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Switzerland-Croatia 15 day Itinerary

We are based in US and planning on Switzerland-Croatia trip this summer. Would appreciate your feedback on the following 15-day itinerary. We are family of 4 with 2 kids, 14 and 9 year old. We love nature and like to visit those places with more of natural beauty to see.
I have searched on this site as well as in general to get info on distance and travel time. I have listed it based on what I found.

Day 1
Travel to Zurich, JFK-Zurich

Day 2
Zurich - Rhine falls?

Day 3
Zurich to Lucerne - 1hr, by train
Lucerne

Day 4
Lucerne-Engelberg-Mt Titlis, day trip

Day 5
Lucerne-Interlaken, 2 hrs, by train

Day 6
Interlaken
Interlaken-Jungfrau, 35 mins

Day 7
Interlaken

Day 8
Interlaken-Zurich, by train, 2hr 40mins; 13 trains everyday, every 1hr 40mins
Zurich-Zagreb, by flight, $140 non-stop

Day 9
Zagreb?

Day 10
Zagreb to Plitvice

Day 11
Plitvice
Plitvice to Split, 3.5 hours by bus

Day 12
Split

Day 13
Split to Dubrovnik, 4.5 hours by bus or lesser by private transfer

Day 14
Dubrovnik

Day 15
Dubrovnik-Zurich, by flight, $180 1-stop
Zurich-JFK-RDU

Posted by
1937 posts

You have a lot of time in cities considering you say you like to visit places with natural beauty. Instead of spending all your time in Croatia in three cities (plus a half day at Plivice), you might want to consider looking into some other places with scenic beauty, such as some of the islands off the coast.

Otherwise, it's more moving around than I'd want to do in 15 days, and I don't bring 2 kids with me when I travel. If you don't mind the pace, there's nothing wrong with your itinerary other than the preponderance of cities.

Posted by
8889 posts

Some minor comments.

  • The Rhine Falls are somewhat out of the way and not worth spending a whole day on. Zürich is not somewhere I would go in your first trip to Switzerland, head straight to the mountains. I would go direct from Zürich airport to Luzern (local spelling) and have 3 nights there instead of 1.
  • Train from Zürich airport ("Zürich Flughafen" station) to Luzern takes 70 minutes, 2 departures per hour.
  • Do not stay in Interlaken. Stay somewhere further into the Jungfrau region: Wengen, Lauterbrunen, Mürren or Grindelwald. This "map" will show you the local geography. Red lines are rail, black lines are cable cars: http://www.regionalpass-berneroberland.ch/assets/karte-und-partner/Regionalpass-Panoramakarte-2017.pdf
  • Day 8: You will again be going to "Zürich Flughafen" station, the one at the airport. NOT Zürich station (officially "Zürich HB").
  • There are actually TWO trains per hour from Interlaken Ost (or aforementioned places further into mountains) to Zürich Flughafen, journey time 2h16. All rail lines in Switzerland have at least 1 train per hour (often 2). Nowhere has a train every 1hr 40mins. You can look up train times on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
Posted by
9025 posts

Just a comment on your Interlaken - Jungfrau trip. Assuming that you mean to go up to Jungfraujoch, note that this very expensive train ride includes about an hour+ in the dark tunnel as you climb through the mountain, so more than the 35 min you note. More like 2 hours one way. But then, I wouldn't stay in Interlaken either.