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Week In Switzerland

Posted by on

Currently looking at spending approximately a week in switzerland at the end of september and have a few questions about what the best way of doing things will be. I will be coming up through italy and leaving through to munich at the end

The places i am looking at spending time include Berner Oberland, Lucerne, Lausanne (catching up with a friend here)..
Was thinking of leaving from Bern to Munich so could also spend a night here.

a) is this manageable for a week/if not or other recommendable ideas of places to go to..
b) at the moment i have my last part of italy in la spezia so will be leaving from around that area. would it be better to go from there to geneva, or stop over around lake-como/lugano and then go to luzerne.
c) incorporating b) what would be the better option with the places i have listed i want to go in terms of travelling around, is there a better direction of travelling from each places, what order would people do them obviously weather dependent i assume for wanting to spend time in the mountainous regions..

thoughts/help ?

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks for the reply Steve, sorry if it sounded vague (reading back it does but in my head it's a bit clearer)

So my friend in Lausanne id just stay with him for an arvo/night/and until arvo the next day with him showing me around etc..

When I wrote Geneva that in my head was the logical train/coach from la spezia to Geneva and I could check that out for a morning (if there is night transport from la special/genoa area) before going to lausanne, and a similar thing for Como if I were to go lucerne from la spezia, probably not worth it but in my head I'm trying to work out which of those routes would be the most ideal to get to from Italy, and from there is it easier to say start from Lausanne in Switzerland and go to Berber oberland region, lucerne and bern before going to Munich or whether it's easier to do it starting in lucerne.. would it make more sense to do it from either place (is it better to travel in a particular direction)

None of the travel would be done through rental car (only bla bla car) or by flying. Purely trains/coaches by looking on the goeuro app.

And I thought it would be easiest to get to Munich from bern.

Posted by
11294 posts

Rather than goeuro, get train information directly from the source - Swiss Rail: https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html. Be aware that the first price shown is WITH a Half Fare Card; you need to click through and select "No Reduction" to see the full fare.

It sounds like a rail map would help you figure out the best routes through Switzerland. Here's one as a PDF; scroll down to the second page, and zoom in to see the part you need: https://www.swissrailways.com/sites/default/files/upload/documents/uebersichtskarte_2017_en.pdf

Looking at that map, for instance, you'll see that going from Italy to Lausanne, Geneva is actually a detour, rather than being on the way.

Posted by
10 posts

thanks for the advice on using the train system.. i will just do a cross check of what is going to be cheaper for me in terms of getting a pass vs not getting a pass.
the town my friend is at is closer to montreux than lausanne..

so instead of doubling back i think this would make the most sense.

Genoa to montreux. Montreux to berner oberland area. Berner Oberland to lucerne. Lucerne to munich.
This would minimize the amount of public transport i would need to catch, and maximise time being able to spend in places. I think i can skip out on going to bern.

Thoughts?

Posted by
32500 posts

chris,

A few thoughts to add to the others....

  • My first question is why you're staying in La Spezia? Could you elaborate?
  • You don't have time for Bern. I'd suggest limiting the trip to Berner Oberland, Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich.
  • Where are you planning on staying in the Berner Oberland?
  • You don't have time for Lake Como / Lugano, unless it's at the expense of another location. Keep in mind that each change of location will generally require at least half a day when all is considered, and some routes will take longer than that.
  • As the others have mentioned, use the rail network websites for information rather than other sites. However, one exception to that is the Bahn.de (German rail website) is reliable for schedules all over Europe).
  • Buying a Railpass for Italy is rarely cost effective, and especially not for the few trips you'll be making. However, depending on much you'll be using the trains and mountain lifts in Swtizerland, one of the Swiss Passes may save you some money. Unfortunately there are a lot of passes and determining the best one for your circumstances requires a lot of number crunching. A good overall pass is the Half Fare Card.

One route you could follow is La Spezia > Berner Oberland > Lausanne > Lucerne > Munich. It's late so I haven't looked at all the possibilities, but here's a sample of the travel on each route....

  • La Spezia to Interlaken Ost - easiest departure at 07:38, arriving 14:28 (2 changes)
  • Interlaken Ost to Lausanne - numerous departures, 2H:10M with 1 change
  • Lausanne to Lucerne - numerous departures. I'd use departure at 09:50, arriving 12:00 (time 2H:10M, direct)
  • Lucerne to Munich - numerous departures. I'd probably use train / bus departure at 10:10, arriving 14:59 (time 4H:49M, one change in Zürich and bus for last segment).

Your itinerary should be reasonably easy, but of course good planning will help the trip to go well.

One final point to mention. If you haven't travelled by train in Italy before, there are some potentially expensive caveats you should be aware of. If you need further information, post another note here.

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