Comments on: The BEST 8 Day Switzerland Itinerary For First-Timers (2025)

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 06:08:11 +0000

In reply to Ryan Duy Luong. Hi, thanks for reading and glad this itinerary of switzerland has helped with your trip! This itinerary looks great. I personally would skip the city (Zurich) for an extra day in Interlaken, I would suggest checking out Grindelwald a nearby valley. And yes there are other regional trains that you can take to Alp Grum. Hope this helps and enjoy!

By: Ryan Duy Luong

Ryan Duy Luong — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 16:54:51 +0000

Dear Jonny, your itinerary and comments are awesome, it has helped me a lot to design a 5-6 days trip to Switzerland between 20-25 Feb 2024 for my family of 6 people. My initial plan was:
– Day 0: Our family visits friends and travelling from Vietnam to the UK, ends up in Edinburgh.
– Day 1 (sleep at Interlaken): Flying from Edinburgh to Geneve airport before noon (Zurich already sold out), take a train to Interlaken. Going to visit Crash Landing On You filming site and around the town.
– Day 2 (sleep at Zermatt): Take a train to visit Lauterbrunnen in the morning. Take a train to Zermatt trying to arrive before sunset (so can see the Matterhorn from the hotel)
* If day 1 was not too tired, can try to do Lauterbrunnen so day 2 can leave early in the morning for Zermatt.
– Day 3 (sleep at St Moritz): Take the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz.
– Day 4: I want to take the Bernina Express to Alp Grum and back to St Moritz in the afternoon so we can take a train to Zurich to have a full day 5 in Zurich. However, it looks like Bernina Express only ride at late afternoon.
Day 5: Zurich
Day 6: Zurich – Paris
Day 7: Paris
Day 8: Leaving Paris back to Vietnam
Can you please advise:
1. Should I skip Zurich for one more day in either Interlaken, Zermatt or St Moritz?
2. Can I take other train than Bernina Express to Alp Grum because I don’t want to see the stunning view in the dark.
Many thanks

By: Derick

Derick — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 05:16:54 +0000

In reply to Jonny Melon. Thanks for the great advice!. As we have difficulty trying to secure hotels in Zematt and St Mortiz in Dec because we are a large group of 5, will it make a difference if we do a clockwise route starting Zematt first (3 nights), then Morteux (1 night) , then Interlaken (3 nights), ending with Lucerne last(2 nights) ? We arrive into Zurich Early morning and depart Depart Zurich 10.35am.

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 01:20:31 +0000

In reply to Derick. Hi Derick, you're going to love Switzerland, glad you found this guide useful! That itinerary looks perfect and yes you can go skiing in Lauterbrunnen (ski slopes in Lauterbrunnen itself include Murren and Wengen, and then you have Grindelwald which is a nearby valley from Interlaken) and of course Zermatt has plenty of ski slopes. Xmas and NY is one of the busiest times so I recommend booking all accommodation in advance, you can refer to my guide on places to stay, and also get the Swiss Travel Pass as mentioned in this guide, and you'll want to pre-book the Glacier Expresse in advance too. Hope this helps and enjoy :)

By: Derick

Derick — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 10:25:52 +0000

Hi Jonny, excellent writeup! Thanks for framing it well and convincing us to go Switzerland, it worked! Can you advise if this itinerary works for Pre Xmas to early Jan period ie 24 Dec to 2 Jan? Will it be busy at those locations or packed on the train and I reckoned most of the place should be open? If we want to ski for a day or 2, are these 2 places recommended? We are thinking of something like below:

* Day 1: Zurich – Luzern (stay Luzern)
* Day 2: Interlaken & Lauterbrunnen (stay Interlaken)
* Day 3: Skiing in Lauterbrunnen (stay Interlaken)
* Day 4: Zermatt (stay Zermatt)
* Day 5: Skiing in Zermatt (stay Zermatt)
* Day 6: Glacier Express (stay St Moritz)
* Day 7: St. Moritz (stay St Moritz)
* Day 8: Zurich(stay Zurich)

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 06:14:20 +0000

In reply to Choo. Hi Choo, thanks for reading, i hope it has helped plan your trip. Upon reaching Chur or St Moritz, you can catch a direct train to Zurich. Check the train schedules in advance on the SBB website to ensure there is a suitable connection for your evening arrival in Zurich.

By: Choo

Choo — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 07:45:53 +0000

Hi Jonny
Thanks for sharing your travel guide!
I’m travelling in early June and have some similar itinerary as yours.
If I were to take the glacier express from Zermatt, how best can I get to Zurich on the same day (evening) if I do not stay in Chur or St Moritz? As I was hoping not to miss landwasser viaduct while on the glacier express, the travelling route gets a little complicated .
Would appreciate your kind advice . Thank you.

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 03:15:18 +0000

In reply to Marina. Hi Marina, in your case I would suggest staying in three different locations, firstly in Interlaken, then moving onto Zermatt, and finally St. Moritz and after that end your trip in Zurich.

By: Marina

Marina — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 04:13:15 +0000

Thank you so much for your helpful info about Switzerland. If we want to spend about 8 days in Switzerland but we don’t want to spend every night in a different hotel, which location would you suggest to use as a base? We’d prefer just 1-2 hotels. Would that be possible to see some part of Switzerland just out of 1-2 locations?

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 03:52:05 +0000

In reply to Catherine Heard. Hi Catherine, yes not a problem at all with the large cases. You can either contact your hotel directly before you arrive and request a pick up or from the train stations you'll find taxi's to take you to your hotel. Have a great trip!

By: Catherine Heard

Catherine Heard — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 07:53:26 +0000

Hello Jonny, Planning on doing your trip next June 23 with the 15 Swiss rail pass. As we are coming from Australia and will be away for 6 weeks our cases will be large and as we are 65 we don’t want to drag our cases from train station to motels. Do the motels do pick ups?

By: Jonny Melon

Jonny Melon — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 19:12:37 +0000

In reply to Lani.

Hi Lani, I’m glad to hear that you love the itinerary for Switzerland! Here’s a suggested plan for your 6-day visit:

Day 1: Arrival in Zurich and explore the city and its highlights… Day 2: Travel to Lucerne and spend the day exploring… Day 3: Interlaken and Paragliding – take an early train to Interlaken for paragliding in the morning and then explore Jungfraujoch and Grindelwald… Day 4: Lauterbrunnen Valley… Day 5: Zermatt and Matterhorn… Day 6: Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz.

I hope this helps and enjoy 🙂