For those Switzerland experts I will be there for a brief trip for work. I so have a solid day plus an evening to either explore Lausanne, Zurich, but now thinking Lucerne. What say you?

Don't know much about Lausanne. Zurich is a nice city but not very touristy. Meaning you won't get much of a "swiss" atmosphere compared to other places. Try hitting Interlaken and go to the areas south: Lauterbrunnen, the Jungfrau, and that area.

Zurich old town or Luzern old town is probably what you looking for. Zurich HB is about 40min from Luzern by train. Let me know what you feel like doing in either place. Day and a half you can hit both easy.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Zurich old town or Luzern old town is probably what you looking for. Zurich HB is about 40min from Luzern by train. Let me know what you feel like doing in either place. Day and a half you can hit both easy.

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Thanks. I'm a photographer (hobbyist) so will be looking to submerse myself in local culture. Love the old towns (favorite to date in Europe is Prague). Heard Lucerne rivals it. I love both landscape and street photography.

FightinTexasAg15 said:

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Zurich is a cool town to explore, but I would say you'd get more out of Lucerne. Lucerne is a beautiful little town and from there you could do Mt. Pilatus, Mt. Rigi or Mt. Titlus.

I also agree with the above, if you can get over to Interlaken, that's another cool town that's located between two beautiful lakes and there's a ton to do or see and can get to places like Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen by train easily.

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Lauterbrunnen would be awesome and would have been a must if I had one more day.

Lucerne out of those three. Easy answer.

I agreed with all of the above, but Lausanne is cool too! They have the Olympic Museum and it's close to Montreaux. Maybe not for this particular trip, but for another trip.

Go to Zermatt and photograph the Matterhorn. Cool, very unique town with no cars. Switch trains in Visp, and take a narrow gauge train up to zermatt. Some cool cliffs and waterfalls to see on the way.

Go to the Swiss History museum in Zurich. Basically a "here's everything about switzerland you ever wanted to know" museum. They've been mercenaries for a very, very long time.

Zurich to Interlaken (thru Spiez) on train.

Thanks for the input. I've opted to do the one day in Lucerne. Will hit Interlaken on a future trip. Headed there now from Israel (5 days here). Very interesting place but ready to see how Switzerland compares.

if you're interlaken-ing, spend a night in Murren. I cant even start to explain it.

if you go to Lucerne you must go see the lion. Simply one of the greatest monuments I've ever seen.

Mark Twain described the Lion as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world".

I agree.

Lucerne is neat!

Heading to Lucerne tomorrow morning for a day, then Interlaken for a few days.

Will definitely check out the lion.

bagger05 said:

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Heading to Lucerne tomorrow morning for a day, then Interlaken for a few days.

Will definitely check out the lion.

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Take a day trip to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. It's a easy train ride from Interlaken.

If you do go to Grindelwald seek out The Avacado Bar and have a drink on the back deck. It's a amazing shot of the Eiger.

rononeill said:

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if you're interlaken-ing, spend a night in Murren. I cant even start to explain it.

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Absolutely this.

Wow, just looked at the pics online for Murren. What a magic place. Will put it on the list for the next trip along with Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken. Lausanne has been beautiful as well. Whole country is breath taking, especially after being in Israel (which is a neat place in its on way, but doesn't compare to this).

UglyScientist said:

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rononeill said:

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if you're interlaken-ing, spend a night in Murren. I cant even start to explain it.

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Absolutely this.

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Day trip to Murren from Interlaken: give me your instructions.

If you like hiking, hike! We did two while we were there, but we spent 2 nights there so had more time.

For one we took the funicular up to Allmendhubel and then hiked down to Grutschalp train station and then hiked back to Murren from there. There is a path that follows along the tracks back to Murren. This hike had amazing views of the mountains and you walk through cows grazing, which we enjoyed a lot. We stopped and had a beer at the train station which was a nice break and the views are unreal.

The other one we did was Sprutz Waterfall Loop. Also beautiful, but I think this one was longer than the other so if we had been pressed for time I would have chosen the Grutschalp hike.
https://muerren.swiss/en/summer/tracks/waterfall-sprutz-loop-3h30/

If you're not into hiking, just meandering around the village is great. You can take a cable car up to the Schilthorn. We didn't do this, but it's very popular.

Bonzer103 said:

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Wow, just looked at the pics online for Murren. What a magic place. Will put it on the list for the next trip along with Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken. Lausanne has been beautiful as well. Whole country is breath taking, especially after being in Israel (which is a neat place in its on way, but doesn't compare to this).

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We went to Switzerland 4 years ago and probably talk about it still at least every other day. It's been my favorite trip. The sounds of cow bells immediately relaxes me and makes me happy now haha.

I told my wife the good news is we're going to move to Switzerland. Bas news is she'll have to get a second job. Expensive. But well worth it, beautiful country. Luzern was worth it (albeit touristy). Next time will definitely due the Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, etc…

If you get to murren and are up for 5 hours of hiking, here's a good jam: https://www.outdooractive.com/mobile/en/route/hiking-route/bernese-oberland/murren-dayhike-rotstock-hut/64911394/

Should add all the hiking trails are probably the best marked trails I have ever seen. Very challenging but you won't get lost. Can hike all the way from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen to Murren and vice versa.

A pretty easy trail with great scenery is the Eiger Trail. We went downhill on that one and it was fun.

Definitely invest in good shoes and a hiking stick.

EDIT: Also you can set your watch to the trains in Switzerland. Do not be late. They all leave literally on the minute tick they are scheduled to leave. I was way too fascinated with timing every train to my phone.

What's a good amount of time for a Switzerland trip, and what would you do if you were there for a week?

CoolaidWade said:

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bagger05 said:

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Heading to Lucerne tomorrow morning for a day, then Interlaken for a few days.

Will definitely check out the lion.

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Take a day trip to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. It's a easy train ride from Interlaken.

If you do go to Grindelwald seek out The Avacado Bar and have a drink on the back deck. It's a amazing shot of the Eiger.

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Just wanted to say we booked six nights in Grindelwald next May as base camp to explore the Lauterbrunnen valley. It's a tradition for us to find a place with a grill to export our Texas ways and find a good butcher shop. Mission accomplished with this Swiss Weber!


Thanks for the tip on the Avocado Bar.





Look at the view from the Sweber!

We will be in Grindelwald in July and are extremely excited. Please pass along any recommendations.

Will do!!

Just got back from Switzerland a couple weeks ago. Absolutely breathtaking. If you can swing it go paragliding. We booked ours too close to the end and it rained and we were unable to go. Also make sure you go up to First and hike Bachalpsee, it's a little challenging, but so worth it. Also, if you go to Mrren (we hiked here a few days) check out Drei Berge Hotel for lunch. The food is really good, but the views are even better.
Gimmelwald is also another nice little village.

Awesome Recs. I got the hotel marked for lunch now! Ty

First cliff walk looks amazing.