Please sign in to post.

Ideas for Wengen & Luzern daytrips

Just finished booking our trip to Switzerland. This is my 4th time there since December 2017. Our daughter moved to Luzern.

Schedule:
May 1 - arrive in Zurich and spend the night (for reasons)
May 2 - 6 - Luzern, Hotel Des Alpes (Monday - Friday)
May 6 - 9 - Wengen, staying at a VRBO apartment with our daughter and her Swiss boyfriend
May 9-14 - back at Hotel Des Alpes (Monday - Saturday)

My husband and I will get Swiss passes so we can go have fun while our daughter has to go to work. My husband grew up going to Europe every few years to visit family in Italy, and what we like most in Europe is to balance a bit of great sites with just hanging out.

I'm looking for ideas for:

  1. Wengen - 4 trips to Switzerland and I haven't made it to the Bernese Oberland yet. I find it all very confusing. I live in Vancouver and have spent a lot of time in Banff, and have also done some US Rockies, so the "mountain experience" isn't a big thing for us (I was in Zermatt in December and it was amazing). What do recommend for two 50-somethings, and two 20-somethings? (and one of them Swiss-- probably should ask him). Not sure what to do in Wengen, especially in mid-May when the weather is iffy (we were in Luzern the same time in 2019 and it snowed at lake level).

  2. Ideas for day trips out of Luzern. My daughter says Luzern is two hours from almost everywhere in Switzerland. I'd love to go back to Lugano. My husband hasn't seen Montreaux or Bern, and I liked both of those. I think we'll revisit the spa on Mount Rigi. We've done St Gallen and Santis. We've done Stanserhorn, but not Pilatus. We've taken the boat to Brunnen. All of these were great.

I think we are looking at up to 6 days for trips out of Luzern. What are we missing? Thanks!

Posted by
3125 posts

I’ll just list some things that I did this past Sept. or have planned to do this June. You can look them up and see if they interest you.

From Luzern:

Day trip to Freiburg, Germany

Day trip to Bellinzona

Mt. Titlis

Boat/train combo to Mt. Rigi (loved it so much I’ll do it again)

Day trip to Zurich; lunch at sprungli

From Wengen:

Lauterbrunnen Valley walk

Staubbach Falls

Trümmelbach Falls

Stechelberg

Boat ride on Lake Thun to see the 5 castles; Stop in Thun to see Thun castle

Boat ride on Lake Brienz

Train to Grindelwald

Mt. Schilthorn

Gimmelwald

Walks in Wengen:

https://wengen.swiss/en/summer/region/wengen/services/walking-trails-around-of-wengen/

https://wengen.swiss/en/summer/see-and-do/hiking/hikes/

Posted by
381 posts

Just back from the 2 weeks in Switzerland, and I thought I'd report back on what we actually did . . . our daughter worked during the day and we met up for dinner, etc. each evening.

Day 1: travel day
2: Checked in to popular Rick Steves' hotel, Hotel Des Alpes, and had one of the rooms on the first floor with the large balconies, so we popped back out for picnic supplies and spent the afternoon on our deck recovering from jet lag and enjoying the sunshine and views
3: Hopped on the first boat at the train station, which was headed for Vitznau. Weather was fine, so we went up Rigi
4. Took the train to Geneva (lunch) and then on the return trip, stopped in Lausanne (coffee) and Bern (dinner)
5. The rainy day of our trip -- bought a day pass for the gym-spa where my daughter goes -- great value for a Swiss spa: https://www.fitnesspark.ch/standorte/luzern/national-luzern/angebot/entspannung
Days 6 - 9: travel to and from Wengen. Weather was hit and miss but we had a great VRBO, and did several nice walk-hikes around Wengen and the Lauterbrunnen Valley. When we got back to Luzern the weather was ideal and we went to a rooftop patio on the Monopol Hotel with lots of locals and very few tourists: https://suite-rooftop.ch/gallery/
10. Quick train trip to Aarau for lunch in it's quaint medieval centre - lovely town, not touristy
11. Trip to Stoos, up the world's steepest funicular. Hiked around, my husband continued to Fronalpstock. Funicular is included in the Swiss Travel Pass -- recommended! That evening was very warm and we picnicked at the beach in front of the Richard Strauss museum. Husband and daughter went paddle boarding while I relaxed and listened to classic trumpet in the distance.
12. Cable car up Mnt Pilatus (funicular doesn't start until the end of May) - after going up Stoos, Stanserhorn, Rigi, Santis (plus mountains in Canada and the US), and going to the Matterhorn, I wasn't expecting to be as impressed with Pilatus as I was.
13. Spent the day in Luzern, shopping for a few souvenirs. Walked around the Medieval wall, had a snooze on a park bench, and then hopped on the boat at the ferry dock -- turned out it was going to Burgenstock. Going up to the resort and back was 50CH for two (with the Swiss Pass Discount), so instead we found the one open restaurant and had an Aperol before catching the next boat back to Luzern

I'm happy with all the things we did and can't wait to go back.

Posted by
408 posts

Nice to see my area (Aarau) get a positive mention -- now that's twice that it's come up in recent posts! :) Glad you enjoyed your visit!

Posted by
3125 posts

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a great trip with a nice variety of activities.

Posted by
4 posts

Curious which VRBO you stayed in in Wengen? My husband and I are heading to the BO with another couple and are considering renting an apt instead of booking 2 hotel rooms. Thanks!

Posted by
381 posts

Apkirkland - VRBO Property ID: 2161335 "Apartment Silberhorn in Wengen - 4 persons, 2 bedrooms"

Posted by
4161 posts

" we picnicked at the beach in front of the Richard Strauss museum. " In Luzern ? Surely you mean Richard Wagner , his villa at Tribschen on the lakefront . Big difference between these two composers .

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you for the link to the apt! Unfortunately it's booked for our dates but I'll keep checking back to see if they have a cancellation. Looks great!

Posted by
2299 posts

We loved Bellinzona. It's one of the places I've only been to on a day trip but would love to return and spend some time. I see that Bellinzona is an hour and a half by train from Lucerne. Happy traveling.

Posted by
381 posts

Steven -- OMG yes! I must have been jet lagged when I wrote that. We were even having fun saying "Wagner" in bad German accents. No idea where Strauss came from, other than I've always thought it would be delightful to come across a Strauss Strasse. Thanks for the correction :-D