I, along with my 2 adult children are going to Switzerland to “trace our roots”. both of my parents were born in Switzerland. My itinerary is:
3 nights in Airolo (visiting family and taking in Italian area)
1 night in Brig ( to see Matterhorn)
3 nights in Spiez ( to explore Interlaken area &maybe Bern)
2 nights in Lucern (meet up with family)
Are all these areas accessible by train?
Swiss Rail Pass or half price?
Is this realistic?
from Spiez rather than Interlacken, go into the mountains to Grindelwald, Wengen or Murren for your stay. Interlacken is a transit hub.
Are all these areas accessible by train?
Yes.
Swiss Rail Pass or half price?
Depends. You need 10 days of travel. the Swiss Travel Pass comes in 8-day variety. Last year, in the spring they had a promotion of buy a 10-day pass for the price of the 8-day pass. Hard to say if they will run it again this year. How old are your adult children? If they are under 25, they can get a youth discount of about 30%. Otherwise, you have to weigh the advantage of perhaps lower cost with the Half Fare Card vs the convenience of just hopping on the trains without having to buy tickets. It is getting to buy tickets with your smartphone these days.
Is this realistic?
Seeing the Matterhorn with a one day window is crap shoot, depending on the weather. If it is clear, it is a 1 1/2 hour train ride from Brig to Zermatt each way. I just got back from Zermatt and the Matterhorn was in my face everyday with a high pressure system overhead and clear weather.
Going from Brig to Spiez, take the BLS line over the mountains rather than the fast way. Stunningly scenic. See my review elsewhere on this site. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/switzerland/ride-the-bls
Thank you for your information.
What trains go in and out of Spiez that will take us to Bern, then back to Lucern?
As wonderful as all the abilities to get form point A to B -- sometimes the choices leave me confused.
There are 4 direct trains every hour from Spiez to Bern and take 30 minutes to get there.
There are 2 direct trains every hour from Bern to Luzern. The IR train is the fastest in 1 hour, but the RE train takes a more scenic route taking 1 1/2 hours.
Be aware that the MOST scenic route is to go from Spiez to Luzern via Interlaken on the hourly Luzern-Interlaken Express, aka the Golden Pass route, taking 2 1/3 hours with a train change at Interlaken Ost.
