A Guide to Discovering Switzerland

Toward the bottom of this post I’m going to go into detail about the itinerary for those of you who might want more information on planning your own trip.

Map of Switzerland Train Route + our Itinerary

If you want to mimic our trip, here’s an idea of what we did. I’ll also note if I suggest skipping the town or extending the trip and also what there was to see. One night in each place was very tiresome to be honest with the train rides, and we wouldn’t arrive to our new destination until 1 pm which gave us about 8 hours to explore (summer days are long and it’s sun until 9 pm in Europe summers), and the days were packed with walking over 5 miles and seeing a lot. If that’s not your kind of vacation, I’d suggest adding a night to some of the spots you’re interested to take time to rest.

This visual map shows by car route not train route – Google maps can’t embed train routes, but this will give you a visual idea of where we went across Switzerland.

• Zurich (2 nights)
  • Lake Zurich
  • Old Town (Altstadt, District 1)
  • Swiss National Museum (if it’s a cold day), Free with Swiss Pass
• Lucerne (2 nights)
  • Chapel Bridge
  • Old Town Lucerne
  • Spreuerbruke Bridge
  • Mount Pilatus (must go), $72 Gondola ride
• Bern (1 night)
  • Old Town
  • Rose Garden Park
  • Bear Park
• Montreux (1 night) Recommendation: Skip, or make the day short and head to Geneva too giving both a half day
  • Cheateau de Chillon (Recommendation: If you have already explored medieval castles like in Ireland, skip this. But if you have a Swiss Pass, it’s free)
  • Walk along New Monteaux and enjoy views of Lake Geneva
• Lausanne (1 night)
  • Shopping in Place de la Palud
  • Get some chocolate at Blondel (famous)
  • Bought my clock there
• Interlaken (1 night) Recommendation: Extend by another night to see East and West of Interlaken
  • Situated between two lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz
  • Take train to the top for a spectacular view, $16
  • St. Beautus Caves (Recommendation: Skip, if you have seen limestone caves this is pretty much the same only with waterfall through the mountain. Photos look better than it is).
• Murren (1 night) and Gimmelwald
  • Traditional mountain village, 5,374 feet above sea level
• Lauterbrunnen (day trip on way out back to Zurich)
• Zurich

4 Languages of Switzerland

The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansh. Here’s a general map of the languages. They all speak English, and they are incredibly kind people.

Source

Related Posts

• Traveling around Switzerland by Train
• Zurich Photo Tour
• Mount Pilatus in Lucerne Switzerland
• Berne + Montreux + Lausanne
• Mountain Villages of Switzerland: Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen + Murren
• Video tour of Switzerland