Need Advice on Switzerland Trip and Number of Days for June

The usual recommendations are Lucerne and the Berner Oberland. However, the real challenge is going to find accommodations at this late date.

Yeah I know I'm up against a challenge to plan out the rest such late. Any recommendation on number of days in those locations or suggested route.

Doing London, Vienna and Switzerland in 2 weeks is not realistic. There is no way to help you with your question without knowing what types of places you want to see and what you want to do (hiking, museums, villages, cities, lakes, historical sites, etc)

Vienna isn’t “on the way” to Switzerland. I suggest splitting your time between London, Lucerne and the Lauterbrunnen area. But as others have mentioned lodging at this date is going to be a huge challenge and suggest putting your dates into booking.com to see whats still available.

Thank you - I think it's the preferences of a teen household that makes it difficult. I would say the family enjoys the city so London we've been two years in a row, it really is primarily an entry point and will just stay 2 nights to then proceed forward.

The main reason for the trip is to see Switzerland and it's beauty - we aren't hikers and wouldn't mind doing a mini hike but frankly I don't want my teens to just be dragging as well.

This is what I had in mind:

London - 2 nights

Vienna - 2 nights ? Maybe...

Switzerland Leg (based on what I am reading/researching, which there is a lot for me to get caught up on)

I would prefer to have some key bases to travel from on short distances to different sites and avoid moving much if that makes sense and is practical.

-- Arrive Geneva, immediately train to Montreux — 2 nights (or Zermatt)

-- Grindelwald or Wengen or Interlaken — 4 nights

-- Luzern — 4 nights

— Zurich - 1 night - Departure

With two weeks, I would visit 3 cities/regions. London deserves 4 nights. You could then fly to Vienna for 3-4 nights. In Switzerland I would want to be in the Berner Oberland for as long as possible, so fly to Bern and train from there. Spend the night before your departure in Zurich.

Thank you travel4fun - we just posted at the same time. I am open to reducing London days as we've been there two years in a row.

We have never been to Vienna/Austria or Switzerland.

Two nights in Montreaux, 4-5 nights in Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald ( Interlaaken is not in the mountains and is essentially a transit center)
Three nights in Lucerne.
There are direct, 1-hour trains from Lucerne to Zurich’s airport, so you don’t need to stay in Zurich the night before your return flight.
I just looked at hotel listings on Booking.com for Murren/Lauterbrunnen/Wengen and was shocked at the $500-$1,000 per night rates some properties are now posting for June. A sign of just how popular Switzerland is this year.
You might try tourist office listings for holiday apartments/chalets in the Berner Oberland.
www.Muerren.swiss. www.Wengen.swiss. www.Lauterbrunnen.swiss. www.Grindelwald.swiss

Thanks Kenko --

I am trying to work backwards to ensure I capture the essential that I should book at asap and it appears that is the 4 nights or so in Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald.

Now for Lucerne, would you consider those for Day trips possibly from Zurich? Or not worth that hassle.

Now that I think about this further I feel with my kids being more city bodies, even one week in Switzerland will be enough.

With that being 4 nights as suggested in Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald then three nights in Lucerne/Zurich. I will just need to factor in closest arrival into switzerland in that route with departure in Zurich.

If you guys are more into cities and you really want to do Vienna, you're going to have to do multiple flights to make this plan work, which seems like a lot to me. What about doing Paris instead? Atleast it would be "on the way" and you could do trains in between everything to have scenic journeys instead of spending multiple days in airports...

London - 2 nights > Paris - 4 nights > Basel, Strasbourg or Colmar - 2 nights > Interlaken - 4 nights > Luzern - 3 nights

Normally I'd recommend staying in the mountains, but since you aren't into hiking and prefer cities, somewhere like Interlaken might be better for you, as it's closer to shops, day trips to a city like Bern, boat ride, etc. as well as doing days up in the mountains.

You can get to the Zurich airport from Luzern on a direct 1 hour train, so as long as your flight isn't super early morning, you can just stay in Luzern the night before. If it is super early in the morning, then switch your last couple nights to Zurich and do a day trip to Luzern + day trip to other city focused things your kids are interested in.

Thank you - we did London/Paris on another trip - let me plan the route on a map tonight and see options.

Our Zurich departure flight is listed at 10am. Would it then be better to switch based from Lucerne to Zurich? I wasn't sure if Lucerne has a direct train to the airport.

Okay, if Vienna is what you want, then do something like...

London 1-2 nights > fly to Vienna 4 nights > Innsbruck 2-3 nights > Interlaken 4 nights > Luzern 3 nights
or
London 1-2 nights > fly to Vienna 4 nights > Salzburg 2-3 nights > Innsbruck 2-3 nights > Luzern 3 nights

That way you only have to fly once and can see a bit more of Austria when you're going to the effort of going all the way over to Vienna. Innsbruck is a beautiful alpine city. Salzburg is gorgeous and has a lot to do in the Salzkammergut region. If you want to skip Interlaken/Berner Oberland you can do your mountain experiences in Innsbruck & Luzern. The second route option makes the most sense with including Vienna so that it's not such an outlier and Austrian alpine cities and mountain experiences are way underrated.

You can make it to Zurich Flughafen (airport) on a direct train from Luzern in around 1 hour. For a 10 am flight, I'd leave Luzern around 6:30 am.

Thank you wanderweg.

Do you think Italy (Como) is an option that can be worked? As my wife seems to be on making a stop there possibly. Honestly, I am now realizing I ended up booking a lot of nights with our arrival and departure. Considering my kids enjoy city plus luxury type hotels more, working out for a balance. This is basically the initial breakdown I have now that I realize what I ended up booking with my entry and exit tickets. One key reason in some spots I put 4 nights is because I have a promotion on my credit card I can redeem for a discount for 4 nights, not necessary I use but it does help with savings where appropriate.

TBD is for To Be Determined, trying to see best option.

1 London (Arrival)
2 London
3 TBD
4 TBD
5 Vienna
6 Vienna
7 Vienna
8 Vienna
9 TBD or Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald
10 TBD or Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald
11 TBD or Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald
12 TBD or Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Murren/Grindelwald
13 Zurich or Lucerne
14 Zurich or Lucerne
15 Zurich or Lucerne
16 Zurich (Departure)

London & Vienna & Lake Como with a flight out of Zurich really isn’t realistic. Since you didn’t pick your itinerary before booking flights, you have to be realistic about what’s possible within your parameters. You can go on a day trip to Lugano while in Luzern though - which will give you the Italian lake experience.

If you want to prioritize as many 4 night stays as possible, you can, but you need to be realistic about the amount of time it takes to get between these places. Flying from Vienna to Switzerland doesn’t make sense because you then still have to train multiple hours to your destination, so you need a trainable midway point between Vienna & Interlaken. Hence, my suggestion of Innsbruck and/or Salzburg

London 1 night > fly to Vienna 4 nights > Innsbruck 2 nights > Interlaken 4 nights > Luzern 4 nights
or
London 1 night > fly to Vienna 4 nights > Salzburg 2 nights > Innsbruck 4 nights > Luzern 4 nights