Switzerland Trip

[hetfieldpaul]

If you really have little time, i would suggest Mount Titlis over Pilatus, both are great but titlis offer better and more attractions and activities, however Jungfrau is not to be given a miss still, as for lucerne , it is a nice place to walk around at night, or even visit the casino, fyi the whole city is wired with free wifi, a nice hotel which is affordable and in the heart of the city would be hotel Monopol.

 

[Sardinecan]

If you are planning on staying at Wengen, you are better off staying at Lauterbrunnen. Beautiful town in the valley flanked by Jungfrau on one side & Shilthorn on the other side. Trummelbach falls are also in Lauterbrunnen area.

Make sure you do the hike from Murren to Grutschlap. You'll get a fantastic view of the Jungfrau, Monch & Eiger in the background on a good day especially from Winteregg.

If you are in Bern, you should make a trip to Gruyere & visit H.R Giger's museum & taste the cheese! Have fun!

 

[FM2]

I have been to Swiss and Italy a few times and frankly, u will be taking the rail most of the time cos that is what most people will do. But please plan more hours between each scenic places cos you should be enjoying and not rushing from place to place..sometimes, there are unexpected events which can screw up your schedule if you plan itenaries so tight. Switzerland should a place where you slowly take your time to explore...

There are already a lot of advices to you from many CS members but my personal advice is to travel light with luggage. You will thank to the inventor who made 4 wheels luggage and for camera, haversack bag is good cos u will a bag to pack your glooves, water, winter stuff etc. The railway transport in Swiss is better than Italy cos most of the train and bus are friendly to luggage. If you can, stay near the transport system like railway or convient bus stops. If you stay away from these areas, prepare to fork out quite a lot for your taxi ride to your hotel.

For Italy, the transport system is not as friendly to luggage and bags. Italy look like a lady boot shoe and the scenic places are stretch all over the country. I suggest u follow a guided tour or again try to stay as close to the railway stations or bus stations and make your way to see the city by foot. By the way, Rome is best discovered by foot.

For the region outside of Rome, like Milan, you can walk around the town area and girls will be spoilt for the shopping cos I always hear Asian girls giggle "cheap, cheap" for the branded stuff....but beware of pick pockets...

 

[shierwin]

But please plan more hours between each scenic places cos you should be enjoying and not rushing from place to place..sometimes, there are unexpected events which can screw up your schedule if you plan itenaries so tight. Switzerland should a place where you slowly take your time to explore..

Well said.
I check back the ts 1st post. Here and there for one day... and that means half of each day is spend in relocating and checking into hotels and that leave little time to look around. Note that daylight hours may be limited.

For your plan best that you focus either Switzerland or Italy; keep the other for a later date.

Suggested plan: Lucerne 3 nights, Interlaken 2N, Berne 3N. Geneva 2N and use these places as bases to take trains to the surroundings. Forget Zermatt, nothing but a ski resort, unless you want to try your hand in skiing. Get the appropriate swiss rail pass base on your needs. In fact you can do more than just rushing through this beautiful country. You need to give time to walk around.

 

[byteyou]

Hi guys,

I will only be in Swiss for 6 nights 7 days as this is a sponsored trip, I will spend 3 nights in interlaken, 2 nights at zermatt and 1 night in Lugano ( my wife wants to go foxtown). From Lugano I will head over to Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome.

I'm just wondering is as i will be reaching interlaken on the first day around noon time, so I will be left with half a day, what do you think i can do with half a day at interlaken? go walk around wengen, Lauterbrunnen etc...? or should i go bern to walkaround? or go lakes? I read that all the lakes excursion are closed, no boat rides... lots of excursion are close.
Anything to do for that half day?

 

[shierwin]

Hi guys,

I will only be in Swiss for 6 nights 7 days as this is a sponsored trip, I will spend 3 nights in interlaken, 2 nights at zermatt and 1 night in Lugano ( my wife wants to go foxtown)

I was curious about this place with a very non-swiss name "Foxtown". Did a search and found this website. Wives and Girlfriends really know where to go when it come to shopping...

http://www.foxtown.ch/

 

[hetfieldpaul]

I was curious about this place with a very non-swiss name "Foxtown". Did a search and found this website. Wives and Girlfriends really know where to go when it come to shopping...

http://www.foxtown.ch/

Foxtown is quite out of the way, in Lugano area , its a factory outlet but prices arent say very good/attractive and its about 1.5 hours drive from zurich or 30 mins from Milan

 

[Sardinecan]

Hi guys,

I will only be in Swiss for 6 nights 7 days as this is a sponsored trip, I will spend 3 nights in interlaken, 2 nights at zermatt and 1 night in Lugano ( my wife wants to go foxtown). From Lugano I will head over to Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome.

I'm just wondering is as i will be reaching interlaken on the first day around noon time, so I will be left with half a day, what do you think i can do with half a day at interlaken? go walk around wengen, Lauterbrunnen etc...? or should i go bern to walkaround? or go lakes? I read that all the lakes excursion are closed, no boat rides... lots of excursion are close.
Anything to do for that half day?

With half a day you can walk around in Lauterbrunnen. Go see Staubbach Falls & Trummelbach Falls. Alternatively you could take a cable car to Grutschalp & walk from there to Murren. Beautiful scenery. You could also take a trip to Shilthorn. Takes about 1hr to get to Shilthorn by cable car & train.

 

[byteyou]

With half a day you can walk around in Lauterbrunnen. Go see Staubbach Falls & Trummelbach Falls. Alternatively you could take a cable car to Grutschalp & walk from there to Murren. Beautiful scenery. You could also take a trip to Shilthorn. Takes about 1hr to get to Shilthorn by cable car & train.

According to the trip advisor forum Trummelbach Falls is closed as well, so i think i will be missing out quite a few things..lol and thanks alot for your tips..

yes my wife told she seriously dont really care about the places we are going except foxtown and milan. :dunno:

 

[shierwin]

With 6N in CH, I think you've only 2 options if yoou want to do sight seeing and time to check out things instead of relocating everyday:

Option 1: 2N Bern, 2N Lucern, 2N Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen
Option 2: 2N Lucern or Bern, 2N Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen, 2N Lugano

Please have spare space in the bags for her to fill up. Once she start shopping the bag fill up and fill up fast. Good for you to build up biceps and quad muscle power for your next IPPT...

 

[Photoholic]

If you are going switzerland, Mount Titlis and Jungfrau should not be missed !!!

The last time I was there I missed going to Jungfrau cos of the lagi bad weather ( which is not common the last time I checked ).
Till now I still feel like flying there and snap snap till my cam die ( oops, better nt ) . :cry:

Anyway, the last time I checked checked, shopping for branded stuff ( LV, prada, bla bla )is more cheaper in paris WITH the TAX REBATE which is about 12% ???

No point shopping in foxtown and milan. :nono:


** pls corect me if I am wrong **

 

[lestwe4get]

I am not expert in Switzerland but I was based in Geneva some 10 years ago. During winter, I did some skiing/city tour and a lot of hiking in the summer. For relevancy sake, will stick to winter theme.

Day 1 Take it free and easy. Settle in and later just stroll around the old town by the lake. Overnight Zurich

Day 2 Start early the next morning. Do a day trip to the North, to Schaffhausen and see Stein am Rhein and also Rhein fall (biggest waterfall in Europe). Overnight Zurich

Day 3 Start early to Lucerne. Trains starts before 6 am in the morning. Buy/Eat breakfast at train. Relax and catch up some sleep. You will half a day to do city sights and half a day to see Mount Titlis or Pilatus. Overnight in Lucerne.

Warning: Lucerne is very touristy. For this reason, you may want to be based in Zurich instead of Lucerne but MUST be prepared to travel early and return late. Typically, it will be like taking train ride before 6am and leaving Lucerne between 6-8pm depending on whether you want to have dinner there.

Day 4-6 Based in Berne. Start early train ride to Berne. Here you can explore the city and talk to the Tourist Inform for all the nearby sites. Switzerland is surrounded by Mountain and the Bernese Oberland has alot more than just Interlaken.

You have many options:
1) Do day trip to Interlaken (cover Jungfra and the falls like Lauterbrunnen and others).

2) If you like it, can go again to Interlaken and cover other areas. Note that Interlaken is also touristy with many tour groups and don't stay there. You can however, stay overnight in Murren/Wenger/or anyone of them just to have the experience, especially the fresh, crisp mountain air experience in the morning. Then again, air is already quite fresh everywhere in Switzerland and at March, it is a trade off between cold mountain less activity vs warmer and more activity. PS: The best view of mountain is often after the clearing up of an overcast or heavy snowing -- for that you will probably need to stay up in the mountain to experience it. Also, don't be disappointed of gloomy weather because the best will come after that!

3) Other places like Kandersteg (see blue lake), Gruyeres, Frisbourg, lower/upper Valis region, Montreux -- very relaxing to stroll by the lake Lehmen or Geneve -- can see Chillon castle, made famous by Lord Bryon.

4) There are many options available and you can always take a cable car up to any mountain for panoramic view.

5) Your wife may also be keen to try milk/chocolate spa as some form of activity

6) Visit clock/watch museums

From Berne, just take overnight train to Foxtown/Milan. Don't need to visit Lugano since you are going to Italy. Also, forget about Geneva, unless you want to cover the French side, like Chamonix (Mount Blanc) and a very pretty place called Annency.

Hope this helps. Note that the mountain weather is unpredictable. But usually or typically, it is clear blue sky above 2500 meters altitude while gloomy below.

Link to some old Swiss photos (low resol):
http://lestwe4getphotos.blogspot.com/search/label/-- Switzerland-1 1998-2000
http://lestwe4getphotos.blogspot.com/search/label/-- Switzerland-2 1998-2000

 

[FM2]

For Swiss, you can always go to the tourist information counter and ask what are the best attractions you can do with the limited time you have and they can advice you on real time basis in the mountain pass or lakes etc or whatever are open or closed due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. Real-time news is more reliable.

Bern is a good place to walk around, there is a beautiful church up a hill and you can climb there to get a surronding view and can see the status of the Bear (name of Bern) where the river flows below.

Interlaken is good too, if u want, u can try to stay at those wooden house facing beautiful waterfalls. Zematt is the place where you go for ski and see the famous pointed mountain which Toberlone choclate design after it. All my best shots are taken there as I was lucky as the weather was perfect. see some of mine shots...





Don't underestimate the beauty of lakes...





Once you are about to depart Swiss, you can visit Foxtown and it is very near the border, about less than an hour drive, you can spend about 2 hours in Foxtown and then head to Italy. Before going to Italy, go to the custom and they will check your good and verify it so that you can claim GST back from the airport.

But honestly, I have been to foxtown...nothing much...all factory outlets and only 1 or 2 food outlets there. When you buy your items, like a GUCCI bag, they give you the GUCCI factory outlet bags plastic bag instead of the big rectangular Golden brown GUCCI paper bag...most girls like to carry the Big Gucci paper bag and walk around to tell the world they got a GUCCI bag inside...but of course, not everyone cares about carrying a GUCCI paper bag...if u want the lower end models or the previous design, you can go n take a look but honestly, they claim to have 50% discount on the prices but the design very obiang and the range are limited..clothing also limited range for Aseans...

aiya...spend more time in Milan lah cos that is the shopping paradise. They also have the small shops around Milan selling REAL leather goods and comparable quality to those few thousands dollars GUCCI bag...just put your initial or logo on the the bag and it is your own brand liao !!!!

One thing I realise that when you travel with Aseans is that they to over buy branded goods and some friends even pre-order goods with you to buy for them. There are a lot of peer pressure when your lady companion goes shopping with other people who buy branded stuff and the pressure come down very strong. It is like the girl buy one branded stuff and show her friends and they all start to giggle, goo!! goo!! wow !! wow !! here and there...and the next thing, u end up paying 4 to 5 bags for her..come back work very hard to pay it off !!!

So, if photography is what you want, have a limited list of things to buy....dont overspend in shopping and attract unwanted attentions by muggers.

Spend more time shooting, know the history and appreciate the atmosphere and the few hundred years old sculpture, drink your favourite coffee at the square enjoying..these should be what I term as a holiday...

Hi guys,

I will only be in Swiss for 6 nights 7 days as this is a sponsored trip, I will spend 3 nights in interlaken, 2 nights at zermatt and 1 night in Lugano ( my wife wants to go foxtown). From Lugano I will head over to Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome.

I'm just wondering is as i will be reaching interlaken on the first day around noon time, so I will be left with half a day, what do you think i can do with half a day at interlaken? go walk around wengen, Lauterbrunnen etc...? or should i go bern to walkaround? or go lakes? I read that all the lakes excursion are closed, no boat rides... lots of excursion are close.
Anything to do for that half day?

 

[hetfieldpaul]

For Swiss, you can always go to the tourist information counter and ask what are the best attractions you can do with the limited time you have and they can advice you on real time basis in the mountain pass or lakes etc or whatever are open or closed due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. Real-time news is more reliable.

Bern is a good place to walk around, there is a beautiful church up a hill and you can climb there to get a surronding view and can see the status of the Bear (name of Bern) where the river flows below.

Interlaken is good too, if u want, u can try to stay at those wooden house facing beautiful waterfalls. Zematt is the place where you go for ski and see the famous pointed mountain which Toberlone choclate design after it. All my best shots are taken there as I was lucky as the weather was perfect. see some of mine shots...





Don't underestimate the beauty of lakes...





Once you are about to depart Swiss, you can visit Foxtown and it is very near the border, about less than an hour drive, you can spend about 2 hours in Foxtown and then head to Italy. Before going to Italy, go to the custom and they will check your good and verify it so that you can claim GST back from the airport.

But honestly, I have been to foxtown...nothing much...all factory outlets and only 1 or 2 food outlets there. When you buy your items, like a GUCCI bag, they give you the GUCCI factory outlet bags plastic bag instead of the big rectangular Golden brown GUCCI paper bag...most girls like to carry the Big Gucci paper bag and walk around to tell the world they got a GUCCI bag inside...but of course, not everyone cares about carrying a GUCCI paper bag...if u want the lower end models or the previous design, you can go n take a look but honestly, they claim to have 50% discount on the prices but the design very obiang and the range are limited..clothing also limited range for Aseans...

aiya...spend more time in Milan lah cos that is the shopping paradise. They also have the small shops around Milan selling REAL leather goods and comparable quality to those few thousands dollars GUCCI bag...just put your initial or logo on the the bag and it is your own brand liao !!!!

One thing I realise that when you travel with Aseans is that they to over buy branded goods and some friends even pre-order goods with you to buy for them. There are a lot of peer pressure when your lady companion goes shopping with other people who buy branded stuff and the pressure come down very strong. It is like the girl buy one branded stuff and show her friends and they all start to giggle, goo!! goo!! wow !! wow !! here and there...and the next thing, u end up paying 4 to 5 bags for her..come back work very hard to pay it off !!!

So, if photography is what you want, have a limited list of things to buy....dont overspend in shopping and attract unwanted attentions by muggers.

Spend more time shooting, know the history and appreciate the atmosphere and the few hundred years old sculpture, drink your favourite coffee at the square enjoying..these should be what I term as a holiday...

Milan's shopping is good but still Not Much Cheaper than SIngapore. WHen i headed to paris, most Singaporeans shop @ Galleries Lafayette, crowds carrying LV bags out specially, indeed for LV, chanel stuff Galleries Lafayette would be the best place and for Italian brands Like D&G, the 4 lines of Armani you may want to try Dolce Vita

 

[shierwin]

Poor TS. Caught between the Swiss mountains and the Shopping Sea........

 

[itsy bitsy]

Hi sorry to interrupt the conversation. Just a question on how to photograph snow mountains properly. I went to Switzerland last year and had a very diffficult time trying to photograph the snow mountains. If the exposure for mountian is right, the bottom (usually scenery of houses) will be under exposed. If the houses at the base of the mountains are in the right exposure, the mountains will be over! How should we take these photos?

 

[shierwin]

Hi sorry to interrupt the conversation. Just a question on how to photograph snow mountains properly. I went to Switzerland last year and had a very diffficult time trying to photograph the snow mountains. If the exposure for mountian is right, the bottom (usually scenery of houses) will be under exposed. If the houses at the base of the mountains are in the right exposure, the mountains will be over! How should we take these photos?

Use GND filters with or without a CPL. Reference for reading

http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/landscape-photography-tips.html

 

[LancerEX]

Go hiking in Zermatt and Interlaken Jungfrau. It is so scenic, enjoy.

Also, take the intercity train and enjoy the lovely journey ...

For the adventurous, go whitewater rafting or paragliding.

 

[Sardinecan]

Fribourg is a beautiful town to visit. I was in Fribourg in Oct last year for some work & took a side trip to Gruyeres. If in Fribourg, don't forget to take to furniculare to the old town.

Here is a picture at a river that flows through the old town of Fribourg.

 

[byteyou]

hello everyone, thanks for the tips and happy CNY
ok la not really die die have to shop, since she made a request to go foxtown and its just 1 day so its ok.. let her have her way, not big of a deal..haha

anyway, i'll be going interlaken straight from zurich in the morning the moment i touch down, I just wanna spend time in those mountain area, walk around, take some pictures etc.. and probably make day trips to cities like bern, lucern etc...

so now its confirmed,

interlaken 3 nights - will be doing day trips from there
zermatt 2 nights
Lugano 1 night

btw, where do i check the schedule for overnight trains?