Luggage transport in Switzerland

What is the family make-up? I am guessing it is husband, wife, 1 child under 16. To my best knowledge, there is no Swiss Family Travel Pass, but individual Swiss Travel Pass for adults (16 and over) and a free Swiss Family Card that allows children under 16 to travel free with the adults as long as one of the adults is a parent or grandparent. So if both parents get Swiss Travel Passes and the Family Card, then much of the transportation for going from Zurich to Titlis would be free. The Cable cars from Engelberg to Titlis are 92 CHF full fare round trip, but with a Swiss Travel Pass, it would be 46 CHF per adult and the child would be free with the Family Card. So you can see that paying 480 USD for 3, which includes coach transport from Zurich would be quite a bit more, although there may be activities you will have to pay for that are included in the tour.

Now speaking of this trip, unless you have business in Zurich, or have a free place to stay, you would be be better off staying in Luzern. You can get there in 1 hour on direct trains from Zurich airport. Luzern is a more desirable location to spend a few days, it is closer to Engelberg and Titlis, and when you depart, you are at the start of the Golden Pass train route to Montreux, then on to Geneva. SBB does provide luggage forwarding service for a fee. I've never used it, but I've found that the services of SBB are extremely reliable.

Thanks for the info, Sam. We are a family of four (hubby, myself and 2 boys, aged 11 and 8). I believe the boys are covered even if only one parent gets the pass. We already have confirmed reservations for both cities but I initially thought of finding an accommodation in Luzern. Anyways, we have a choice of getting a ZurichCard good for 24 or 72 hour period so I'm also considering that as well getting the guided tour to Titlis. Thanks for your time Sam!

Jeedb, I strongly agree with Sam's comment, do not stay in Zürich. Cancel your hotel booking, Zürich is not Switzerland. It is a nice city, but Switzerland is about mountains.
From Zürich airport go direct to Luzern (about 70 mins by train) and spend your time there. It is a good base for exploring, within sight of mountains. You could do one day Engelberg-Titlis, then another on a boat trip on the lake.
For Engelberg-Titlis, do not take a tour, that would be throwing money away. Just get a train to Engelberg, which is covered by your pass, walk (10 mins.) to the cable car station and buy a discounted ticket to the summit of Titlis).

Swiss railways ( http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html ) do a luggage service, but the luggage will not arrive any quicker than you. See here for details: http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/services/luggage-and-flight-luggage.html
But, if you can carry your own luggage (which is pre-requisite for train travel anyway), you should be OK.

I would also question a whole week in Geneva. Have you planned out what you are doing? You will be spending days standing by the lake, looking at the mountains in the distance and thinking that is where you should be.

My suggestion for your 9 days (8 nights)

• Land Zürich, train to Luzern (2 nights)
• Train to Berner Oberland (this is the first half of the Golden Pass route), stay Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen or nearby (4 nights).
• Train to Montreux (2nd half of Golden Pass route). Stop off in Montreux for a few hours (Château de Chillon). Continue to Geneva (2 nights)
• Fly home from Geneva.

I agree with Chris F.

Chris F, your post made me smile. My husband has a business trip for one week in Geneva and the thought of exploring a country we've never been to before made me so excited. So I thought that while the daddy cat is at work, mommy cat and the kittens will play (in the snow up in the mountains :) But while I was researching early on I found out that there's not much to see in Geneva so we made our trip 2 days earlier and decided to land in Zurich instead. Unfortunately our bookings are final and we can't cancel nor change it. So we'll just go with those routes for now and add day trips (just me and the kids) in the middle of the week if we get bored in Geneva. Planning to spend overnight in Paris with the kids but that's still up in the air and a whole new thread. Thanks everyone!

Jeedb, thanks for the praise. You usually get told off on this site if you have inadvertently upset someone, but never praise.
If you are planning time in Paris before or after, the faster and more comfortable way to Switzerland is TGV high speed trains. Either Paris - Basel Luzern/Zürich or Paris - Geneva.
Roughly one train ever two hours. Timetable here: http://www.tgv-lyria.com/en/booking/timetables-and-fares/timetables
But, you get the best prices for booking early. Next week will not be cheap.
Next week is also still mid-winter, cold.

I like maps, if you want one to see where you can get to from Geneva, the official Swiss Rail map is here: http://www.tgv-lyria.com/sites/default/files/pdf/BROCHURES_CO/frequencies-timetable-2017s1-fr_ch-tgv-lyria-en.pdf
You can then look up times on the SBB/CFF (Swiss Railways) website: http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Possible rail day trips from Geneva: Montreux (small local mountains with rail to summit), Bern.
One thought for a day in Geneva. visit CERN, depends whether that would interest your "kittens".

Chris F. - Can you provide some more specific details regarding why you don't recommend staying a night in Zurich? You mentioned that it is a nice city, but it is "not Switzerland". My husband and I will be staying a full week in the Alps, so we won't be missing out on experiencing the true Switzerland. My thought was that staying our last night in Zurich before flying out might be fun, and would be more of a "city" experience. Your thoughts?

Zurich is not bad - it's just that there other parts of Switzerland that are SO much better. But for the night before your flight from Zurich I would think spending the night in Zurich near the train station (not at the airport) is an OK idea. In fact I've done that for the last several years.

If your flight from ZRH doesn't depart at the crack of dawn then you could possibly spend your last night in Lucerne which is much much nicer for tourists than Zurich.

Tim has it right, Zürich is 3-4 star, but the Alps is 5 star. Most people are limited by time, so why waste one night on the Hors d'oeuvre when it results in you missing the main course?
If you have time, you can spend some of it in Zürich.