Hi,
I'm planning to go from Zurich to Lucerne, then to Lake Como via the Gotthardt Panorama Express in September, and fly out of Milan.
Are daytrips to Lauterbrunnen / Gimmelwald / Wengen / Murren doable as daytrips? Does renting a car make sense to do that or is it just as easy by train?
Thanks, Li
You can do a day trip from Luzern to Murren and Lauterbrunnen and Wengen. It is easy by train, otherwise you would have to park in Lauterbrunnen area to reach Murren and Wengen; both villages are only accessible by train.
The train from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen takes about 2 1/2 hours. It would be a long day but doable.
"Does renting a car make sense to do that or is it just as easy by train?" - No , it is easier by train. Trains go where cars don't, and you get to look at the scenery without risking driving off the road, and Gimmelwald, Wengen and Mürren are only reachable by train, no cars.
Are you saying you are staying in Zürich, and doing all these places as day trips (Luzern, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Wengen, Mürren)?
Or are you saying you are arriving in Zürich (airport?), immediately moving on to Luzern and doing the rest as day trips from there?
Staying in Luzern is better than staying in Zürich. Unless you have a good reason to stay in Zürich.
Even better to split it, staying in Luzern and move on to stay in the Berner Oberland.
Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Wengen, Mürren are all within a few minutes travel of each other. They are actually close enough to walk from one to another, if you don't mind going up or down as much as horizontal.
The plan is to fly into Zurich and visit with a friend overnight and then head to Lucerne for 3 days. I'll be with my teenaged daughter, and we're thinking about doing day trips from Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen / Gimmelwald, etc.
I wouldn't mind overnighting there, but my daughter prefers to have a home base for a few days rather than change hotels every night, and we are using Marriott points for hotels.
Good point about missing the scenery while driving!
