Switzerland in Oct

Ravi, yes you are packing in a lot. However, its not that you are packing in too much, it's the travel distances between the locations you have selected that could cause some grief. You're looking at 18 hours of train travel not counting the 4hrs to see the Jungfrau. Thus, you will spend almost a day on the train.

Zurich/St. Moritz will take almost 4hrs. St. Moritz/Lugano on the Bernina Express will take 4hrs. Lugano/Lauterbrunnen will take 5-6hrs depending on the run. Most runs take you to Luzern first via the Gotthard tunnel. The fastest run (4hr48min) goes a different route but requires 2 train changes and two bus changes. Lauterbrunnen/Geneva will take close to 4hrs on the Golden Pass. Yes you can take the Golden Pass from the Interlaken Ost train station. Lauterbrunnen connects with the Interlaken Ost train station.

For travel to the Jungfrau, its best to go early in the morning. It gets more cloudy in the afternoon. Its a 2hr train ride up and a 2hr train ride back. There is a TV monitor in the Lauterbrunnen train station where you can see the top of the Jungfrau. You can check the weather from there. You Swiss pass will save you 50% on the fare - it doesn't cover the entire fare.

One suggestion would be to skip St. Moritz and the Bernina express and take the fast train from Zurich directly to Lugano via the Gotthard tunnel. From the Zurich airport (station is beneath the terminal), it just over 2hrs to Lugano.

With only 4 nights you should head straight for the Lauterbrunnen Valley and stay. Switzerland is a fantastic country but your experience will be limited to the inside of a train.

Some people really enjoy riding the scenic trains in Switzerland, and make that the point of their trip. Ravi's plan is a good one if that is their goal for this trip.

To address your specific questions---

One way to get to Lauterbrunne, if you really want to ride special trains, would be to transfer to Locarno (1 hour from Lugano) and then ride the very sceniec Centovalli Railway to Domodossola (in Italy), where you pick up the train north to Brig and on to Spiez, Interlaken Öst, and Lauterbrunnen.

http://www.centovalli.ch/

The journey from Locarno to Lauterbrunnen that way is 4:47, so add the hour to get to Locarno and some tranfer time, and you are looking a around 6 hours.

If you go the other way, via Luzern, the travel time is 5:13, and you will ride a section of the Golden Pass route, so that is nice too.

To get to Geneve airpport by 16:00, you can do the Golden Pass traiin by leaving Lauterbrunnen at 8:33 in the morning, connecting with the Golden Pass panoramic train at Interlaken Öst at 9:08. This route has several connections on your way (around 3 more), and takes you to the airport for arrival at 13:33 which is ample time for a 16:00 flight.

Later departures from Lauterbrunnen will not get you to the aiprort in time.

You can see the train schedules at www.rail.ch (for English language).

The Bernina Express is one of the highlights of my trip to Switzerland and I highly recommend it. I do have some comments on your itinerary.

How important is Jungfrau? You are only giving yourself one day to get up there, if the weather doesn't cooperate, will you be disappoionted? You need to deceide.

Overally, your schedule spends way too long on trains, train rides do get boring, even in Switzerland. I'd skip St Moritz entirely given how long the train ride is to/from St Moritz.

If you haven't already bought your flight ticket you may conside flying out of Milan instead going to Geneva. Milan is easy to get to after the Bernina Express ride.

With just 5 days, I'd spend more time in the BO area and take the Bernina Express.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks a lot for all the insightful comments.On the basis of the advises, I am inclined to dropping the Bernina bit and go straight to Lugano from Zurich airport and then take the Centovalli line to Interlaken. This means we are now spending 3 nights and 2 days in the Leuterbrennen area. I am clear that we take the trip up to Jungfrau ONLY if the weather is clear. Else utilise the time to roam around BO.Balance as earlier.How does it look now?

Now some more queries:

1. Is Lugano a preferred place or Locarno from the point of getting the Italian Swiss feel.With the new routing Locarno seems to be a more convenient destination to spend a night.

2. We will now have 2 half days with a night stay in Lugano / Locarno. Any indicvators of things to do. Please remember we are not the "walky" type.

cheers,

Ravi

It's always a good thing when you decide to spend more time in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and surroudning alpine villages of Wengen, Muerren, Gimmelwald. After you see it you will wish you could have stayed for a week.