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Please help choose Travel Itinerary!!

Posted by on

Hi All

We are a couple going to visit the beautiful Swiss for the first time in first week of Sept. I almost narrowed down the itinerary and then got confused again :(. Will need your help and inputs to finalize it. We are traveling from Paris for 6D/5N and will head to Italy for a week.

Travel itinerary A
Day 1: Paris to Wengen; Stay Wengen (2N)
Day 2: zexplore Jungfrau and nearby lakes
Day 3: Wengen to Lucerne; Stay Lucerne (2N)
Day 4: Mt Titlis/Mt Pilatus
Day 5: Zurich (1N); Explore ZUrich and Rhine Falls
Day 6: Bernina (Zurich --> Chur --> Tirano)

OR

Travel itinerary B
Day 1: Paris to Wengen; Stay Wengen (2N)
Day 2: zexplore Jungfrau and nearby lakes
Day 3: Wengen to Lucerne; Stay Lucerne (2N); Mt Pilatus same day (doable?)
Day 4: Day trip to Zurich n Rhine Falls
Day 5: St Mortiz (1N)
Day 6: Bernina (St Mortiz --> Tirano)

OR

Travel itinerary C (Skip BO and do French Swiss instead)
Day 1: Paris to Montreux; Stay Montreux (2N)
Day 2: Day trip to Gruyeres etc
Day 3: Montreux to Lucerne; Stay Lucerne (2N); Mt Pilatus same day (doable?)
Day 4: Day trip to Zurich n Rhine Falls
Day 5: St Mortiz (1N)
Day 6: Bernina (St Mortiz --> Tirano)

Thanks guys!

Regards

Annie

Posted by
11569 posts

Wengen: explore Jungfrau and nearby lakes. You wait and make sure you have a clear suuny day for Jungfrau. Nearby lakes? No, explore the mountain areas of the incredible Berner Oberland. Except, if you have bad weather and can't see the mountains, drive down to lakes near Interlaken , have lunch in Spietz.

St. Moritz: is is not an attractive town so stay in picturesque nearby Pontresina. Painted houses. There is a shuttle train to connect St. Moritz and Pontresina.

Lucerne- stay there the whole time and do not take a day trip to the city of Zurich.

Posted by
16895 posts

Travel time for the Luzern-Pilatus loop excursion is under two hours, unless you take a boat, which is slower. So it sounds quite feasible as an afternoon option, after train from Wengen and dropping luggage at your Luzern hotel. I would not skip the B. O.

Posted by
5 posts

Thanks guys...does this mean you both suggesting the same thing and that is stick to travel itinerary A?

Posted by
8966 posts

agree - skip day trip to Zurich in all cases. Its not particularly scenic as its just another large business center. Either itinerary uses up a lot of time in transit, with very little time to enjoy being in those places. Distances are deceiving in Switzerland, and even if a train ride looks short, getting from hotel to hotel takes time.

Posted by
768 posts

I'll also join in and say trip A. Likewise, forget Zurich and Rhine Falls and add a day to Wengen (or Lucerne). The falls are ok, while the sights near the Jungfrau are outstanding. You can "see" the falls in 5 mins, whereas walking around in the alps gives you a new sight every time the trail turns a corner.
Likewise, forget the lakes near Wengen. Instead, take these 4 hikes:
Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
Grindelwald to First, walk to Bachalpsee
Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp, walk to Murren
Lauterbrunnen valley walk to Trummelbach Falls.
Google image Mannlichen, Bachalpsee, and Trummelbach Falls and I think you'll agree they beat Zurich.
Trummelbach Falls itself beats Rhine Falls, in my opinion.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you so much for chiming in. Great suggestions here!

Looks like I will stick to itinerary A :D.

My reason to stay 1N in Zurich in itinerary A is to save an hour next morning to catch Bernina. Lucern to chur is almost 2-2.5hrs Vs Zurich to Chur is about an 1.25hrs.

Keeping this in mind, would you still say pick either of two options below or stick to what I mentioned above in Option A.

Wengen (2N)
Lucerne (3N)
Bernina

or

Wengen (3N)
Lucerne (2N)
Bernina

Thanks guys!

Annie

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