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Zurich to Geneva, then train to Paris

Hi Everyone,

My husband and 1 and another couple are flying into Zurich in August and plan to rent a car to take in the sights in Switzerland before taking a train to Paris. We have allotted 7 - 8 days and are thinking of the following as an itinerary. Any suggestions and help to make this a memorable trip would be most appreciated.

Arrive in Zurich by air, rent car and drive to Lucerne stay for 2 nights.
Drive to Lauterbrunnen, park the car and go into Murren stay for 2 nights
Drive toward Bern, for a stop in Thun for the day and onto Bern for 2 nights
Drive to Lausanne for 2 nights
Return car in Geneva and catch train for 3 - 4 days in Paris.

Thank you all in advance. This is our first trip to Switzerland and will check a few boxes off the bucket list.

Deb

Posted by
7209 posts

Oh my gosh - your itinerary SCREAMS for train travel. Switzerland's system of transport is the best in the world and half the fun of traveling in that wonderful country.

Arrive in Zurich by air and walk downstairs and board the train directly to Lucerne (50 minutes). Be deposited right in the city and walk out into the beautiful city without having to worry about where you're going to be parking that rental car. The extensive transportation network includes the beautiful lake steamers to get to Weggis, Vitznau and includes the funiculars to ascend Mt Pilatus and Rigi.

The train easily takes you right into Lauterbrunnen and connects with the gondola and tiny train to Murren. You can easily travel to Thun again on the beautiful lake steamers or on the train. You don't want cars in these cities because they'll just slow you down and and they continue to cost you as they sit useless in parking lots - accumulating parking charges on top of rental charges.

Lausanne, Bern, Geneva - again trains whisk you straight to the center of town.

I urge you to rethink that car rental decision.

Posted by
26 posts

Thank you so much Tim. Since I live in a place where public transport is next to none and trains aren't in our everyday vocabulary, we went with what we knew. We will certainly look to planning the trip without the use of a rental car.

Are there things we should do or shouldn't miss in the places we are staying? Thanks again.

Posted by
7209 posts

Public Transport where I live in Tennessee involves the bus and nothing else. It's a real eye opener for us to visit Switzerland and see that EVERY bit of public transportation is timed so very precisely with connections - just unbelievable.

The Swiss public transport system encompasses trains, boats, buses, gondolas, funiculars and even the local city trams that whisk you around the city. Connections are timed so that when you arrive on your train your connection is usually only 5-7 minutes wait time...just enough time for you to disembark and walk across the platform.

Your time in Bern might be a bit too long unless there's just something there you absolutely have on your list. By all means add as much time to Murren and the surrounded alpine villages of Gimmelwald, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen. There is enough to see/do here to easily take 3-5 days.

Lucerne (2-3 nights)
Murren (3-5 nights) **Most stunning area you will ever see
Montreux/Lausanne (2-3 nights)

Montreux -> Lausanne is about 25 minutes and Montreux->Geneva is just a little over 1 hour. You can easily spend your nights in Montreux to see Lausanne and also to make an easy connection to your TGV from Geneva.

Posted by
1450 posts

I second Tim's train recommendation. My only caveat is that since there are 4 people in your party, the cost of a rental vehicle might be a tad less than the cost of public transportation for 4 people. If you're on a tight budget you may want to do a little comparing. Still, even if the rental is a little cheaper, I'd pick the trains for easy of use and simplicity.

You could visit Bern easily as a day-trip from Murren. Using public transportation they are about 1.5 hours apart. That would give you 4 nights in Murren with one of those days dedicated to a day-trip to Bern.

Posted by
8889 posts

Definately agree with Tim, doing this by train is the obvious, fast and comfortable way.
By car you have difficulty at every stop. Do not assume hotels in cities have parking. Do not assume you can drive in town centres, in most you cannot; you may not even be able to drive to your hotel. Do assume you can get anywhere you want to by train and occasional connecting bus.

Zürich airport to Luzern by rail, 70 minutes, two trains per hour; walk out the front of the station and you are 5-10 minutes walk from all the hotels in the old town. See here: http://tour.luzern.com/360/en/ the station is to the left of the bridge, behind the boat docks.
When in Luzern go on a boat trip on the lake. The further along the lake you go the more fjord-like and spectacular it is.

Luzern to Mürren (via Meiringen, Interlaken) is a scenic route via the Brünig pass.

I would take your 2 nights from Bern, and add them to Mürren. You could visit Bern for ½ day between Mürren and Lausanne, leave your bags at the station. Zermatt is too much of a detour.

Posted by
26 posts

Thanks everyone. With every post we learn something. Any other advice? Suggestions?

Posted by
7209 posts

debmgerard - assuming you're an American living in the USA (like me) it's just so IMPOSSIBLE for us to visualize a transportation system that doesn't include rental vehicles. When visiting Europe I never think of my "loss" for not having a rental car. I never think of all the "freedom" I'm losing by traveling on trains. Oh contrary indeed - I view rental vehicles as an absolute pain to deal with. I don't want to waste my time look for parking spots or interpreting road signs or paying traffic violations or worrying about a $1000 scratch on that vehicle. It's a load off my mind to NOT have a silly rental vehicle

Yes, I know, there are some places (like Tuscany) where public transport is sparse and rental vehicles might actually be preferred. But Switzerland is not one of those kinds of places. Actually - it's quite the opposite. Returning home at the end of my trip every year I lament the horrible public transportation infrastructure of the USA. It's just pathetic and there's no excuse for the rest of the world to pass us so spectacularly in transportation.

Posted by
26 posts

So if we stay in Murren 3 - 4 days. What do you recommend we do and see? We are active and healthy...we like to hike, but aren't hard core mountain climbers. Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, but this is a trip of a lifetime for us. Thanks in advance

Posted by
4853 posts

You've picked a fine bunch of places to stay and visit, but it doesn't sound like you've done any research on what to do in Switzerland. You have read Rick's guide right? And perhaps those other 2 that start with F? You say it's for the trip of a lifetime so you can't overplan.

Posted by
7209 posts

I've been to Murren more times than I can count, I'm not a hard core hiker, I never cease to enjoy being in Murren the surroundings.

Posted by
451 posts

I agree with trains. They are easy to figure out. If you can figure out which gate to board at an airport then you can manage train travel. There are large boards in each train station with departure destinations on them. Once you see which track your train is on, then you walk to the track and board the train when it arrives. Several trains may show up before your train, just watch for the overhead signs. If in doubt, show your ticket to other passengers waiting to board the train.

I love Wengen and Murren in the Lauterbrunnen valley. Murren is more touristy but it has better access to hiking. We loved the North Face trail from the top of the Funicular back down to Murren. It is an easy hike, grab sandwiches at the Coop grocery store in town before heading out.

Posted by
26 posts

Thanks everyone for the information...it's been very helpful.
We are leaning heavily to buy a SWISS RAIL PASS for 8 days and foregoing the rental car. After doing a ton of research, we'd need to buy rail passes to get to most of the things we want to do and it just doesn't make $$ sense to do both. Plus, we found out that a Swiss Rail pass will get you discounts on the things we want to do.

While the research continues....we've worked out the following itinerary so far.

Fly into Zurich (flight arrives around 8:30 am) - take the train to Lucerne - staying 2 nights
Lurcerne - Day 1 - checking into the Hotel and checking out the town and things. If we're up to it - we may go to the Casino - Palace
Lucerne - Day 2 - Mt Pilatus - We would do the round trip from Kriens and end back in Lucerne via boat from Alpnachstad.

Wengen - Day 3 - Head for Wengen in the early am. Leaning towards staying in Wengen vs Murren? Any strong opinions about this? Renting an Apartment for 3 Nights. Hike the Bir Mittleren to Allmendhubel and catching the Funicular back to Murren. Then a different Funicular to Stechelberg / walk or bus to Trummelback Falls. Then bus and cogwheel back to Wengen.
Wengen - Day 4 - Full Day of Jungfraujoch. Combination train, gondolas and hiking.
Wengen - Day 5 - Birg / Schilthorn in the am (until noon) then a 1 pm reservation to do Via Ferrata

Here's the question. Are there things to see in the Lausanne / Montreux area for a 2 day / 2 night stay? Before heading to Geneva and our train to Paris for 5 days?

Thanks in advance.
Deb

Posted by
768 posts

Deb, I agree with Tim about trains.
As for what to do in the area, yes, you can do the Jungfraujoch trip, but many many days the top of the mountain is in the clouds or might be once you get up there. I'd recommend instead to do the wonderful trails, all easy, but fantastic.
If you have 3 days in Murren, here are the 3 "classic" hikes in the area,
and they follow the 3 great ridges.
The first goes from Grutschalp to Murren. In your case, you want to hike Toward the mountains, so you should take the train to Grutschalp and hike back. From Murren, you can go down to Gimmelwald or you
can hike uphill on a diagonal from the Murren cablecar station, and eventually end up at the restaurant at
Spielbodalp. There you can get a drink and sit at a picnic table and watch the
cows. You can also get to Spielbodenalp via the Sprutz Falls route. About a third of the way up the trail branches near a hut. Take the upper one, you go to Spielbodenalp. The lower one goes fairly level into the woods and eventually to Sprutz Falls, which you cross under, climb up the trail on the opposite side, and end up in Spielbodenalp. You can see that trail and others here:
http://www.gimmelwald.com/pics/gimmelwald/hikemap.jpg

The second goes from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. The walk itself is
about 2 hours, and we save this for the sunniest day, because of the panoramic
views. (Leave in the morning--most afternoons the peaks cloud up!) Take the
train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, then a 5 min walk to the cable car
station, where you take the cable car up to Mannlichen. Once up, you can look
left at a 30 min up and back trail to a lookout point. If you look right
there is the main tra‎il that leads toward the Jungfrau mounta‌in, which takes
1.5 hrs and you end up in Kleine Scheidegg, where you can catch a train down
to Wengen and finally Lauterbrunnen. Great panoramic views all along the
route. This trail is so easy you could do it in a wheelchair.
It takes about 20 min train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, another 20 min cable car to Mannlichen, 1 and 1/2 hr hike to Kleine Scheidegg, 40 min train down to Lauterbrunnen.
The 3rd classic trail is from First to Bachalpsee. Take the Lauterbrunnen
train down to Zweilutschinen. Get off to switch to the train going up to
Grindelwald. Once in Grindelwald, walk about 20 min further into town to get
to the cablecar station, where you take it all the way up to First. From there
walk to Bachalpsee. There are trail signs, and it is about 45 min each
way. On a sunny day, you can get great pictures of the mountains reflected in
Bachalpsee, which is a small lake. Just Google image "Bachalpsee" and you'll
see what I mean.
If you want to turn this hike into a 6 hr hike (and this will be more strenuous than the rest), start at Wilderswil, take train up to Schynige Platte, and walk toward the Jungfrau mountains. There's a refreshment hut half way, then finally get to Bachalpsee, then 45 min more to First. Start early or you'll miss the 5:30 or so last cable car down from First to Grindelwald.
Finally, if you get a foggy or misty day, you can walk from Lauterbrunnen to Trummelbach Falls, which is about an hour each way (or take the PostBus). Google image it to see why Trummelbach Falls are worth seeing, and the nice thing is you can actually see them just fine on a dreary and foggy day.
Allen