Good day people,
I plan to visit Switzerland for sightseeing for 8 days and then head down to Milan for 4 days.
this is my first time travelling solo backpacking to swiss and i know nuts anout the places,
if you don't mind, would you be as kind as to so review my planned itenary and see if I had allocated too much or too little days to each places. My main purpose of this trip is mainly for sightseeing in this beautiful country.
I will arrive ZURICH and depart MILAN MXP
day 1
arrive zurich > head to luzern sleep for the night.
day 2
spend 1 day in luzern area sight seeing.
day 3
leave for ponstresina in the morning, take glacier express from ponstresina to lausanne. sleep the night in lausanne
day 4
leave lausanne, take golden pass train to berner oberland, spend the night in berner oberland
day 5
spend 1?2? days in berner oberland for sightseeing
day 6
leave for bern in the morning, spend night in bern
day 7
spend 1 day in bern for sight seeing
day 8
leave for Zurich.
1) should i spend one day in zurich and head to italy the next day? or reach zurich and leave for italy on the day itself? considering I only have 12 days total and I hope to have 8 days for Switzerland.
2) someone suggested me staying in Lauterbrunnen for ease of sightseeing and connecting by train back to interlaken and Zurich, maybe can anyone help me to squeeze that into my itenary or is it not a feasibe idea?
3) im sorry may i know the ALPS is in which part of my itenary?
how do you feel about my itenary, should I cut down or squeeze in more days for certain places?
is the itenary do-able for a budget traveller like me, I plan to get a Swiss pass for all my train rides.
thank you for your time and help.
Itenary help for Switzerland sightseeing 8 days
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No matter where you end up going traveling for eight straight days like that - nothing wrong with that but a lot of train travel - then IMO the 8-consecutive-day Swiss Pass is a no-brainer - will cover all things you plan on doing, including Golden Pass and Glacier Express (though there is a supplement on that latter you have to pay) - check out these superb sites IMO for loads of great stuff on Swiss trains, passes (which also cover lake boats, postal buses, city trams and buses and metros - virtually everything that moves in Switzerland and also gives you free entry to 400+ Swiss museums - asnyway great sites for planning:
www.swisstravelsystem.com (links to Glacier Express, Golden Pass, etc); http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; and www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.
Personally to me and many the Berner Oberland - a k a Jungfrau Region is literally and figuratively the absolute highlight of Switzerland - the Interlaken area - and many like the more remote mountain towns like Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen or, for an older crowd IME Wengen or Murren, much quieter than the other two that actually have many younger visitors and can have a party aspect at night.
Pontresina to Lausanne is a really really long day and if just going to take the fabled Glacier Express IMO that train is the most over hyped in Europe - scenic yes but not any more scenic than several other trains IMO in Switzerland - a huge detour for something not worth that detour IMO.
leave for ponstresina in the morning, take glacier express from ponstresina to lausanne. sleep the night in lausanne>
If coming from Lucerne I do not think you could even cover this type of ground in one day - I'd scrub the Glacier Express (also will cost you about $35-40 even with a Swiss Pass) and go right to Lausanne from Lucerne and spent the day there - perhaps take a lake boat ride on Lake Geneva or take the boat or train to the famous Castle Chillon - many people like Montreux or Vevey as being much more romantic places to stay than Lausanne, which is a pleasant but much larger and more modern town. Vevey and Montreux are just a few minutes by train from Lausanne.
The Golden Pass train actually starts from Montreux, going via Spiez to Interlaken.
I would suggest rearranging your itinerary in ending up in Milan - bop around Switzerland and then go via Pontresina and St Moritz area on the fantastic Bernina Express rail route over the rugged Bernina Pass to Tirano, Italy to connect with Italian trains to Milan.
End your Swiss portion by taking the Bernina Pass rail route, to me the most awesome in Europe, down into Italy and onto Milan - the very prettiest way to cross the Alps - glaciers practically border the tracks at points - the only north-south rail crossing of the Alps - all other trans-Alpine rail routes tunnel under the high Alps.
for 8 days - start in the Berner Oberland - Interlaken area - go via the scenic Brunig Pass rail route to Lucerne - then head from there to St Moritz and the Bernina Pass rail route.
An 8-consecutive-day Swiss Pass for fit that very nicely.