendations given by other travellers here to spend the rest of your nights before taking a flight back home from Zurich (again, if it possible). This would make your trip more fluid and easy to do, as you won't be forced to travel back on the same route or region just to take a flight back home. Not to mention, that this kind of an itinerary will help see how heterogeneous Switzerland is and understand more about the Swiss German and the Swiss French cantons.

I live close to Vevey for almost 2 years now and still find it so fascinating how different cantons are one from another. Even the French spoken in one French canton has a different accent from the neighbouring one.

Enjoy preparing the itinerary and feel free to ask any further questions.

Start with how many nights you have. Is it 7? Stay in no more than 2 locations. I’d suggest flying into Zurich and (assuming your flight is early enough arriving) going immediately to the Lauterbrunnen area, whether you pick Lauterbrunnen itself, Mürren, or Wengen. It is a little under 3 hours fromZurich Airport to Lauterbrunnen, a little more to the other villages.

After your time there, go to Luzern for the remaining nights. Luzern is close enough to the Zurich Airport that you can get there in time for your flight out.

Get familiar with https://www.sbb.ch/en and also the Berner Oberland Reg Pass and Half Fare Card.

Thank you all for the great advice! I think my friend and I need to spend time researching a bit and decide what we really want to see and what would be nice to see and then go from there to plan our itinerary.