Summary of my Switzerland trip (Wengen based then Zurich)

Posted by Steve (Alpharetta, ga, usa) on 07/12/18 02:07 AM

Just returned from our trip...W O W!!!!
These ramblings are hopefully helpful to all of those who look for info.

Staying in Wengen and focusing on the BO region we found the Swiss Pass awesome. Easy on and off, discounts or gondola and cable cars, free transportation on the trains, took us all the way to Zurich. Covered some bus fares as well. Awesome!

Over 4 days saw Wengen, Murren, Schlithorn, Jungfrau, the waterfalls of Lauterbrunnen as well as went to the Grindlewald for the first walk. All excellent, all worth the money. Also did tandem hang gliding in Interlaken. Pricey but worth the rush!

Wengen has great views, Murren probably better. In Wengen if looking for a VRBO ask if you have a mountain view and one of the valley. We did and I would stay there again.

If you get a chalet in Wengen a little away from the village; which I encourage, make sure you are comfortable with steep inclines / declines. You will want to walk to town because taxi fare is 20CF even for a 1 mile trip...ouch!

Food is decent in most locations but pricey. (It is Switzerland). We found the COOP to be a great source of food that we cooked at home, no problem.

Cheese shop near in town is a must, go for the yogurt and the cheese. The bakery near the train station is great too!

Swiss people go out of their way to be helpful. Most speak English, Swiss German of course and a little Italian. All willing to help, all appreciate you being a guest in their town.

ask me any questions, I am still on a Swiss High!

Posted by Harold

New York, NY, USA

07/13/18 06:57 PM

11294 posts

Judy: Nonstop flights from various US cities go to Zurich (ZRH) and Geneva (GVA). Switzerland also has airports in Basel (BSL) and Bern (BRN); if you have to change in Europe anyway, these can work too. And if you're headed to Italian Switzerland, Malpensa airport (MXP) near Milan is actually the closest airport (Lugano has a tiny airport with very limited service).

Switzerland has excellent train service, and the airports at Zurich and Geneva have train stations right inside them with service to the rest of the country (sometimes direct, sometimes with a change). This means that you don't necessarily have to use the closest airport if you can get a better deal. For instance, if you're headed to Lausanne, Geneva airport is by far the closest, but it's only about 2.5 hours from Zurich airport to Lausanne.

Which airports are "the best" to use depends on your itinerary. For my first trip, I saw Luzern, the Berner Oberland, and Lausanne; I flew into Zurich and out of Geneva. For my second trip, I saw Basel, the Berner Oberland, Bern, and Winterthur; I flew round trip to Zurich. But again, if I had gotten a deal on different flights, I could have made those work too, given Switzerland's excellent trains, and the fact that I was using a Swiss Pass for my entire stay (with no pass, the logistics are different).

Which flights are cheapest is totally random. When I was looking for one trip, NYC to ZRH was $349 nonstop (not a typo), while NYC to GVA was about $1200 nonstop, about $650 with a 10 hour layover, or about $700 for a decent layover itinerary. Why was Zurich so cheap? Why was Geneva so much more expensive? Your guess is as good as mine.

Sorry, Steve, to hijack your thread!