Help with planning Switzerland intinerary with old parents

"I would need to apply for Shenzen/Swiss visa" - Why, what nationality are you and your parents?
Depending on your nationality you may or may not require a visa. It is called a Schengen visa (note spelling). IF you need a visa, you apply to the embassy of the country your are mostly visiting (Switzerland) and apply as soon as possible. The visa is valid for all Schengen countries for 90 days.

Click here for a rail map of Switzerland. If you draw a line on the map from Lausanne (on lake Geneva) to Thun, Luzern, Zug, St Gallen, Bodensee (the big lake); everything below that line is mountains.

The Berner Oberland is the area around Interlaken. But it is better to stay further into the mountains, for example Lauterbrunnen.

Yes, Engelberg is at the end of a valley. A nice place to visit, but if you make a base there you will need to get a train to Luzern every day to get to other places. Better to stay in Luzern and do Engelberg and Titlis as a day trip.

The Golden Pass Route is Luzern - Brünig Pass - Interterlaken - Montruex.
The Glacier Express route is Chur - Andermatt - Brig - Zermatt.
You can do either when you transfer from one place to another.

Cost: Switzerland is expensive. Reckon at least CHF 100 per person per night for a cheap hotel, plus food and transport.

Yes I know it is Schengen visa :) I am a US resident with an Indian passport. My parents will be traveling directly from India. Swizterland use to allow US green cards holders to travel without visa till some years back. I think they stopped it after they joined the Schegen regime. I know all about the visas and the visa bureaucracy and how to navigate them, since my passport is full of them over the years :)

iamespirit,

May I ask if your visa application requires hotel reservations to be in place for the first stage of the application? May I ask what nationality you and your party are, and if you are sure that your visa would be granted in sufficient time for such a short deadline?

Do you want to use a tour company because you think you are unable to book the holiday yourself, or do you think you will receive additional benefits beyond what you can do for yourself?

Are the tours you are looking at escorted tours, or do they set up the hotels and tickets and send you out to then do it yourself? If they are escorted tours, do you think that your parents would be able to keep up with the group?

Are you aware that if you organise things to fit around your parents that it is possible to very nearly avoid all steps? There would still be stepping up into trains, and down, but it is easy to avoid stairs at the stations on the route to the villages of Muerren, Wengen, and Lauterbrunnen, and on the connections. Many of the hotels have only one or two steps up and then lifts.

The list you give from the book for a 10 day itinerary is very fast paced, and designed for able bodied individuals. I strongly suggest paring it way back.

Where will you be flying in from - will you have a long trip with possible jetlag considerations? Is Switzerland the only country on this trip, or are there others.

iamespirit,

If you give us a few more details I am sure we can help you considerably.

have you changed your username from iamespirit to DDS or is now a different person?

I changed my user name to my initials. It had defaulted my user name to my email address when I signed up earlier.

May I ask if your visa application requires hotel reservations to be in place for the first stage of the application?

• Yes

May I ask what nationality you and your party are, and if you are sure that your visa would be granted in sufficient time for such a short deadline?

• I am resident in the USA and I have previously got my Schengens in two weeks from most consulates. A few like French usually give it in less than a week. The most is four weeks. At this point I do have a flexibility of starting it later but trying to take advantage of July 4th weekend here in USA which gives me an extra couple of vacation days for free.

Do you want to use a tour company because you think you are unable to book the holiday yourself, or do you think you will receive additional benefits beyond what you can do for yourself?

• I never used tour company before. I usually arrange my own holidays. Right now I am looking at cost vs planning tradeoff. The tour company in this case is only helping with the bookings and they have a set itinerary (with the flexibility of starting any day). Think of them more like a travel agent who handles all your booking and planning (except there is no flexibility to change what they plan).

Are the tours you are looking at escorted tours, or do they set up the hotels and tickets and send you out to then do it yourself?

• The latter. The primary purpose is to avoid escorted tour. I find escorted tours I looked at try to pack way to much (think 14/15 cities in 9 days). I could have send my parents on escorted tours if I couldn't join them.

If they are escorted tours, do you think that your parents would be able to keep up with the group?

• That has been my main worry. Though I have come across escorted tours targeted specifically for senior citizens.

Are you aware that if you organise things to fit around your parents that it is possible to very nearly avoid all steps?

• Did you mean to say impossible? I am not sure since I have never been to Swizterland and don't know the lay of the land. Some amounts of steps is fine, but it will be very slow climbing up and down.

There would still be stepping up into trains, and down, but it is easy to avoid stairs at the stations on the route to the villages of Muerren, Wengen, and Lauterbrunnen, and on the connections. Many of the hotels have only one or two steps up and then lifts.

• That helps!

The list you give from the book for a 10 day itinerary is very fast paced, and designed for able bodied individuals. I strongly suggest paring it way back.

• Hence my original question and the reason for being here :) I reckon the trip can be split into 3+3+3 nights or 2+3+4 nights type of arrangement. in terms of boarding arrangement. And then be flexible about the day to day plan.

When I travel by myself, I hardly ever plan. I read everything there is to know. Book my first hotel and then decide the next day/days based on what I managed to accomplish by end of the day. I have always managed to get good deals at last minute or showing up. Therefore this type of planning is new to me.

Where will you be flying in from - will you have a long trip with possible jetlag considerations? Is Switzerland the only country on this trip, or are there others.

• For this particular 8-10 days, I am considering only Switzerland since it has a lot to cover. I could consider splitting it in to 8+2 or 7+3 days with neighbouring regions if it made sense.

I am in California. We are used to 12+ hours flight anytime we cross either of the oceans. I don't get jetlagged, My parents will be flying from India directly. That will be about 8 hour flight.

Thanks for taking time to reply in detail. Appreciate it.
.

If you draw a line on the map from Lausanne (on lake Geneva) to Thun,
Luzern, Zug, St Gallen, Bodensee (the big lake); everything below that
line is mountains. The Berner Oberland is the area around Interlaken.
But it is better to stay further into the mountains, for example
Lauterbrunnen. Yes, Engelberg is at the end of a valley. A nice place
to visit, but if you make a base there you will need to get a train to
Luzern every day to get to other places. Better to stay in Luzern and
do Engelberg and Titlis as a day trip.

• Do I read it correctly that staying in either Lauterbrunnen or Luzern is an option. But not necessary to stay at both places. By staying at either place it would be possible to cover the Titlis and Interlaken/Jungfrau with day trips ? What's advantage of staying further into the mountains compared to Luzern?

The Golden Pass Route
- Brünig Pass
You can do either when you transfer from one place to another.

• How many days would it take to do each? > Cost: Switzerland is expensive. Reckon at > least CHF 100 per person per night for a cheap hotel, plus food and transport.

Thanks. CHF 100 sounds reasonable to me. Any good hotels recommended to stay in Luzern or Launterbrunnen

Should I include Lauasanne area ?

DDS,
I would stay in BOTH Luzern and in the Berner Oberland (Lauterbrunnen or higher up the valley). The route between the two is the rail line over the Brünig Pass, which is part of the "Golden Pass route" and is scenic.
Scenic train routes are good for your parents as they can sit down and enjoy the view.
In Luzern, go on a boat trip on the lake. Again, good for parents sitting down. It is a very long lake, and, especially at the southern end, has spectacular mountains. You can get a boat to from Luzern, and then save time by getting the train back from the far end of the lake.
Click here for hotels and other info about Luzern.

Also take a day trip to Titlis (via Engelberg). Click here for details.
That is 2 full days from Luzern, so at least 3 nights there, and at least the same in Lauterbrunnen (or Mürren or Grindelwald).

Lausanne is a city, a pretty city, but not worth it on your first trip.

I think I may have underestimated hotel costs, most seem to start at CHF 130 per night. Sorry

DDS,
3rd to 11th July is 9 nights. I have just read your bit about 3+3+3 nights, but, I think it would be better for your parents to have 2 places to stay rather than 3. And, I assume you are arriving and leaving from Zürich airport.

• Fly into Zürich airport, train to Luzern, 4 nights. (1 day look round town, one day on lake, one day Titlis).
• Train to Lauterbrunnen (or, .....) 4-5 nights. Trips up mountains by train, waterfalls, Jungfrau etc.Possible day trip to Bern.
• Last day train back to Zürich airport (unless you have an early flight, in which case the last night is at an airport hotel).

I think with parents that age, in that condition, you want to underdo rather than overdo the travelling. After a while, mountains are mountains (like cathedrals are cathedrals). And yes, there's a lot of walking to be done on a Swiss vacation, with stairs and hills and cobblestones and hilly streets with cobblestones!

Also realize that Swiss train/bus connections run like clockwork, and they don't allow for anything other than a brisk walk between them. I nearly missed the train to bus connection in Lauterbrunnen because I paused momentarily in front of an info booth to determine if I needed a ticket or pass from them. So you need to factor that into your timing as well.

Thanks Chris and Phred.

Let me digest the information. I certainly don't want to overdo and make it more of leisure vacation. While mountains and lakes are nice, if there is anything else interesting, I can add that.

Right now my intention is to fly in and out of Zurich. Should I totally skip larger cities like Geneva and Bern? I know they are expensive too.

Are there service charges and other taxes tagged on to the rate displayed by hotels online or are the rates all inclusive?

Chris : Which type of rail pass would you recommend for the itinerary you suggested.

Hotel prices include VAT (I don't remember the Swiss translation of alphabet soup), but you may have a local occupancy tax of a couple of franken per person per day.

You may have to pay for breakfast if it is not included.

There should not be any service charge.

By the way - these days 70+ is not "old". It may be the "fair health" that holds them back, but I know plenty of properly spry 70+ers.

City vs. country is one of the classic choices when vacationing, it comes down to your preference and/or your parents'. The good news is, as you get near that line mentioned earlier you're going to see lots of mountains. Going up them is probably not advisable.

Cities are not more expensive than the countryside, in Switzerland it's ALL expensive. Just inhale and pay the bill, nothing you can do. I would think cities would be easier for older folks (more things in a smaller area, sidewalks, taxis, trams) but a train ride into the countryside and back with a brief stop for a meal or drink is always pleasant.