| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
8 Days 7 Night around Swis, Kind SuggestionsCountry forums / Western Europe / Switzerland | ||
Hi All, I am planning for a 8 Days 7 Night around Switzerland, Looking forward for your kind suggestions, 2 Adults, 1 six yr old child, travel dates from 7th Oct to 14th Oct . Since this is is my first time at Swis, i am scratching my head with the below 1) Would it be ideal to stay at Zurich and visit all the places or stay 2 nights at Lucerne, 2 at interlaken, 2 at Zermatt and 1 at St. Moritz 2) Kindly suggest for the Train costs as the Swis Rail is expensive ( i have budgeted for a total of 1000CHF for the entire trip) 3) Is it required to reserve any trains as i am travelling in the off season, can i get the tickets at the counter directly. 4) As i don't use a credit card i am planning to make all the (train + hotel) booking at arrival, plz someone suggest me on this!!! 5) Plz suggest if i am i missing any other place or have i added a wrong place in my trip. Thank you in advance | ||
Most people visit Switzerland to enjoy the mountains. I suggest that you pick two places, maximum, especially with a child. For example, somewhere near Interlaken and somewhere near Lucerne. You choose, based on the places you'd like to see the most. But don't try to cram too much in. One and two nights stays can be tiring but I personally wouldn't base myself in Zurich. The Swiss train system is the best I've ever encountered and I believe that it is not necessary to book. If you know your rough itinerary you can use sbb.ch/en to work out the train fares and then compare that with a pass such as the Swiss Pass or the Half Fare Card. Your child will travel either free with some passes or you can buy him a Junior Card for 30chf (with free travel after that). sbb.ch is also good to check route times. Sometimes places in Switzerland can seem close but there's a great mountain range in the way which means the journey can take a long time. e.g. Interlaken to Moritz. If you don't have a credit card and don't want to get one, then I suggest purchasing a Travel Card (e.g. Travelex, Cash Passport) which can be loaded with CHF before you leave. Of course cash would be fine but there's always a risk if carrying large amounts of it. Travel cards can be used to purchase (like a credit card) or to withdraw from an ATM. They don't give you as good an exchange rate but, in my country at least, the fees are modest. As for booking hotels on arrival, I've no recent experience on this but would guess that it would be best to pre-book, otherwise you risk only the expensive places being available, especially as rooms for three are less common. Enjoy your holiday. | 1 | |
Theoretically it would be possible to visit all the places you mention in day trips from Zurich. But I would never do that, because you would spend a lot of time in trains and not so much at the places you wanted to visit. And you would have to start early in the morning and come back late in the night, may be not the best solution with a 6 year old child. St. Moritz, Lucerne and Zermatt are fine places; Interlaken is a transport hub for day trips to the different mountain Valleys of Bernese Oberland. You may go by train from Zurich airport (dp 8.13, 9.13 or 9.47) to St. Moritz (arrival 3 3/4 hrs later), relax there after your overnight flight and spend 2 nights there. Day 3 would be taken by the Glacier Express train ride (9.15 until 16.52, in October, it will get dark 2 hrs later). Day 4 and 5 should be spent at Zermatt, with a transfer from Zermatt to Interlaken in the evening (may be Zermatt dp 16.13 - Interlaken ar 18.28). Day 6 could be ussed for a Jungfraujoch trip (but onlly if the weather is fine) and day 7 for Lucerne and Titlils (again if the weather is fine enough). I suppose you know that there are glaciers close to St. Moritz (Diavolezza, Morteratsch, etc.), that Gornergrat is in the middle of glaciers and that the pincipal attraction of Jungfraujoch and Titlils are glaciers too. May be it could be a good idea to skip either the mountain with the most expensive acces train (Jungfraujoch) or with the less spectacular glacier panorama (Titlis). Note that the weather in the Alps is completely unpredictable. It may be sunny and fine and you will enjoy it or it may be so foggy (no view at all, resp only about 10 metres) cold and windy that it doesn't make sense to go to any mountain peak. Switzerland means not only mountains. There are entirely walled medieval towns, a lot of castles and all kind of fine museums spread over the whole territory. May be you havw a look at http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html and the many links you will find there. For rail passes consult http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/ And as you are father of a young son, may be you are interested in the many atrtractions for kids (and not only for kids): SWiTZERLAND WITH CHILDREN As public transport is rather expensive in Switzerland, study carefully the sites about Swiss Pass, Swiss Flexipass and Swiss half fare card: http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/Tickets.16.0.html?&L=2#s_h_f_c Check the Swiss Travel System Family Card Some ideas: historic steamboats on Lake Geneva: Swiss Vapeur Park Le Bouveret: Signal de Bougy: Blonay-Chamby historic railway: Chillon castle: Gruyeres castle, cheese diary and chocolate factory: Chatelard-Emosson (Mont Blanc area): Zermatt-Gornergrat: Entirely walled city of Murten: Medieval city of Bern: Swiss Village Park Ballenberg: Lugano and Swissminiatur: Seewen in the Jura close to Basel: Rapperswil: Rhine Falls Adventure Park Furka steam train You may have a look at | 2 | |
Hi neckervd and Helen, Thanks for taking the time for that list. That was of a great kick start for my info digging. Worked out a little bit on the Train Fares, Came out as below, Total Train Travel exp 840 CHF As advised by Hellen planning to take a travelex card, Just wondering whether i can use this card to book hotels. Advice required on booking the glacier express 3 days before at a train counter in Zurich. will i be able to get the seats at such short notice as i have been informed Oct is the School holidays for Swiss kids Finally please advice if its fine to travel to the above places in mid October Thanks in advance | 3 | |
"Glacier Express 364 CHF for 2 adult and 1 child (with half fare card) From which starting point to which destination? Glacier Express seat reservation 3 days prior to the departure is OK. Swiss school holidays have absolutely no influence to Glacier Express which is rather famous with travellers from abroad. | 4 | |
Glacier Express 364 CHF for 2 adult and 1 child (with half fare card) from Zermatt Hi any advice on Gungfrau trip Thanks in advance | 5 | |
Our experience is that if you buy the half fare card, you will need to buy a card for junior (20chf when we were there but I believe now 30chf but still cheap). Not an expert on the Glacier Express but I had the impression that there were ordinary trains that run those 'fancy' routes at a cheaper cost (probably without the polished windows). 364 chf is a lot of money so you might want to consider this. I'm not actually sure what is meant by the Glacier Express. Others might want to offer advice on this. Do you mean Jungfrau? If so, try www.jungfraubahn.ch. | 6 | |
sbb.ch has tickets from Interlaken to Jungfrau at 53.80 chf per person with half fare card. | 7 | |
Train ticket prices per person with half fare card: Zermatt - Gornergrat (round trip): 39 CHF | 8 | |
hi all, I have got a pretty idea about the Train Fares, i was calculating for the food expenses as below: Per day food ( Lunch+dinner ) 60 CHF/person . Further i am planning to base at Lucerne for 4 nights 5 days with the following trips 1) Day 1 - airport to Luceren hotel, settle down, if possible around Luceren Further on any suggestions on the hotels at Lucerne, Mt Moritz and Zermatt. Regards | 9 | |
So you will do the Lucerne - Interlaken leg 4 times (twice in each direction). That means 4times 2 hrs/15 CHF/pax with half fare card. | 10 | |
Hi neckervd , Since i am traveling with a child, i am planning to stay at Lucerne and travel from there, a) Is it possible to cover Day trip to Gungfrau, back to Lucerne in a single day. Regards | 11 | |
Have a look at my post 2 and you will find all the answers you need: For rail passes consult http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/ Hotels: | 12 | |
hi neckervd, i think you were right earilier regarding the Lucerne - Interlaken leg 4 times, just checked the timetable, the round trip time is around 8 hours travel from Lucerne - Jungfraujoch -Lucerne. 1) Day 1 - Zurich airport (9am) to Luceren hotel ( 11 am), settle down, if possible 1/2 day trip to Pilatus Kulm Please advice as i dont want to miss out any near by places in the above destinations. | 13 | |
heard Chur to St Moritz is not that much worth a visit.": Why should a half day trip to Pilatus not be possible? You got all the timetables! Titlis - Lake trip: you need not go back to Lucerne for that: board the boat at Stansstad, the place where the Engelberg - Lucerne train crosses the Lake on a bridge. Stansstad dp 11.56, 14.06, 16.06, 17.06, change the boat at Hertenstein, go up to Gersau or Beckenried and change there to a Lucerne bound boat What do you want to do at boring Interlaken during a whole day? | 14 | |
hi, first of al thanks a lot for your time and responses,. I have changed a bit in the plan, please suggest accordingly Day 1 - Zurich airport (9am) to Luceren hotel ( 11 am), settle down, if possible 1/2 day trip to Mt Pilatus Kulm (is this possible, if i start this by 1 pm) | 15 | |