Any advice welcome: Solo Female traveling to Switzerland in October!

Hi Kim—-I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forum. Your itinerary sounds wonderful, but there is one point that is confusing. That is the (Take Gotthard Panorama Express) note when you are in Zermatt or Pontresina. The Gotthard panorama Express is a boat+train excursion between Luzern and Lugano, as shown on this rail map of Switzerland, with the scenic routes highlighted:

https://www.travelswitzerland.com/en/download/swiss-travel-system-map-en-2023/?wpdmdl=14294&masterkey=63a023c8da36c

Also, the Bernina Express on 10/14 will not get you from Pontresina to Lugano; it takes you from Pontresina to Tirano, on the Swiss/Italy border. From there you can take the train straight to Varenna. So it might be better to put Pontresina and the Bernina Express later in your trip, when you are ready to head to Pontresina.

Weather can be a bit challenging in October, so it is good to be flexible and have options. Both Zermatt and Pontresina are one the so-called “sunny side of the Alps”, the south side of the main mountain chain, and The Engadine in particular claims to have Brenner weather in autumn. But there are no guarantees anywhere. You take what you get. The latest we have been to Switzerland was early October a few years ago. We Flew into Zurich, went straight to Samedan (near Pontresina) to position ourselves for the Bernina train, with our next stop Varenna. We spent 2 night there and had a glorious sunny day Hiking above Samedan. The next day was cloudy and we rode the Bernina train with little in the way of views, until we started the descent to Italy. Buy then we were below the clouds. We arrived in Varenna in a light rain, and our hotel canceled our outdoor dining reservations. The next morning it was sill raining, so we left and headed to Venice.

If it were me, I would go to Luzern immediately upon arrival to Switzerland. It's a lovely city and there is much to do including admiring the views. I also think you have a lot of time in Lausanne and Geneva. I would take one of those days and add to Berner Oberland to ensure you get a day with lovely weather.

Jules has a good suggestion—-go straight to Luzern and spend 2 nights there, instead of a night in Zurich and one in Luzern. The train ride to Luzern is only 1 hour 10 minutes; you will change trains at the Zurich main station. This will save you one hotel change, and give you more time in the smaller, more charming city of Luzern. You can stay in a hotel right on the river, such as Hotel des Alpes which is very popular with forum members here.

And I suggest you plan on doing some hiking if you enjoy that. All you need, in addition to clothing you would already be bringing, would be a pair of trail shoes (I wear mine on the plane) and a small daypack (I use mine as my “personal item” on the plane).

Lola- Great advice! Thank you for catching that mistake with the trains! Would you recommend purchasing a swiss travel pass/train pass for the 2-2 1/2 weeks I am there?

Jules- Thanks for your response! I I appreciate the recommendations as well and also heard to spend more time in Luzern if I can. Do you have any lodging recommendations in Luzern?

Kim E,

You might find a 15 day travel pass allows you flexibility and spontaneity in your schedule which might come in handy if the weather upends a plan or two. Also, last I knew a huge number of museums are included with this pass. I am not big on museums but do visit one or two each trip. I enjoy being able to get off a train, say in Brienz, see a boat is at the dock, and in a couple minutes be on the boat. All on a whim. Last year my 15 day pass ran out so we had to purchase a ticket to get to the airport the morning we departed Switzerland. After purchasing the Swiss 15 day pass we never had to buy another ticket until the morning we left. Saved a lot of valuable vacation time. Please note the pass does not cover all mountain transport and some boats.

We have traveled in Switzerland in October many times, typically for three weeks a trip. Often I wore short sleeves shirts part of the time. It is a nice time to be there.

Whatever the weather, wherever you go, you are going to have a beautiful trip!

Traveler Girl

Kim, I do not stay at fancy places so I've become a little hesitant to recommend places. We stayed at Drei Konige (German for 3 kings). The people were helpful, it was clean, the breakfast was wonderful and the room huge. Just be aware that room sizes vary so much in older properties. I'd call this a moderate property. Some would say its dated. I personally like "dated" properties because they tend to be a good value. It is maybe a 1/3 of a mile from the river.

I've stayed at the hotel de alpes in Luzern and am staying there again on my upcoming trip. The rooms are a little on the small side, but the location is great. It's right on the river in the old town and an walk easy from from the train station. Forum member Pat convinced me to upgrade to a bigger room this time with a balcony and view of the chapel bridge. So, we'll see how it is. :-)

https://www.desalpes-luzern.ch/en/

I traveled solo in September of last year, I spent a couple of nights before and after meeting up with friends in Spain. I opted to stay in Nyon instead of Geneva and was so happy that I did. It's only 15 minutes to Geneva by train, the Ambassador hotel was a 5 minute walk to the train station in Nyon. I also stayed in a lovely small hotel, Auberge de la Gare, in Grandvaux rather than Lausanne. Both were wonderful to a single woman, felt very comfortable. Both very walkable even to restaurants and attractions.

My husband and I stayed in Pontresina this winter at the Hotel Steinbock, it was also fantastic, great spa and breakfast and it's a great spot to go start some nice walks. Muottas Muragl has beautiful views, especially at sunset. We went as far as Alp Grum, not all the way to Tirano, and it was very cool scenery.

You also may want to double check any cable car/mountain gondola maintenance closures. I think you will be fine, but some start closing around the third week of October until the winter season begins. Don't want any surprises if you are really counting on a specific one. Enjoy, sounds awesome.