We plan to spend 14+ days in Europe in September. I have a few places on the itinerary that are of interest but need to be paired down. The only destination that is nailed down is 3-ish days in Munich for Oktoberfest. My thought was to then travel to Garmish-Partenkirchen for a few days before going to Switzerland. I would like to see Lucerne but am most interested in the Lauterbunnen area.
Q1: How many days should we set aside for Lucerne and Lauterbunnen- I anticipate we will want more time in Lauterbunnen for the outdoor stuff. Is it difficult to 'hop' over to see the Aletsch Glacier? I assume you have to go around and not through the mountains.
Q2: I have also considered Salzberg and places in Austria instead of Switzerland due to the expense. Are there any comparable places that I should look at and potentially scratch Switzerland? We want to see those Alps and hopefully not just from a gondola, have good food, and see some historically significant stuff. If Switzerland is the spot then I'm ok with the expense, that's why we're starting to save/plan now.
Posted by
Florida
1450 posts
You can see Aletsch glacier in a visit to the Jungfraujoch, which is easily done from Lauterbrunnen. Plan for a minimum of 4 hours round-trip (and around 200 euro). Not worth doing unless the weather is clear. Early morning is best.
Posted by
Washington DC
28065 posts
Katharine, if you decide to include Switzerland, check into the various Swiss train passes and cards to see whether one of them makes sense for you. Those full fares add up quickly when you want to get up into the mountains, and it's possible that something like the half-fare card would be a smart purchase. (Not so much if the weather turns out to be bad and you mostly stay down in the valleys, though, so it's sort of a roll of the dice.)
The default rail fares displayed on the Swiss rail website assume that you do have the half-fare card.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
If you lean towards the Austrian option then a round trip from Munich makes sense.
Munich > Garmisch Partenkirken > Innsbruck > Kitzbuhel > Berchtesgaden > Salzburg > Munich
Posted by
Sacramento, CA
689 posts
I think a 3-night stay in Lauterbrunnen would be good. We were there 2 nights and were satisfied with what we did, but another day would have allowed us to explore on the other side of the valley as well. If you choose Austria, I highly recommend Innsbruck. It was easy to explore, and within about a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel we arrived at the funicular which took us up the mountain to absolutely wonderful hiking -- which included lunch at one of those fabulous "huts" of course. We also went to Salzburg and enjoyed a tour of the Eagle's Nest (easy day trip from Salzburg).
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Thanks all! Very excited. If anyone has recommendations for food and drinking establishments that are exceptional or just off the beaten trail please share... same goes for hotels or VRBOs
Posted by
Buchs SG, Switzerland
60 posts
By "see the Aletsch Glacier" I assume you mean the lower part - ie. not from the Jungfraujoch? I'd say the best place is probably the Eggishorn near Fiesch, which is about 2.5h by train or car. I don't think there are any other easily accessible places.
Some other points:
Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Lauterbrunnen is quite a long trip. Google tells me it's over 8h by train and over 5h by car. A stopover in Lucerne would cut that down to 6.5h and 4h respectively. Also going from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Switzerland by train takes your back through Munich. Switching the order of G-P and Munich could make sense then.
If you haven't already done this, be sure to put the Partnachklamm on your todo list when you are in G-P.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Lauterbrunnen is quite a long trip. Google tells me it's over 8h by train and over 5h by car.
Agree from experience, it's a pretty long day of driving.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
Yea I noticed you usually have to go back through Munich from Garmish to get to Switzerland. I think you could go via Innsbruck Austria too? Maybe it would be better to 'base' out of Munich and go to Garmish for a night or 2 then back to Munich and so on... would one night 2 days be enough in Garmish or should we plan for 2 or 3 nights. This is the exact issues I need to work out.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
For Switzerland I would turn right at Innsbruck (instead of left for Austria).
Munich > Garmisch Partenkirken > Innsbruck/Tirol > Lucerne > Lauterbrunnen > Zurich