Switzerland

Switzerland, in a few days

From Lucerne to the Jungfrau, then the Matterhorn at Zermatt and Geneva on its lake: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Lucerne

Days 1-2

A town on the lake under Mount Pilatus, with a covered wooden bridge from 1333 that burned in 1993 and was rebuilt within a year.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Mount Pilatus by cogwheel railwayHalf day · from €72
  The steepest rack railway in the world at 48% gradient, climbing to 2,128 metres. It runs from May to November only.
• Lake Lucerne cruise1h · from €30
  An hour on the water, part of the fleet being paddle steamers that have been working since the 1900s.

✦ Free to visit

• The Kapellbrücke, the chapel bridge
• The old town
• The Lion Monument
• The lakeside walk

📲 Book things to do in Lucerne on GetYourGuide

2

Interlaken & Jungfrau

Days 3-4 · 🚆 GoldenPass 1h50

Wedged between two lakes, and the way up to the Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe at 3,454 metres.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The Jungfraujoch railway, Top of EuropeFull day · from €220
  A tunnel drilled through the Eiger between 1896 and 1912, ending at a station cut into the ice at 3,454 metres.
• Paragliding over the lakes30 min · from €170
  Thirty minutes off the slope above Interlaken, with both lakes in sight at once.

✦ Free to visit

• Lake Thun and Lake Brienz
• The Harder Kulm path
• Lauterbrunnen village
• The Trümmelbach falls

📲 Book things to do in Interlaken & Jungfrau on GetYourGuide

3

Zermatt and the Matterhorn

Days 5-6 · 🚆 Train 2h10

A car-free village under the 4,478 metre Matterhorn, first climbed in 1865 by a party that lost four men on the way down.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Gornergrat railway and the Matterhorn viewHalf day · from €66
  A cog railway open since 1898, climbing to 3,089 metres facing the mountain and the Gorner glacier.
• Glacier Paradise cable carHalf day · from €95
  Up to 3,883 metres, the highest cable car station in Europe, with snow on the ground every month of the year.

✦ Free to visit

• The car-free village
• The Riffelsee path, where the Matterhorn doubles in the water
• The Furi suspension bridge

📲 Book things to do in Zermatt and the Matterhorn on GetYourGuide

4

Geneva and Lake Geneva

Day 7 · 🚆 Train 3h40

A diplomatic city at the narrow end of the lake, where the water jet throws 500 litres a second 140 metres into the air.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Lake Geneva cruise1h · from €25
  An hour out from the quay, with the terraced vineyards of Lavaux rising on the far shore.
• Montreux and Chillon day tripFull day · from €45
  The lakeside town Freddie Mercury recorded in, and the island castle Byron wrote a poem about in 1816.

✦ Free to visit

• The water jet
• The old town and cathedral
• The Jardin Anglais and its flower clock
• Bains des Pâquis

📲 Book things to do in Geneva and Lake Geneva on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

The Swiss Travel Pass · Unlimited trains, buses and boats, the panoramic lines included: GoldenPass and Glacier Express. Buy it before you arrive, and it pays for itself in about four travel days.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Fondue: melted cheese in a pot, shared and stirred.
• Raclette: cheese melted off the wheel over potatoes.
• Rösti: grated potato fried into a golden cake.
• Swiss chocolate, sold by weight in every town.
• Birchermüesli, devised by a doctor around 1900 and still the standard breakfast.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Everything costs: buy lunch at a Coop or Migros and eat it outside.
• Validate your Swiss Travel Pass before the first journey if you are chaining trains.
• Trains leave at the stated minute, not a moment after. Be early.
• Take mountain weather and mountain kit seriously, even in July.

Words that help

English ↔ German

✈️ Flight delayed by 3 hours or more, or cancelled? You may be owed up to €600. Check your flight on AirHelp.

The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/switzerland

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.