The Alps, on schedule.
Jungfraujoch and the Matterhorn, lake boats out of Lucerne, cheese country by rail. What each day costs, how long it runs, and which one to book.
Seven days that make the trip.
One high mountain, one lake crossing, one long train ride and something with cheese in it. These are the bookings that hold a Swiss week together, whichever city you sleep in.
Mount Titlis and Lucerne Day Trip from Zurich
Zurich to Mt Titlis and Lucerne by coach, with glacier cave, highest suspension bridge, cliff walk, and winter snow fun when weather allows.
From $215 per person
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Top of Europe, back by dinner.
A cogwheel train climbs through Grindelwald and Wengen, then bores straight through the Eiger to 3,454 metres. Up top: the Aletsch glacier running away south, an ice palace cut into the mountain, snow in August. Departures leave from Zurich, Lucerne and Interlaken, so it works from wherever you slept.
Peaks, lakes, or trains?
Swiss weather decides more of the itinerary than the map does. Pick the shape of the day first, then book the version that suits the forecast. Everything behind these three is priced and reviewed.
Highest
The high mountain
11 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $380 · 1,647 reviews
The Jungfraujoch run is the one people plan a week around. Cogwheel trains out of Interlaken, a tunnel through the Eiger, then a plateau of ice and a viewing terrace at 3,454 metres. Long day, early start, and the one to move to your clearest forecast.
See the Jungfraujoch days →
Nearest
The lake and the peak
5 hours 15 minutes (approx.) · from $223 · 1,260 reviews
From Lucerne you can be on a paddle steamer by ten and on a summit by noon. Pilatus, Titlis and Rigi all sit inside an hour of the old town, each one a boat ride then a cable car or a cogwheel. Half a day if you want the afternoon back.
See the Lucerne mountains →
Slowest
The panoramic train
13 hours (approx.) · 215 reviews
Glacier Express, Bernina Express, the line down to Montreux. Big windows, spiral viaducts and a seat reservation instead of a hike. The Bernina climbs to 2,253 metres without you leaving your chair, which is exactly the point.
See the train journeys →
Winter changes the whole country.
From late November the lifts that carried hikers start carrying skiers, the lake steamers thin out and the mountain villages go quiet and lit. Beginner lessons in Zermatt and Grindelwald, sledge runs above Engelberg, snowshoe mornings out of Interlaken. Book the instructor before the snow, not after it.
Chocolate first. Cheese after.
Lindt on the Zurich lakeshore, Cailler in the hills above Bulle, a fondue pot somewhere with a window. These are the tastings people book again the following year.
Ten minutes above the valley.
Tandem flights over Lauterbrunnen and Zermatt, a cable car that rotates while it climbs, a rope bridge strung between two peaks. Short bookings, big pay-off, and cancelled the moment the wind turns.
Old towns, on foot.
Bern runs six kilometres of arcades and never gets wet. Lucerne still crosses the Reuss on a painted wooden bridge. Basel keeps its guild houses, Zurich its guild halls, Lausanne a cathedral with a nightwatchman who still calls the hour. An hour with a guide usually fixes a city in your head for good.
Pick a base, the rest is a train ride.
Zurich for the widest choice of day trips. Lucerne for the lake and three mountains. Interlaken for anything with a harness on it. Geneva for the French-speaking side and the run to Chamonix.
Pick the shape of the afternoon.
Twelve ways to spend one. Boats and cogwheels at one end, canyon ropes and paraglider harnesses at the other, a cheese dairy somewhere in the middle.
Most of Switzerland is a day return.
The country is small and the timetable is honest. A waterfall at Schaffhausen, a dairy in the Gruyère hills, a castle sitting in Lake Geneva. Leave after breakfast, be back for dinner.
Three days, three landscapes.
Switzerland rewards a plan and punishes a loose one, because the good weather moves around. This is the order that works out of Zurich or Lucerne, with the mountain day left deliberately flexible.
Day 1
Lake day out of Lucerne
Chapel Bridge before the coaches, a steamer across the lake, then the cogwheel or the cable car up Pilatus. Down in time for a fondue on the water.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The high day
Watch the forecast and spend this one up top. Jungfraujoch if the sky is clear, Titlis or Schilthorn if it is not. Take the earliest departure you can stand.
Plan the mountain day →
Day 3
Cheese, chocolate, a train
Gruyères for the dairy and the Cailler factory, or the Bernina line south through the snow. A slow day, mostly seated, with something to carry home.
Plan day three →
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