Traveling With Luggage In Switzerland

How much luggage do you have? I've traveled all over Switzerland with a wheeled carry on and a personal item that rode atop the carry on.

It wasn't that difficult.

We each plan to have one wheeled piece of luggage. Mine will be carry-on size; my wife's a bit larger. Plus a backpack each.

I'd recommend concluding in the charming Lucerne, from which you have an easy commute to the Zurich airport. Unless you have a very early flight, no need to stay in less charming Zurich.
The Swiss transportation system is made for moving folks about efficiently. With only carry on luggage, you will quickly learn the system , and the fact the the train changes are carefully constructed make them minimally disruptive. It may seem like a lot now, but it isn't monumental.
Stay in Wengen or Murren. Using the lifts and gondolas is part of the experience. If you visit this country, staying IN the Alps is a spectacular experience. You have traveled this far, pls don't stop short of waking up each morning with breathless scenery, and watching the sunsets at night.
Safe travels!

Does your luggage have wheels? (which luggage nowadays doesn't?)

You are just going to walk from one train to another with your luggage in tow. From Zermatt to Murren you will do less walking with your luggage than in you will at the airport.

Note that for your trip the Swiss Travel Pass is probably not the best option. You are spending a lot of time in the same spot, and the STP is not valid on the mountain railways and cable cars you for sure are planning to use there. For your use you are probably better of getting the Half Fare Card, which gives you 50% off on all transportation.

If you keep your luggage to a roller + backpack you’ll be fine. Put the SBB app on your phone to know which track you’ll arrive at and which you’ll depart from. Around 10 minutes before you arrive at your changeover, wheel your luggage to the exit car so that you’re ready to exit right away. Stations are well signed, the SBB employees speak English and trains run often, so “worst case” scenario is that you miss a connection and you catch the next one. But if you have the app to know where you’re headed and prepare as you get near your stop you’ll be fine. We travel through Switzerland with 3 months worth of luggage and have never once missed a connection. Our base is in Murren, so if we can do it with 3 months of stuff, you can do it with 2 weeks worth.

If you decide to stay in Murren, you can give them your luggage down in Lauterbrunnen at the Grutschalp Cable car and they will transfer it for you to the Murren station. You just veer to the right before going up the escalator to hand it off before getting on the cable car.

For your route: Chamonix to Zermatt is a rather interesting route if you go via Vallorcine and Martigny. Do not make the mistake of going back to Geneva to take the train to Zermatt.

If you have a few extra days that you do not have decided on, just add them to Chamonix and Zermatt. But the idea of going to Luzern is good too.

I expect part of the concern is the transferring of luggage onto trains and off. I don't know that route, but perhaps review that route on seat61 website. He is all things trains and often has photos or video footage that may show you getting on and off trains. There may also be travel vlogger YouTube footage that may be handy.
It also depends on whether you are willing to be separated from your luggage. Trains provide a suitcase spot, and just like airlines losing luggage, the majority of the time there are no issues, so leaving your luggage in the designated spot should be safe and less of a hassle that trying to keep it near your seat. A final suggestion, is whether there is a point you will return to where you can leave one or both wheeled bags for a few days.

Wow! This is my first time on Rick Steves' forum. Didn't expect such quick responses. These are very helpful. This could alleviate some of our concerns. Thank you so much.

My husband and I are half a decade older than you, but in pretty good shape (so far) with respect to backs and knees. My biggest problem is I am very small, so I have to keep my luggage size and weight in proportion. And I do strength training as part of my daily routine. I am able to manage Swiss train transfers just fine with a 22” roller bag and a small daypack on my back.

Here is what I see on the SBB schedule for your routes:

From Zermatt to Interlaken Ost, you have 2 changes, at Visp and Spiez. You will 11 minutes for each of them, which is plenty of time. Many people on the train will be doing the same transfer, especially at Spiez, so you can just move along with them (ask someone to confirm they are heading to Interlaken if you have doubts).

The Swiss train stations have underground passageways you use to cross the tracks to reach different tracks. In almost all cases, there are ramps as well as steps (or escalators at large stations). And an elevator, but that can be slow if there are lots of people with large luggage trying to use that. With roller bags you can use the ramps to avoid lifting your bags up and down steps. Some trains will have 2 steps up into the carriage, but I forget which kind of Swiss trains fall into that category.

At Interlaken Ost you change to the train to Lauterbrunnen, regardless whether you are going to Wengen or Mürren. You will come in on one of the tracks numbered 5-8, and must transfer to 2A for Lauterbrunnen. There are definitely ramps down to the underground corridor at this station; we used them several times last summer. The platform for Lauterbrunnen is designated 2A because they split the train at Zweilutscheinen and the back half (Platform 2B) goes to Grindelwald. You want to be in the right section of the train!

From Lauterbrunnen you can follow the underground passageway toward the Mürren cablecar, or stay at track level and walk that way. Lots of people will be doing the same. There are metal steps up to the boarding platform for the cablecar, but you hand your luggage off to the baggage transport guy before heading up the steps—-they will likely direct you to do this. Your luggage is transported in a bin attached to the cablecar, and then transferred to the little train that you take the rest of the way to Mürren. You pick it up at the station in Mürren.

If you are going to Wengen, you just go straight to the platform for the little red Wengen train which may be waiting there.

That covers Zermatt to Wengen/Murren. But if you are concerned about transfers, I will note that you are adding to your angst by heading to Chamonix. You can take a bus directly there from the Geneva airport. But to go from Chamonix to Zermatt, you will have 3 transfers, at Vallorcine (an easy, walk-across-the-platform one), Martigny, and Visp.

So that is the one I would eliminate if you are worried. It kind of duplicates Zermatt, anyway. If you want some time speaking French, you could head from the Geneva airport to one of the smaller cities on Lac Leman, like Vevey, or even Montreux, for your first few days. This adds some “lake time” to your trip, and the train ride from here to Zermatt will have only a single change on the way, at Visp.

We traveled for 2 weeks in Switzerland last September. We are in our mid 60s. We bought the half fare card instead of the STP. At the end of the day what we spent on transportation with the half fare card was slightly less than the 2nd class STP. The STP is easy to use and you don’t have to buy tickets at least for the included routes. The STP is valid to Wengen and Murren and I would assume Grindelwald (we didn’t get there). Going further you will get a discount of either 25% or 50% depending on the route. There is a good map on the STP website of included routes and those that are discounted. If you are staying in the Lauterbrunnen area for several days it may not make sense to buy a 1st class STP as there is no first class travel once you get to Lauterbrunnen. If you want to take a route in first class you can pay the upgrade fee. You might want to look into that to see if the upgrade charge negates your 2nd class STP savings. The SBB app is easy to use and you can easily check pricing on routes. We did go first for our longer trips like from Lausanne to Wengen and Wengen to Brig. We did that because the 3 of us had large rolling suitcases and there seemed to be more luggage space in those cars. Some trains have stairs to enter and exit and some have doors that are level to the ground. Did not seem to be any pattern as to what trains had what. If you stay in either wengen or murren (which I strongly recommend) - be aware the towns are hilly and several accommodations require an uphill trek so you want to inquire about that when you are booking if that will be an issue for you. The STP may go on sale in Mid April to Mid May - it did last year so look out for that. Good Luck with your planning.

Similar to the OP, I will be making my first trip to Switzerland in August/September and this will be my first trip relying on public transportation also.

Question on luggage security on the trains. How much do you have to watch your luggage against theft when it is in the luggage racks, particularly on longer trips? My first trip will be about three hours from Geneva airport to Lucerne, direct with no train changes, and I know I will need to leave my seat to use the toilet and get some food. Do I need to take my luggage with me when I leave my seat or just be close by the train comes into and leaves a station?

I realize anything can happen at any time but would guess it should not be a problem.

Kurt

Kurt, if you luggage is carry-on size, I suggest you put on the overhead rack above your seat, rather than the storage shelves at the end of the car. Leave those for the people with big suitcases they cannot lift overhead. Or, if you have a seat that is back-to-back with another seat, there is a A-shaped space between the seats that will accommodate a bag on its side, if you don’t mind putting it on the floor.

I would say that bag theft on trains is rare, even extremely rare, in Switzerland. The thieves want phones and iPads, not dirty clothing, and they know that you are not going to carry the good stuff in your suitcase. But if they were going to steal a suitcase, they would take it from the luggage rack just as they were leaving, and exit quickly at the station.

Do not worry about your big suitcase indeed. It is your purse, or your day pack that they thieves (if any) will be after. But crime in general is rare in Switzerland. Where I live we do not even lock our houses.

@Dave. My wife are of similar age and physical conditions (creaky backs, knees, and hips) but now travel only by public transportation in Europe. Driving is too much of a headache, an environmental hazard, and it's difficult to find parking. We have done 3 such trips in Switzerland recently and relied completely on trains, postal buses, and local busses. Although most suitcases have wheels nowadays, I recommend the kind with only 2 wheels as these travel better on uneven surfaces (cobblestones) but still work well in airports or train stations where the floors are smooth. I recommend that you become very familiar with the Swiss Transport website and app (sbb.chien). SBB provides a very good tool for the trains and busses but it takes some practice to get good at using it. It's best to turn on the via option in the settings so that you can force it to use a particular route. Otherwise it uses the fastest connection which counterintuitively may involve some backtracking to major cities. I generally have a paper map of the SBB transport system on my desk when I'm doing research but you can get a pdf version at:
https://www.mystsnet.com/en/download/swiss-travel-system-map-en-2023/?wpdmdl=14294&masterkey=63a023c8da36c

Once you have entered a route and time into the sbb web site or app, you can click on a given route and see the detailed station changes and transfers on the right-hand side of the screen (on the website version). You can then click on the Show Details button to see a map of the different portions of your route, including maps that show how to walk from 1 platform to another or from the train station to the adjacent bus station. You can page through these maps using the Trip info buttons on the lower left of the screen. I like to compare these maps to the SBB swiss-travel-system-map to make sure I've selected the route I want to take.

Google maps is also useful when you are traveling but I always use it as a quick secondary reference to find bus and train schedules when I'm traveling as the SBB app is more reliable. It also helps to use Google off-line maps if you don't want to pay for cell coverage while in Switzerland. Before I leave on a journey, I use Google Maps to save places that I want to go. It's useful to have these saved to specific locations (Zuirich, Chur, Basel, etc.). These will then show up on your Google off-line (or online) maps during your travels. At the minimum, I always save the locations of the train stations. I then use the Google maps directions option to find the routes and travel time to hotels or bnbs that I'm researching. It's best to practice all of this at home using local sites and then sites that you want to visit in Switzerland so that you are familiar with the process before you embark on your trip.

I also suggest no fewer than 3 days in any location as this will minimize the number of days you have to drag your suitcases around (keep in mind that 3 nights means only 2 complete days in a given location). There is plenty to do in any given locale in Switzerland if you do some research in this forum and on the web. We will be traveling in Switzerland for 3 weeks in August of this year and plan only 3 major stop with an additional 1 night near the airport at the end. IMHO, It's much more relaxing to do day trips from a central location than run around making changes every 2 or 3 days.

Consider a plan of clothes for 5-6 days and use the laundry amenities of a vacation rental to refresh the wardrobe. I have used hotel laundry services and the price was worth the added mobility.

Regarding luggage: My experience is that rolling duffels are the best luggage for train travel. Get one with robust wheels and a reinforced bottom. The wheels should be strong, and the axles well supported.
You can then just drag that behind you, over cobblestones, kerbs, up and down stairs, in and out of trains. The skid plate on the bottom will collect interesting scuff marks on the way, but that just shows you are an experienced traveller :-)

And they usually have a more elongated form than the typical squat spinner, and thus fit better in overhead luggage racks on trains. I have one from Tatonka that is also waterproof, and yellow. A bright colour does add some security.

My wife and I are the same age with the same physical challenges as you. We will spend 24 nights in Switzerland this year staying in six different locations. We travel with one roller bag each we can carry onto the plane and one modest backpack. Later in our trip we will unfold a large bag to carry home goodies. The Swiss transportation system is perfect for couples like us. Trains depart and arrive on schedule and it is easy to change trains as you will know in advance where the other train will be and you will have time to make the connection. Most though not all trains you walk into from the platform at the same level as the floor of the train. No steps while lifting bags. If you have any problems there are people nearby that will offer to assist and most speak English. Do not fear the lifts to take you to places like Murren. If you can walk and roll a bag you will have no problems. Enjoy your trip.

Very impressed with all the posts from fellow travelers. So much good information to digest. We are probably going to change our itinerary a bit based on all of your suggestions. Still figuring things out. Just want to thank everyone for your contributions. They've been great!