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Itinerary advice please

Posted by on

My husband John and I, both in our mid 70's, are planning a September 2-23 trip and would greatly appreciate your advice about anything we're planning. Here is our rough tentative plan for travel by train.

We are fairly active and enjoy hiking in our Colorado mountains. We've read much of the Rick Steves' Switzerland guidebook For lodging we'll try to book Rick therecommended hotels and try to save on food costs by shopping at Co-ops. Thanks in advance for offering your input! This is such a great resource!

9/2 Geneva arrival; train to Lausanne
9/3-7 Explore Lausanne: city tour, lake tour,Olympic Museum, Montreux to Chillon, Chocolate train
9/8-13 Base in Murren: explore Gimmelwald, Schilthorn, hike, other?
9/14-16 Base in Bern: city tour, Brienz lake tour, Murten
9/17-18 Luzerne: boat tour, Mt. Titilis,?
9/19-20 Train to Pontresina, check out St. Moritz
9/21-23 Lugano, Locarno
9/24 Milan departure

Are we missing some incredible must sees? Does this look like a good plan? Is the Half Fare pass the most practical? Should we also buy a Berner Overland pass?
Thanks so much!

Posted by
271 posts

I would fly in via ZRH (I always do in CH) but I see that it looks like you want to go to Lausanne. Too long in Lausanne, way too long in Murren, Skip Lugano.

My Itinerary #1 (Assuming you need to fly into/out ofGVA & MLA)
9/2 - ARRIVE GVA; TRAIN to Lausanne
9/3 - Lausanne
9/4 - LEAVE Lausanne; ARRIVE Bern
9/5 - Bern
9/6 - Bern
9/7 - Bern
9/8 - DEPART Bern; ARRIVE Muerren
9/9 - Muerren
9/10 - Muerren
9/11 - DEPART Muerren; ARRIVE Appenzell
9/12 - Appenzell
9/13 - Appenzell
9/14 - Appenzell
9/15 - DEPART Appenzell, ARRIVE Luzern
9/16 - Luzern
9/17 - Luzern
9/18 - Luzern
9/20 - DEPART Luzern; ARRIVE Lugano
9/21 - Lugano
9/22 - Lugano
9/23 - DEPART Lugano; ARRIVE Milan
9/24 - DEPART MLA; ARRIVE Home

That said, here is my preferred itinerary. I would personally skip Lausanne and Muerren and add other destinations. Many on this forum love Muerren so I am leaving it in the list. If you are active (I have been lapped by 75-85 year-olds while hiking in the Alps!) I have some other, easy to get to (physically) and very Swiss places. I will call that Itinerary #3 if you are interested.

My Itinerary #2
9/2 - ARRIVE ZRH; TRAIN to Bern
9/3 - Bern
9/4 - Bern
9/5 - Bern
9/6 - DEPART Bern; ARRIVE Lausanne
9/7 - Lausanne
9/8 - Lausanne
9/9 - DEPART Lausanne; ARRIVE Muerren
9/10 - Muerren
9/11 - Muerren
9/12 - Muerren
9/13 - DEPART Muerren; ARRIVE Luzern
9/14 - Luzern
9/15 - Luzern
9/16 - Luzern
9/17 - DEPART Luzern; ARRIVE Appenzell
9/18 - Appenzell
9/20 - Appenzell
9/21 - Appenzell
9/22 - Appenzell
9/23 - DEPART Appenzell; ARRIVE Zurich
9/24 - DEPART ZRH; ARRIVE Home

I am a hut evangelist. The SAC-CAS do a GREAT job with their work in the Alps. Check out their hut page at http://www.sac-cas.ch/en/huts/search-a-hut.html

I will never get tired of the look of surprise when they realize that we are Americans up in the huts. I think that they get so few of us that we are a novelty :) Most Americans never leave the cities, and if they do they rarely leave the valleys for the higher altitudes.

Posted by
983 posts

I would go from St. Moritz over the Bernina to Italy as it is one of the best routes in Switzerland, at least in my opinion.

Posted by
11348 posts

I am delighted to see you have a good long stay in Muerren! We love the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Spent a week there last Sept/Oct and enjoyed it so much we will spend 9 nights there in October! We always get an apartment and do a lot of cooking. PM me if you need a lead on a place.

What works for us is a Half-Fare Card plus the Berner Oberland Regional Pass. The Half-Fare Card (HFC) is essential for the train trips and will pay you back in no time. The BORP is likewise essential in that region as every lift and train is covered, with a surcharge for the high mountain lifts to the Schilthorn and the Jungfraujoch. I did an extensive spreadsheet analysis for two long-ish Swiss trips and could not get the Swiss Travel Pass to make sense, but the HFC and BORP do for us every time.

We liked Lugano well-enough, especially since the food was more Italian than Swiss. But after the Berner Oberland it will seem a little dull. The Bernina Express is well worth taking.

Posted by
1 posts

I agree with Laurel. We just spent 5 nights in the Berner Oberland (we stayed in Wengen) and didn't want to leave. If you like mountains, hiking and nature you'll find plenty to do.

The Swiss Travel Pass worked great for us. With the amount of rail travel you seem to be doing that might save you the most money.

Posted by
14 posts

Thanks so much for your suggestions and comments! We have much to reconsider in our planning! Your comments will help assure that we will have a wonderful trip!

Posted by
262 posts

The area around Lake Geneva is well worth adding a couple of days. Here's an article which gives you an overview. Although Lausanne is worth a visit, there's so much more to the area. Here's an article you might find worthwhile. My personal favorite is the walk through the Lavaux vineyards. It's quite breathtaking and beautiful. Another favorite is the boat ride on Lake Geneva stopping off in the old village of Yvoire, France. See the link below.

http://lenews.ch/2014/07/09/lake-geneva-the-ultimate-quick-tour/

http://www.lavaux.ch/SRC/2010/index.html

http://www.dronestagr.am/village-fortifie-dyvoire-france/

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