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Two Week Fall Itinerary

Hello Fellow Travelers,

Heading to Switzerland for two weeks in the fall. We’re first-time visitors – so many great destinations, not easy to choose! We have put together this itinerary. I would welcome any comments or suggestions. Thinking of buying Half Fare Cards instead of the Swiss Travel Pass.

Sep 25-27- Zurich: 2 nights, 1 full day
Sep 27-29 - Lucern: 2 nights, 1.5 days, old town, boat trip (Fluelen?)
Sep 29-Oct 3 -Murren: 5 nights/4 days. Using Murren as a base for hikes in the area, plus Schilthorn, Trummelbach Falls (any other must-see?)
(Thinking of cutting the last Murren night, and spending it in Interlaken instead to make it less stressful to get the 9:08 Golden Pass departure we want, since we have a lot planned for that day. Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea, or whether it’s no problem to just depart Murren very early to get the 9:08?)
Oct 4: Golden Pass train from Interlaken to Montreux, leave luggage at Montreux’s train station lockers, afternoon at Chillon castle, sleep in Lausanne
Oct 4-6: Lausanne: 2 nights/1 full day. Old town, boat trip (circular cruise? Vevey?)
Oct: 6: Day trip to Murten, sleep in Bern
Oct 6-8: Bern, 2 nights/1 full day
Oct: 8: Train to Zurich airport and depart

Thank you!

Posted by
8164 posts

Going from Murren to Interlaken the day before to catch the 9:08 Golden Pass train sounds like a good idea.

Posted by
8889 posts

My personal advice:
1) Skip Zürich, go from Zürich airport direct to Luzern (only 70 minutes).
2) Use one of your extra days in Luzern for a trip up Titlis (website: https://www.titlis.ch/en ). This is a mountain you get up by cable cars, with a permanent snow cap at the top.

The "Golden Pass" is the rail route Luzern - Interlaken - Montreux. You will already have done the first part in getting from Luzern to Mürren.

Posted by
11776 posts

I would not give up a night in Muerren to stay in Interlaken. Just get up early and head to Interlaken Ost. If the 8:06-8:54 seems tight to you (although the 14 minutes is plenty of time to make the transfer), take an earlier departure and have breakfast at a cafe near the station.

Posted by
55 posts

Thanks for the feedback so far, Travelers.

Chris, appreciate the classic skip Zurich advice. In our case, we’ll want to crash after long trip from the west coast. Also, looking forward to attending the Zurich Opera on night 2 of our Zurich stay!

Laurel, thanks for the Murren thoughts. I think we now lean towards what you say. Stay that extra night in Murren, and leave early the next day to catch the 9:08 from Interlaken.

Keep the thoughts coming! Any observations welcomed.

Posted by
5 posts

For me, must see while staying in Murren includes: 1) walk down to Gimmelwald and tour this charming little town with the RS guidebook in hand; 2) day trip to Mannlichen-Kleine Scheidegg Hike; 3) Lauterbrunnen Valley Walk to Trummelbach Falls (bus back to town); 4) husband & daughter loved parasailing from Murren down to valley floor at Stechelberg (I took the cable car down to watch them land). We had a wonderful visit there!

Posted by
55 posts

Thanks for the suggestions, smfields. Gimmelwald wasn’t quite on my radar, but I see in the RS book that it can be done as part of a loop. Sounds fun. The M-K-S hike already high on our list, based on the fact that RS says it’s his favorite easy Alpine hike. T Falls definitely on our list, combined with other things on a hike.