Need help with Planning a trip to Switzerland and Paris

I'm afraid I will have to break your heart. Your plans for the Alps are going to result in disappointment. You have picked the shoulder season, when much of the tourist infrastructure in the mountains shuts down. The weather is too cold, wet, foggy, muddy and slushy for decent hiking, but too warm for skiing. And depending on exactly when the snowpack starts to retreat, the farmers use this time to fertilize the pastures, which involves liquified manure pumped through a power hose.

Weather often doesn't cooperate with your travel dreams in the Alps even in the best of seasons, but in April, it's usually even worse. To compound that, you've only allotted one day or less for each of your Alpine destinations. What happens if (more likely, "when") you make all that effort and pay all that money to travel to Zermatt, only to find your Matterhorn views blocked by low cloud cover for the entire duration of your stay? Even in the high season when weather is a little more dependable, you should budget no less than three nights at any given Alpine destination. This gives you two full days and is a better hedge against a bad weather wash-out in one of the most expensive corners of the world.

My advise would be, if possible, delay your trip until early June, pick one spot in the Alps, and park there for a few days. Quite simply, unless you have money to burn and plan to come back often, don't bother at all with the Alps in April.

Thanks for your inputs. Its really helpful.

Thankfully I have not booked my tickets yet. I will delay my travel to early June next year then.

Can you help me with your inputs on the travel Plan.

I just got back from a trip to Switzerland and Paris. I was lucky to have 2 1/2 weeks and had been to Paris before, so two nights there was enough for us. I agree with Tom. You should pick one place to stay in Switzerland and then stay 3 nights in Paris. Three nights in Paris gives you two full days which is just enough to let you see the highlights in Paris. (And let you fall in love with Paris and plan to come back!). I think that leaves you four nights. Spend them all in the Berner Oberland. We picked Murren and thought it was heaven on earth. You could also look at Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. I think it's best to be up in the Alps to really experience Switzerland. The scenery is beyond gorgeous and there is plenty to do. You need to allow for bad weather. We had some rain and fog but were able to work around it with four nights there. (Don't stay in Interlaken. It is too far away from what you want to see.). We went to Bern, Vevey (on Lake Geneva), Zermatt, Murren and Luzern. Murren was by far our favorite, and if we only had four nights to spend in Switzerland (then or on a future trip), we would spend it all in Murren. It will also make your trip a lot more relaxing not to be switching hotels all the time. If you feel you just have to see more than one place, spend the first night in Luzern. It's a quick trip from Zurich.

We got a Swiss Pass and used it every day. It makes traveling around really easy and it was the cheapest option for us. You need to price out the different options based on your itinerary and activities to see if it would work make sense for you. It won't get you all the way to Paris. You need to buy a ticket for Basil to Paris. Do it three months in advance to get the best price.

AK,

A few thoughts on your travel plans.....

Your trip appears to be only a very short one week, and it that's the case you have too many destinations listed for such a short time frame (IMHO). Keep in mind that you'll have to allow for travel times between locations, and the usual "benchmark" is to allow about half a day each time you change places. That takes into account not only the actual travel time, but also checking in & out of hotels, waiting for transportation, etc. My suggestion would be to either increase your time or decrease the number of places you want to visit.

It would help to know where you're travelling from? If you're from North America, you'll typically arrive in Europe the day after you depart, so the first day is used for the flight there and the last day will be required for the flight home. You'll also be jet lagged for a day or two after arrival, so won't be up to full "touring speed".

One thing you might consider to maximize your sightseeing, is to travel directly from Zürich to Lucerne, and spend at least two nights there. There's a rail station right at the Zürich airport and the trip is only about an hour, so very easy. I was just there about a week ago and while it's a "busy" place, it's not hard to find the station or the SBB ticket office.

As it's your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip, as it has a lot of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. Be sure to study the "rail skills" part so that you're up to speed on things like changing trains, etc.

I agree with Tom that April is not the best time to travel in Switzerland, so it's good to hear that you're going to move this to June.

and want to explore as much as possible in a decent budget.

One caveat to mention on the topic of "budgets" - Switzerland is expensive, so be sure to allow for that in your budget.

Given the short time you'll be in Paris, I'd suggest packing along a copy of one of the Guidebooks so that you can plan your touring in the most efficient way possible. The Pocket Paris book would be a good one to consider. There's a LOT to see there, and you're not going to be able to see it all on one visit. If you're planning to visit the Louvre, don't try to see all of it as it's HUGE. Most people focus on the Denon Wing and the Mona Lisa. Try not to visit on a Monday, as it's usually packed! Depending on what sights you want to visit, a Paris Museum Pass would probably be a good idea, perhaps the two day version.

Especially in Paris, you'll need to be vigilant to avoid pickpockets and scammers so a Money Belt would be a good idea.

Good luck with your planning.

Thanks Carol and Ken. Really appreciate your inputs.

Quite frankly I am slightly confused on how I should plan this. Given the constraint on no. of days, i.e. 4 nights and 5 days in Switzerland and 2 nights and 3 days in Paris, can someone help revise my itinerary.

The Plan is to reach Zurich early morning from india and spend 4 nights and 5 full days in switzerland. On the fifth day, take an overnight train to Paris to reach early morning. Spend 2 nights and 3 full days in Paris and take a late night flight back home.

Thanks in advance.

The bad news is: there are no overnight trains to Paris from Switzerland. The good news is: it is only 3 hours from Basel or 4 hours from Zurich on the TGV-Lyria train. The last train leaves Zurich about 17:30, stops at Basel at 18:30 and is in Paris at 21:30. And it is much more comfortable than any night train, as are Paris hotel rooms.

My suggested itinerary is:
1st night -Luzern or Murren
2nd night - Murren
3rd night - Murren
4th night - Murren
5th night - Paris
6th night - Paris
7th night - Paris

For Murren, you can substitute Wengen or Lauterbrunnen. I've only stayed in Murren, so I can't say which is best. But I can say Murren is wonderful.

I would go with Carroll's plan except that I would probably stay in Lauterbrunnen instead of Murren. With all the one day stops you have planned it is too easy to be seriously victimized by the loss of one day to bad weather and that can happen any time of the year. Murren is a fantastic location but the one problem with Murren is that once you are there, you are there and, the with the exception of going to the Schilthorn, the first thing you have to is go back down to the valley floor to see any of the surrounding sights. We have been there in late May before the tourist season gets heavy and had good weather. We did stay one night in Murren on one of our trips there and our valley side room at the Hotel Alpina had a simply incredible view and were were happy to have done it. There is something unique about being on a balcony on the edge of the valley looking straight down for almost 2000 feet. You are looking at going to my favorite place in the world, have a good time.

The Swiss Pass is of no use on the trip to Paris. Paris is in France, and virtually all the trip is in France, but the Swiss Pass is only valid in Switzerland.

The Swiss Pass is valid as far as Basel.

Since your flight from India arrives in Zurich in the morning, I suggest you travel onward to Luzern instead of spending that day in Zurich. The journey is just over an hour and there is a direct train from the Zurich airport to Luzern each hour, departing the airport station at 47 minutes past the hour(8:47, 9:47, etc.). Or you can take a train to the main station and change there for Luzern.

Spend two nights in Luzern to rest up from your journey and take a boat/ train/ cablecar excursion up Rigi or Pilatus.

On Day 3 travel to Interlaken by the scenic Brünig pass route, but do not stay there---travel onward to Lauterbrunnen or Mürren as suggested above. If you want to take the train up the Jungfraujoch you should consider getting Half Fare Cards at the Zurich airport station to reduce the cost of all your travel.

If you spend two nights in Lauterbrunnen (or Mürren), that leaves you 3 nights. You could travel to Zermatt to spend one night before going to Paris, but that adds quite a bit of train time to your itinerary. The Matterhorn is a beautiful mountain indeed, but a very shy one---often hidden by clouds. So there is no guarantee that you will see it, but spending a night there gives you two days of possibility.

You can see the train routes and schedules on the Swiss rail website SBB.ch (or rail.ch which goes directly to English). You can also buy a discounted "special offer" ticket for the journey to Paris, if you look about 2-3 months in advance of the date of travel.

AK,

My itinerary suggestion would be much the same as Lola posted in the last reply. In the Berner Oberland and given the short time frame, staying in Lauterbrunnen would be more efficient as it's a more convenient location for getting to places on both sides of the valley. That will probably save both in travel time and money. IMHO, it would be a good idea to skip Zermatt this time, as the trip is just too short.

That will also provide an easy way to get to Paris. You could use departures from Interlaken Ost at 08:30 or 10:30 and be in Paris by the afternoon. Travel time will be 5H:07M, with one change at Basel SBB (reservations compulsory). You'll arrive at Gare de Lyon and can get from there to the area of your hotel via Metro or other means.

look at Rick's suggested itineraries and also look up 2 or 3 tour companies. you'll get a sense of what a packaged tour can cram into how many days. you should attempt to do less.

I agree with the other replies. I stayed at the Pension Gimmewald last July and it was wonderful there! Murren is a good choice if you're looking to be away from traffic, up int the alps, and wanting to hike through the meadows. From Lauterbrunnen on the other hand, you can take cable cars up either side of the valley. If you aren't planning to hike or walk each day, you might want to shorten your stay there and lengthen it in Luzern or in Paris.

Be careful how you get your tickets for the train to Paris. I used the TGV site and almost had to pay twice as I couldn't pick up the French tickets in Lausanne as intended. The people at the station and on the train said I could only pick them up in France, even though they were scheduled from Lausanne to Paris. I hopped on anyway and got lucky when the conductors mobile card reader wouldn't work. It was a bit stressful! You might check your options or buy them there.

Three nights is not long in Paris. Think about what kind of art you enjoy before you go! I recommend the Rodin Museum and L' Orangerie.

Enjoy!

@Chris,

Those three videos were incredible! Thanks for posting. Even though I've seen it before, that scenery is encouraging me to get back there next year for another visit.