Is Seeing Switzerland By Train Worth It?

Absolutely worth it. We did this over ten years ago - bought a Swiss pass and then used it extensively. We based ourselves in Zurich and Basel and then traveled all over. Places in the South take time to get to - so depending on how much time you have, choose your bases carefully.

My wife and I bought Swissrail passes and spent a week traveling through the Alps a few years ago. We flew into Frankfurt and trained to Andermatt, a small town in the center of Switzerland.

We went to the Tourist Information Office in the RR station and asked for a room near the station.

The attendant told me about several; I chose one and she called the owner, who came to the station in his car and took us to his home.

Every day we selected a part of the country we wanted to see and caught a train to it. I suggest day trips to the Matterhorn, the famous mountain peak, St Moritz, the ski resort and Interlaken. There are lots of others.

It was a lot of fun planning the week and we unpacked our luggage only once! We ate lunch and dinner in several different town. But always back to our room every night.

Research what there is to see in Switzerland and which mountain tops you want to take the cable car to.

Travelling by train all around Switzerland sounds lovely, I have done a wee bit, but not much,, and it is so beautiful. I do not think there are any segments long enough to warrant a sleep train, and frankly, I am with wife, I would not like to sleep in a bumping shoe closet either..LOL
I think staying at little B?Bs and hotels along the way would be lovely. I also am a light packer and so on that your wife and I may see diffently. I can and do travel with a small 21 inch suitcase, and have gone over 26 days like that, so I do not feel I am lugging that much luggage, its easy to wheel it behind me, and I do not mind jumping from hotel to hotel when there is so little to lug.

Wife needs to pack ligthter. LOL

Your best bet would be to pick 2 or 3 "base" cities and take daytrips out of them. This way, your wife will only have to switch hotels once or twice, and "lug" luggage the same number of times. (I'm guessing the theory of packing light isn't in her thoughts.)

Switzerland is not that big and their rail system is extensive. If you do the planning, and show her how the base system would work, with a little compromising on both parts, you might both be happy.

How does she feel about traveling by car? If she prefers that, you might negotiate half car/half train.

Now, if her thought of a vacation is going to a resort for a week or two, and staying in one place, then you have a bigger problem. My suggestion would be alternating vacations...one year at a resort, one year traveling by train.

Hi Kevin, my husband and I did 8 days on a swiss pass this past september and we loved it. we had 2 base cities lauterbrunnen and gruyères, plus we spent 1 day in bern at the beginning and 1 day in lucerne at the end. the train was fun and very efficient, the longest ride was probably 3 hours. the pass saved us a lot of money too. Have fun!

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply to my query regarding train travel in Switzerland. The suggestions were extremely helpful.
Regards, Kevin.