My wife and I will be visiting Switzerland in July and are planning to stay for the last 10 days of the month. We are landing in Zurich after three days in Copenhagen then traveling to Lauterbrunnen where we are spending 6 days. We know we’ll have enough to do there for the duration of our time enjoying the views, hikes, and if needed a day trip or two to towns such as Thun and Lucerne.
We want to travel to one other region for our last 4 days. We have a few options but I wanted to get everyone’s opinion as the major factor in considering this decision is that my wife may be in her first trimester (God willing). We ideally want a place that will have some options for relaxing (massages/spas even though she can’t go into any hot baths), some delicious food and cute towns to walk through with enough to see and do. I already know where ever we are we will see beautiful nature (except maybe Olten) so I’m not too concerned about that. Also it would be nice to take one of the scenic panorama train rides there but not a deal breaker.
The glacier express runs between Zermatt and st moritz but that’s out of the way for us coming from the Jungfrau. The bernina express is coming from, well Italy, and we won’t be there. That leaves the golden pass which is an option leaving from Interlaken (close to where we will be) and heads to Montreux.
Montreux looks nice but I would want my wife to enjoy the wine there since the region is well known for that, but as she is pregnant she obviously won’t be able to do that. Also I think there are not enough activities to keep us entertained for 3 days
Potential other options include Ticino region including Lugano but I heard it may be quite hot at this time of the year there so it’s low on my list, but meets the other criteria.
Zermatt looks beautiful but from what I’ve researched it’s more of a limited resort town aimed at skiers and we are not going to be doing any skiing. Options for food and shopping for example seem limited
Lucerne is lovely but I’ve been before and it being so close to Lauterbrunnen, I would just consider a day trip for my wife who never visited before. Same with Thun.
We don’t necessarily want to visit a major modern city either like Geneva or Zurich because we are already doing Copenhagen which scratches that itch.
Lastly I was looking into Appenzell which seems to have a cute town, enough attractions around and doesn’t seem to be scorching hot. I just am not sure how many wellness options there are there. It doesn’t seem to be a hot spot for them like Vals or Lugano.
Anyways, I would love to hear your thoughts and advice regarding where we should spend our last 3-4 days in this beautiful country. Obviously if I missed any options please let me know. Thank you.