For those traveling to Europe for the first time Switzerland is hard to beat. It has a wonderful mixture of natural beauty, historic cities and many fun things to see and do. Public transportation makes it so easy to travel throughout the country! Probably the easiest of any country I've been to. We bought the Swiss Pass- this covered trains, buses, ferries, and most gondolas. It also included many sight-seeing excursions. We began our trip in Luzern, traveled to Wengen, and ended in Lausanne. July 1-13, 2017 (Flew into Zurich and out of Geneva) My favorite part of the trip was staying in Wengen. We rented a chalet there for 5 days. We even traveled with young children ages 6 and 3. Everything went smoothly, the kids did great- and really enjoyed the trains. The only real glitch was in Lausanne, we ended up lugging suitcases, a stroller, and 2 kids up steep hills for a good 8 blocks when all we had to do was take the metro from the train station to the stop in front of our hotel!
Posted by
Reading, PA, USA
1637 posts
It is also one of the most expensive countries to visit in Europe.
Posted by
Chicago
8164 posts
I can't disagree.
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7158 posts
Bob, I agree. It's interesting that the easiest places for 1st time, English speaking, visitors to Europe are also the most expensive places - Switzerland, Scandinavia, Great Britain.
Posted by
Truro, NS, Canada
3941 posts
We had 3 short nights there on our 2nd trip over (Bern, Zurich, Spiez) - and loved it. Luckily we alleviated some of the expense by finding couchsurfing hosts, so our accoms were free, and one of them even fed us a lovely supper. I LOVED the mountains - and it has been on my wishlist to go back, just haven't made it yet.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7803 posts
We've stayed several days in Wengen, and it is a breathtakingly beautiful location! We did a combination Switzerland/Italy trip one year flying into Zurich to go to Wengen, & then dropping into Italy to stay at Stresa, Florence, Siena, Grosseto & Rome. Staying in Italy for most of that trip helped reduce the overall expenses since Switzerland is expensive!
I'm surprised at the comment about transportation being easier in Switzerland. We've traveled by public transportation (mostly trains) throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France & Spain and found all of them equally easy to use.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5540 posts
Bob, I agree. It's interesting that the easiest places for 1st time, English speaking, visitors to Europe are also the most expensive places - Switzerland, Scandinavia, Great Britain.
Whilst London can be expensive the same cannot be said for most of the rest of the UK. I find prices can be higher in France than in the UK (London excluded) for example and certainly not comparable to Switzerland or Scandinavia. Prices for a lot of groceries in Germany are similar to those in the UK and quite often are more expensive.
Posted by
New York, NY
4071 posts
It sounds like you had a wonderful time and you planned your vacation quite nicely! Friends of ours live in Wengen and I could not agree with you more about the pristine beauty of the land.
Posted by
Burlington, Vermont USA
114 posts
Yeah I'd recommend, Paris, Italy and Swiss Alps for first time Europe travelers.
But the smoking in Switzerland is a bit of a bummer, even if its better than it used to be.
Posted by
Columbia, MO, United States
2 posts
Hi jjarvis.
I'm really interested in your itinerary and what all you did... my family (myself, husband, 10yo daughter, 6yo son, and my 60ish parents) is planning a trip next July (this year). What you did sounds very similar to what I was thinking.
Posted by
Michigan
481 posts
We, too, loved Switzerland with our family! Every one of us would've to go back there. Our time was spent in Luzern, Engelberg and the top of Mt. Titlis (snow in July!), and we flew home from Zurich. We had spent the first half of our trip in France, and took the train from Paris to Luzern.
While it was indeed expensive, I will pass on the rec I got from several on this forum - the Coop stores were great places to buy foods for picnics, and to use up your last francs on chocolate before heading home! Also, if you can take a ferry ride across the lake in Luzern, it is a really lovely ride on a paddlewheel steamboat. We went to Weggis for lunch and exploring, and found a monument to Mark Twain, who truly loved that place.
If we get the chance to go again, Wengen is on my wish list! Paragliding is on our kids' lists!
It was a very clean, beautiful, peaceful, and gracious place to visit.
Posted by
USA
153 posts
Thanks for the recommendations - saving up for it now - hopefully for Summer 2019. Want do the Alpine Tour with RS and have
been busy with research - this forum is an unlimited fountain of useful information.
Posted by
3 posts
I'm happy to hear that the chalet in Wengen was was your favorite part! We have an 8 day stay in a chlalet booked in June and I absolutely can't wait. We begin our trip with 2 weeks in London and Paris, so I have a feeling the peace and quiet of Wengen will be much appreciated. My husband is an ultra runner and cannot wait to run the Alps. We have already booked our Swiss Travel Pass and we are excited for all the trains, gondolas, boats, trams and funiculars that Switzerland will bring.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5540 posts
Planning to go there next month but i've heard that switzerland is pretty wide so I'll make sure to bring my gps tracking device with me for safety purposes.
What tracking device do you use?
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Bring a Tracking device?? I don’t even know what that means...
Posted by
Portsmouth
5540 posts
I'm not going to search for the device because I have no real interest but also because your posts appear to be thinly disguised endorsements for the product. Besides, what you're describing is not a tracking device, it's a GPS device. A tracking device is something you place on an item/person in order to track them. What use is a tracking device if you're the person carrying it and you get lost?