Solo Female Traveler in Switzerland

Where are you starting your trip and how are you getting there? A good guidebook would help frame more specific questions. Rick Steves Switzerland guide is pretty good at budget suggestions.

As far as budget friendly lodging where you can meet others there are hostels in Switzerland. You can either use a site like booking.com filter your search by hostels in the towns you plan to go to read the reviews by actual travelers or you can try one of the a hostel booking site like https://www.hostelworld.com/.

If you had a specific set plan about where you are going and for how many days someone probably would be able to suggest the best Swiss travel pass to fit your itinerary; without that you should start reading about all the benefits what is cover by the different ones. You can find this info on the sbb site
https://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets.html

Can you be more specific about what your budget is? That makes a lot of difference in whether a particular option is budget friendly. :)

Thank you all so much for your help! I am initially starting from Munich with the hopes to visit Neuschwanstein castle on the way, so most likely the major town before the Glacial Express in Chur will be in Fussen, Germany unless another recommendation tell me differently. As for guidebooks I've already read the Rick Steve's guide book, but I'm more looking for suggestions on specific locations because I'm not sure where/what type of lodging would be best. I'd like to be central for doing hikes and going to the mountain tops, but I'd also like to be somewhere where there is a little more hustle and bustle to meet others since I will be traveling alone. Rick recommends staying in Gimmelwald which sounds great, but I'm not sure I'm looking for that small of an Alps town.

I will be traveling from 5/31 to 6/4 throughout Switzerland so ideally being somewhere what will give me the best connection to attractions/hiking trails would be best. I've looked at the budget websites like hostelworld and bookings.com but what I'm not entirely sure about is where the best location to be stationed at for this trip with what I intend to do. I guess my main problem is not fully understanding how far away everything is in concept and where the most logically town/city is to situate myself for the 5 days I'll be in Switzerland is.

Ideally, I'd like to stay as cheap as possible on hostels/hotels since I am just out of college but I also am aware that Switzerland is much more expensive than other locations. Typically what I spend on hostels is $25-30 a night if possible but I am willing to pay a little more for hostels when it comes to overall security and living quarters since I am a backpacker.

Again, where are starting this trip, Zurich airport? Looking to save money, a Half Fare Card usually saves the most money. Muerren/Gimmelwald is a good place to stay. Muerren more "action", Gimmelwald probably cheaper and if you stay in the hostel, probably meet more people. You can hike between them, or take the cable car so the "action" is not far away if you stay in Gimmelwald.

So Fussen to Chur to Brig and then stay 3 days in Lauterbrunnen. Plenty of lodging there.
Or there is a hostel in Gimmelwald.
Research both towns see what you come up with

It sounds like your next step is to spend some time on the SBB website to get a feel for how long it takes and how much it costs to get from place to place. If you're just looking at maps, two places might look quite close together as the crow flies, but because there are mountains in the way, the only way to get between them might be to go the long way around, or to take an expensive mountain train.

Note that when the site shows you the fares, it defaults to assuming that you have the half fare card, since most Swiss people have one. If you don't have the card, the price you pay will be double that, unless you snag one of the discounted advance purchase tickets that go on sale 30 days in advance. You can get a half fare card for CHF 120, so that's a good deal if and only if the fares for all the trains you want to take add up to more than CHF 240.

If it were me, I'd be staying in Lauterbrunnen as the central location, tho Murren would be my second choice. From Lauterbrunnen, you can get to Grindelwald by train (change at Zweilutschinen) for around $10.
Lauterbrunnen also has some cheaper places to stay, such as Valley Hostel or Ey Apts. The cheapest is actually the campground, Camping Jungfrau, staying in a 1 person tent you bring. I suspect that's not for you.

To meet people, you might hang out at Horner Pub ( www.hornerpub.ch/en/ ), on your right after the road forks (take the high road). Lots of base jumpers/paragliders gather there. Good place to meet young adventurous guys.
Besides the Swiss Pass, you might also look at the Berner Oberland Pass, since it pays for almost all transportation you mentioned plus cable cars and trains in the Lauterbrunnen area.

To really save money, don't eat out so much. Instead buy as many meals as you can from the Coop stores in Lauterbrunnen, Murren, or Grindelwald.

You mentioned hiking. I'll private mail you maps and pics of my dozen fav. hikes in the area. Click on your name in the upper right. (Any one else feel free to click on my name and email me to receive the same.)
In May, some of the higher trails may still have snow, so check with the Tourist Info office in Lauterbrunnen.

A few thoughts on your plans.

Your best bet for low cost accommodations would be to stay in the Valley Hostel in Lauterbrunnen. It would be a good idea to book soon though! Lauterbrunnen is the transportation hub for that area, and it will be easy to get to both sides of the valley from there. There's also a Coop store within easy walking distance from the Hostel, so you'll be able to save some money on restaurant meals.

If you're going to be staying in other Hostels in Europe, you might consider getting an inexpensive HI Hostels membership, as that will provide slightly cheaper rates at HI-affiliated Hostels. As you might know, for Hostel stays it will be necessary to pack a towel, soap, flip-flops and a smaller but good quality Padlock.

Be sure to budget accordingly for Switzerland, as it's expensive!

I'll try to add a few more suggestions tomorrow when I'm focusing better.

The Mountain Hostel is one of my favorite places in the world, especially for people in your age group. Definitely make that place your home while you are in the Lauterbrunen area.

If we were to lay out the plan by date, would it be like this or need adjustment?

5/31 - Munich-Fussen-Chur (border crossing at St. Margrethen), sleep Chur
6/1 - Glacier Express from Chur to Brig, then connect Lauterbrunnen, sleep 3 nights in the region
6/2 - Explore Lauterbrunnen Valley
6/3 - Explore Lauterbrunnen Valley
6/4 - Take the train from Interlaken to Zurich

Fly out on 6/5?

Your guidebook does summarize travel time and these timings are all feasible (but Fuessen-Chur takes 5-6 hours, so you'll arrive there fairly late).

Munich-Füssen-Chur looks to me barely possible in a single day, and maybe impossible if planning to visit castles at Füssen. It is the kind of trip between places that looks close on the map, are still possible if traveling by car, but that force you to crazy detours on local trains if using public transportation.

Yes, you should be flying in and out of Zurich for this trip. If you already have tickets in and out of Munich, skip Switzerland altogether and do Bavaria, Austria, and the Dolomite region of northern Italy. If you are truly on a tight budget, Switzerland is no place to be. Dolomites have great hiking and eye-popping mountain scenery.

I'll have to disagree with Sam a bit about avoiding Switzerland if you are on a tight budget.
I took each of my 3 teens to Lauterbrunnen twice, for a total 6 trips, while on a tight budget. To do it we camped and cooked our own meals, rented free bikes in Geneva (www.geneveroule.ch), and had a great time. Not for everybody, but it can be done, and I credit my Dutch parents for teaching frugality.