Switzerland: 7 day itinerary
Hi all,
I want to take my husband to Switzerland for his 40th birthday next May (lots of reasons – trains, boats, mountain scenery, the transport museum in Lucerne, cheese…).
I’m looking at spending a week, flying from the UK. I had hoped to squeeze in one of the ‘famous’ trains – the Glacier Express looks and sounds fab, as does the Bernina Express – but I don’t know if we’ll have time (unless we looked at flying in/out of somewhere in Italy), though I’ve put together something below that would include this. The Jungfrau Railway may have to do (though I know this is probably more rail-geeky than scenic given how much time is spent in tunnels). I’d also like to fit the Reichenbach Falls in (he’s a fan of Sherlock Holmes), but understand that this is a fairly easy day trip from Lucerne or Interlaken.
I’ve sort of got two vague itineraries in my head. The first is the most ambitious I think: fly to Milan, train to Tirano to connect with the Bernina Express. At Chur, change for a train to Brig (worth an overnight?), then to Interlaken (don’t worry, not planning on doing all this in one day – haven’t looked at train timetables but assume an overnight somewhere on the way is necessary). Spend 2/3 days in Interlaken (or somewhere else suitable if Interlaken isn’t that good a base) for day trips to Jungfrau and Reichenbach Falls/Sherlock Holmes museum then move on to Lucerne finally Zurich.
There’s a version of the above that takes us back to Geneva at the end instead of Zurich that I haven’t worked out yet.
Or…Fly to Geneva>Gruyeres (have read driving from Geneva to Gruyeres is best – is this the case?)>Bern>Interlaken/around (Jungfrau/Reichenbach Falls)>Lucerne>Zurich>home (or this in reverse)
Or…something else?
Any suggestions for places we should be visiting or comments on the two itineraries outlined above would be appreciated. I haven’t looked at flight costs, we’re usually BA customers but if I can get on a Swiss Avro RJ back to LCY husband will be very pleased (and it’s easier for us to get home from LCY too). I am happy to drive where necessary but would like to let public transport take the strain as much as possible. We’ve been to Geneva before so don’t need to allow for any time here at the expense of other places we haven’t been to.
Thank you!