Swiss Itinerary (8 days in end Oct)

Hi an, Lucerne is very nice, I’d spend a day there rather than leaving to see Lugano.

Murren is beautiful, lots of opportunities to hike and a good base for visiting the Schilthorn and Jungfrau (both are amazing)! On the way down from the Schilthorn, stop at Birg station and do the Thrill Walk, lots of fun. Check the weather the day before and hope you will have clear visibility. Just a ‘heads up’ that many of the hotels (and associated restaurants) are now closed for the season and won’t reopen until mid-December (Hotel Eiger, Hotel Alpena, Hotel Jungfrau). Also, the Hotel Alpenblick and Hotel Blumental will be closed 2 weeks from now. Hope you enjoy your trip!

1. Lugano all that way for a day trip from Luzern is pushing it.
2. You should research watch videos on youtube on each mountain and pick what interests you. I imagine you will get variable recommendations here. But I would definitely do Titlus and Shilthorn.
3. Leave for the first available lift to the top. You can do two mountains. When I was there in July the clouds rolled in at Pilatus around afternoon to a point where you could not see anything. Since you have the Swiss Travel Pass covering these why not?
4. You've got enough to do.

Thanks for your comments. Given that Murren will be a ghost town at this time, should we stay some place else...Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen?

If it is a choice between Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen or Murren, I’d stay in either Lauterbrunnen or Murren. Both offer good connections to do the Schilthorn and Jungfrau. Interlaken is too far from the mountains and you will eat up a lot of time traveling back and forth.

Highly recommend both the Schilthorn and Jungfrau.

The Schilthorn has a James Bond theme from the movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Nice breakfast/brunch buffet. Great views of the Eiger, Jungfrau, and Monch. As mentioned previously, take time to do the Thrill Walk at Birg.

The train trip to the Jungfrau is fabulous and very scenic. The portion of the trip from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfrau goes up the sides of the Eiger then through a rail tunnel for about 50 min to the top of the mountain. Once you’re there, you are at 11,400 feet, about as high as you can go. In addition to the views, there are several activities such as sledding, tubing, and zip lining. Be sure to check the weather before you go up. The Jungfrau was one of the high points of the trip for us.

You have a lot of stuff on your itinerary. Maybe take a second look at it and slow down a bit. Plan to return. We visited the Berner Oberland last year on a RS tour then returned again this year to see what we missed. Beautiful area.

Thanks for your inputs, we have made some changes in the Itinerary based on your recommendations:

Day 1 Arrive into Zurich | Day trip to Lugano (Monte Salvatore, boat to Mount Bree, Gandria)
Day 2: Morning Lucerne check-in > Mt Titlis
Day 3: Rigi (incl boat cruise) > Pilatus (if time permits)
Day 4: Morning Lautebrunner check-in > Roam around Murren, Lautebrunner, Schilthorn, Trummelbach falls
Day 5: Day trip to Jungfrau, Eiger trail, Grindelwald, Wengen
Day 6: Day trop to Adelboden, Kandersteg, Oeschinensee Lake
Day 7: Lautebrunner to Montreux > Chateau de Chillon, Chaplins Museum, Lavaux (Vineyards), Gruyeres (cheese)
Day 8: Day trip to Zermatt > Gornergrat, Klein Matterhorn (optional) > Depart to Geneva in PM
Day 9: Depart for home

QQs:
1) Thoughts on this itinerary, anything we can skip / include / optimize?
1) Where should we stay in Bernese Highlands - Murren / Wengen / Lautebrunner / Grindelwald, given that we are making day trip to Jungfrau & Adelboden, and also based on the season?
2) How is Gstaad + Glacier 3000, we have an option between Zermatt & Gstaad?

Regards,
Ankit

One more Q, for the day trip to Adelbolden, should we return to our base location (Option 1) or
Store luggage in locker and proceed to Montreux on the same day (Option 2) or
Store luggage in locker and proceed to Zermatt on the same day (Option 3)

Hi an, I can’t help with your itinerary except to say that you have way too much on it. Transportation between all those locations will take a lot of time. The days are getting shorter at the end of Oct and you just can’t do all those things. Prioritize and plan to return.