8 night itinerary help

It depends on what everyone wants to do. What are everyone's interests? Where are you coming from in the US? Are you looking for beautiful scenery, outdoor adventures, unique history that doesn't exist anywhere in the US, culture?

For example, near Montreux is Chateau Chillon. It's one of my favourite European castles, and my 20-something daughters loved it as much as I did. And all of us would have loved it as children. But I imagine some people would just yawn.

Luzern is a charming small city, and the gateway to stunning lake cruises and several mountain excursions. I think Stanserhorn and Stoos are especially fun for younger people, although there are more activities on Pilatus too.

Our main interest is experiencing the natural beauty of Switzerland. Our focus will be on outdoor adventures, hiking and just enjoying the different mountain towns and villages. Our favorite vacations in the States are visiting National Parks, so looking for a similar experience while in Switzerland. However, we also want to round out the trip by experiencing some of the culture and charm of a city. We are not museum people, but interested in seeing some historical sites. I guess what I am saying is we desire to spend most of our time outdoors taking in the scenery but want to get a taste of a beautiful and historical city/town also. Seems to me like Lucerne is a good option because it offers the scenic beauty of the lakes and mountains but also gives some history and culture. But if there is another place to visit that would be better suited for this (or works better logistically within our itinerary) please offer the suggestion.

Lucerne is arguably Switzerland’s most beautiful city, so I’d keep it in your plans. The Altstadt itself is storybook-like, but the geographical setting Luzern is set in is what makes it spectacular— an azure lake surrounded by mountains. Take the steepest cogwheel train in the world to the summit of Mt. Pilatus.

Stopping off in medieval Murten would break up the journey from Luzern to Geneva. Murten is a lakeside town witb 12 thousand-year- old towers into its fortified walls. Just 35 minutes from Bern. murten is about 2 hours from Lucerne. Geneva is another two hours.

Is your lodging for Wengen adjustable at all? For 8 nights, I'd recommend trying to get it down to 3 bases max. Moving 4 times is just too much for that short of a trip in my opinion. It can be done, but every time you move you lost 1/2 day of time for activities.

Luzern does have a charming historic center, but it's going to be extremely packed in July and isn't going to give you a nature vibe at all, so I would say that 1 night is enough for what you listed as your priorities. There are nice day trips from there, but you're never really immersed in nature in that region from my experience.

If you're able to add a night on to Wengen, I'd do something like this....
Geneva Airport > immediately to Luzern for 1 night > Wengen 5 nights > Montreux 2 nights (Geneva airport easily accessed from Montreux on your departure morning)

The Golden Pass Express is okay. Not a highlight after all the amazing train/cable car rides you will have done around Luzern and Wengen areas, so it's okay to do, but don't base your whole itinerary around it. You can go the other way and not miss much. Adding an extra night to Wengen will give you some weather buffer for all the amazing outdoor options in that area. You absolutely will not run out of things to do in that amount of time.

If your lodging can't be changed in Wengen at all, then I'd get to Bern or Thun that first evening from the Geneva airport so that you are closer to Wengen for your first full day. They are both charming & historic small cities. Based on your wish list, your current plan has too much time in cities and not enough time in the mountains, so getting closer to the mountains for that first day will still give you that first afternoon in Wengen as an extra bit of time. Have you considered Zermatt or Bettmeralp to add in some extra nature time?
Geneva Airport > immediately to Bern or Thun for 1 night > Wengen 4 nights > Zermatt or Bettmeralp 2 nights > Montreux 1 night

My thought for staying in Montreaux the first night is to give us a little time to rest and catch up after a long 13 hours of travel. I could be wrong, but I don’t think we will want to go another several hours on a train after getting off the plane. But I do understand the logic of adding another night to Wengen and had already been considering if we should do that. So I think I will try and make that work. No accommodations are booked yet. We have decided on the particular Airbnb in Wengen and hotels other places, but haven’t actually booked them yet. So we still have some flexibility.

Also, our flight lands in Geneva at 10:45am on the 14th. I figure by the time we deplane, collect any luggage (IF we decide to check a bag), gather ourselves and take a minute to figure out the trains (this is our first time traveling in Europe), then it will be about noon already. I’m not sure if this makes a difference, but we essentially will only have the afternoon/evening at that point. And I’m planning for an early bedtime that night to help with jet-lag and adjust to the new time zone, so we are ready to hit the ground running very early the next morning.

Wengen is good for max 2 nights - as a base for hiking to/from Manlichenn and Kleine Scheidegg and visiting Jungfraujoch.
Interlaken is better for logistics - 2 days to do a cruise on a lake + visit Giessbach Falls or the Harder Kulm for dinner or the Schynige Platte
Lucerne for 2 days is ok, this is the best town in Switzerland for views.

Sorry, MaciekZH, but Wengen is too lovely to spend only 2 nights. Interlaken is no comparison and one can easily “day trip” to the locations you mentioned from Wengen. Locations in Wengen also affords spending a day on the Mürren side of the valley or riding over to Grindelwald via Männlichen to enjoy that alpine beauty.

I understand your thought process on resting your first day, but it's actually important for jetlag to stay up until a normal Europe bedtime, otherwise the jetlag just persists. If you go to bed too early it continues the problem for even longer.

If you haven't booked anything, I'd book your Wengen airbnb ASAP. The fact that you've actually found something still available that you like for your dates is surprising and you shouldn't wait or it very well may be gone.

When you land your options are to go to Montreux, which is a 1 hour 15 minute train OR you could go to Bern, which is only 45 minutes further on a direct train as well and that's going to gain you a lot of time the next day. I think with your short time and desire to maximize the outdoor beauty of Switzerland, I'd just skip Luzern and do this....

Geneva Airport > Direct 2 hour train to Bern (explore the history city for dinner and don't go to bed until 9 pm) > Morning trains to Wengen (1 hour 44 minutes) - Wengen 5 nights > Montreux 2 nights (Geneva airport from Montreux)

This will give you some historic city time in the capital (it's a beautiful city), a good amount of time in the mountains for your nature time and then ending in the French part of Switzerland where you can take a day trip into France if you're interested, explore what is one of the best castles in Europe (Chateau de Chillon) and enjoy time on a Swiss lake.

@wanderweg, when I say early bedtime I mean about 9pm (that is early for me). Sorry, I should have been more clear on that. But, I do like your itinerary suggestion and will consider moving some nights around. I'm not sure why I'm stuck on Lucerne, it just looks really nice to me and I honestly think I would prefer it over Montreux. What are your thoughts about an itinerary that includes it instead of Montreux? Is it too far out of the way and I am stretching my time too much by adding it? Is it even worth it? Thank you for your help!

I understand the draw to Luzern from photos. It does have a very lovely historic center. What I don't love about it are the crowds. It's so crowded. You could get to the Geneva airport from Luzern for a noon flight, but you'd need to leave by 6 am, as it's a 3 hr 15 minute journey. If you really, really want Luzern, have you looked into changing your flight to depart from Zurich? If Montreux isn't exciting to you, then with the places you have on your list, Zurich would be the better entry/exit point. With airlines these days, if there is an available flight you should be able to change. If you were able to switch to atleast one leg in or out of Zurich, then Luzern would be an easy choice, as it's only a 1 hour direct train to the Zurich airport. No where but Montreux is convenient to Geneva. Even Wengen is closer to Zurich.

If you can't change your flights, then my advice for 8 nights is to stick to 2 regions of Switzerland, which kind of confines you a bit in my mind to including Montreux since Geneva is your entry/exit point. The more time you spend traveling long distances, the less time you have to actually enjoy. I'm giving you suggestions based on my experiences and how I would do it. If it were me, I'd be going to Wengen the whole time and then 1 night in Montreux, but I'm not a city person and once you experience the mountains in Switzerland most people never want to leave. I didn't, which is why I live there 3 months out of every year :) Maybe I'm a little over biased, ha!

But back to the main question of Bern vs Luzern vs Montreux.

Bern
pros - least touristy option, old historic charm, great convenience to Wengen to maximize your mountain time
cons - maybe the least tourist highlight reel options?

Luzern
pros - old historic charm, social media highlight vibes, lake
cons - most touristy option, least convenient to the rest of your itinerary

Montreux
pros - experience the French part of Switzerland, which will be unique to your itinerary, Chateau de Chillon is my favorite castle in all of Europe, very convenient for your itinerary, lake
cons - less quaint