Have been studying the map and reading topics. Really appreciate any suggestions, comments and advice in finalizing this itinerary me and friend have been excited about. Thank you so much for your time:
2 Arrive Zurich
3 Lucerne - day trip
4 from zurich to Interlaken, lauterbrunnen
5 Jungfraujoch, schilthorn
6 murren
7 from interlaken to geneva
8 lyon - day trip
9 from geneva to zermatt
10 matterhorn, gornergrat
11 falls, villages
12 from xermatt to milan
13 como
14 turin
15 fly home from milan.
Posted by
Nashville, TN
601 posts
This is not a realistic itinerary. Try something like this…
2 Arrive Zurich, train to Luzern
3 Luzern town & Boat
4 Luzern > Mr Rigi day trip
5 Luzern > Lauterbrunnen
6 Lauterbrunnen > Murren > Schilthorn
7 Lauterbrunnen > Wengen > Mannlichen > Kleine Scheidegg > Jungfraujoch
8 Lauterbrunnen > Lake Thun or Lake Brienz day trip
9 Lauterbrunnen > Zermatt
10 Zermatt , Gornergrat
11 Zermatt, buffer day for Gornergrat, village
12 Zermatt > Lake Como
13 Lake Como
14 Lake Como
15 Como > fly home from milan
Posted by
NYC area
2968 posts
Hi,
I’d suggest this.
2 Arrive Zurich and train to Lucerne.
3 Lucerne
4 Murren
5 Murren
6 Murren
7 Murren
Then I don’t really have an opion.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thanks Wanderweg and Paul.
@wanderweg - really appreciate suggestions. The reason I inserted geneva and lyon is to have a break from the mountain tops. May i know what is not realistic about it? geneva to lyon i get is only two hour train and geneva to zermatt has 3 1/2 which is fine with us as we did between madrid and seville last year. Also, is a boat cruise in lake como not enough?
Posted by
Green Bay
21028 posts
5 Jungfraujoch, schilthorn
Not really practical to do both on the same day. What if the weather is less than ideal?
7 from interlaken to geneva
8 lyon - day trip
9 from geneva to zermatt
Geneva is a very expensive city to stay for 2 days when you want to go to Lyon. Why not just take the train from Muerren all the way to Lyon and spend 2 nights there?
12 from xermatt to milan
13 como
14 turin
15 fly home from milan.
A lot of train riding for very little. Spend the time in Milan and a day trip to Como for a boat ride on the lake.
Wanderweg nailed it. You are spending too much time checking into and out of hotels and riding trains. Rather than trying to see too much and checking boxes, spend more time in fewer places and really enjoy them. Just my opinion.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Sorry for the confusion, Sam and EC. Meant to add more context. Obviously our first time and was throwing out places there from all what we read and thanks to Sam for straightening that out. Woll surely write that portion down.
Just want to add that travelling on your own is still better than a package tour. In my experience constraints like work or personal will be there and you can say checking off a list is not that bad. If we agree in leaving a museum a site a restaurant after talking what we saw is already taking it in for me.
I still respect the comments. That,s just me
Posted by
OP
6 posts
I meant wanderweg for straightening.....
Posted by
Wengen
2448 posts
I would do the Bernese Oberland first, and then Luzern. That avoids having to deal with the SImplon route closure on the way to Milan
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thanks WengenK. Could you explain further please? I cannot see the connection of my BO, Luzern legs to Zermatt to Milan
Posted by
Minneapolis
74 posts
A few suggestions in tuning your itinerary. If you are going to Zermatt, then pick either Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn and spend more time in the car free villages in the BO.
You mentioned a boat ride on Lake Thun or Lake Brienz. Consider Lake Brienz as you can see Giessbach Falls. A short train from Brienz to Meiringen to see Aareschlucht and Reichenbachfall
Posted by
Minneapolis
74 posts
A few suggestions in tuning your itinerary. If you are going to Zermatt, then pick either Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn and spend more time in the car free villages in the BO.
You mentioned a boat ride on Lake Thun or Lake Brienz. Consider Lake Brienz as you can see Giessbach Falls. A short train from Brienz to Meiringen to see Aareschlucht and Reichenbach Falls.
The Lyon and the Italy portion on the end seems too busy to me. How about Zermatt to Chamonix then to Milan?
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Hello again and thanks...discussing suggestions and edits now.
In the meantime another big favor please, really really appreciate it. What hotels will you recommend for our stays in:
Zurich
Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen
Geneva
Zermatt
Milan.
PS...thanks DaveA
Posted by
11 posts
Be aware that this summer the Simplon route will be blocked by trackwork south of Dommodosola. You will either need to switch to the connecting bus service (add 1 hour), or take the FART train to Locarno and connect onwards to Lugano.
"TRAVELLING BETWEEN 9 JUNE & 8 SEPTEMBER? SIMPLON ROUTE BLOCKED BY TRACKWORK
With the Paris-Milan route via Modane still blocked, they'd have to be stupid to go ahead and dig up the Simplon route as well, right? Nope, they're doing trackwork at Stresa as planned which will completely close the Simplon route from 9 June to 8 September 2024. So in this period, Geneva-Lausanne-Milan and Basel-Spiez-Milan trains are cancelled, only the Zurich-Milan route will work."
Source: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/switzerland-to-italy-by-train.htm