Switzerland at a Slower Pace: Lake Lucerne and the Jungfrau Region

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Zurich, settle in Lucerne

   Zurich Airport to Lucerne by our vehicle

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lucerne
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Zurich Airport (ZRH). If you land inside the meeting window sent with your final itinerary, your See Sight Tours guide meets you in the arrivals hall, and once the group is together our vehicle drives you to Lucerne, about an hour and 65 km. If you land later, we send clear directions for the hourly train to Lucerne, at your own cost, and your guide meets you at the hotel. Rooms are usually ready from mid-afternoon, so we leave bags at the hotel and you have time for a quiet lunch by the water. Late in the afternoon, once everyone has rested, your guide takes a slow first walk of about an hour: across the Chapel Bridge, the covered wooden bridge first built in the 14th century and rebuilt after a fire in 1993, past the octagonal Water Tower and along the Reuss to the old town squares with their painted house fronts. In the evening we sit down together to a welcome dinner and a short briefing on the week ahead.

   Compris

   • Meeting at Zurich Airport (ZRH) in the arrival window and our vehicle to Lucerne
   • Short guided walk: the Chapel Bridge, the Water Tower and the old town squares
   • Welcome dinner and briefing

   Temps libre : Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activité : About an hour on foot, on level paths and some cobbles.

2. Jour 2 : Lake Lucerne and Mount Rigi

   Lucerne by boat to Vitznau, the cogwheel railway to Rigi Kulm, then down to Weggis and back by boat

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Lucerne
   Détail du jour 2

   After a slow breakfast we walk to the pier opposite Lucerne station and board a lake boat at about 9:30 for the hour to Vitznau, past lakeside villas and the wooded cliffs of the Bürgenstock, with the peaks of central Switzerland ahead on a clear day. In Vitznau we change to the red cogwheel train of the Vitznau-Rigi railway, opened in 1871 as the first mountain railway in Europe, and climb for about half an hour to Rigi Kulm at 1,798 metres. From the top the view runs over Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug to a long line of Alps on one side and the green lowlands on the other. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the mountain. Afterwards you can ride the train down to Rigi Kaltbad or walk there with your guide on a wide path, about an hour and a quarter downhill. From Kaltbad a cable car drops to Weggis, and the boat brings us back to Lucerne by mid-afternoon.

   Compris

   • Lake Lucerne boat to Vitznau and back from Weggis
   • Vitznau-Rigi cogwheel railway to Rigi Kulm
   • Sit-down lunch on Rigi
   • Rigi Kaltbad to Weggis cable car

   Option plus facile : Ride the train from Rigi Kulm down to Rigi Kaltbad and wait on the terrace for the walkers.

   Option plus active : Walk with your guide from Rigi Kulm down to Rigi Kaltbad, about an hour and a quarter on a wide gravel path.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Lucerne

   Activité : The walk down from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad loses about 360 m; the train covers the same stretch.

3. Jour 3 : A free day in Lucerne

   Lucerne, at your own pace

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Lucerne
   Détail du jour 3

   Today is yours, and it is also the trip's weather day in Lucerne: if the forecast showed fog on Pilatus tomorrow and a clear sky today, your guide will have told you at dinner that the two days swap. Otherwise there is no plan and no alarm. Sleep in, then walk the lakefront promenade to the Lion Monument, the dying lion carved into the rock in 1820 and 1821 in memory of the Swiss Guards killed in Paris in 1792. In season you can climb one of the towers of the Musegg Wall, the old town ramparts, for the view over the roofs. The Swiss Museum of Transport, a short bus or boat ride along the shore, has locomotives, lake steamers and cable cars, and the Bourbaki Panorama shows a vast circular painting of a French army crossing into Switzerland in 1871. Your guide is around in the morning to suggest a lunch spot, book a table or point you to the right boat, and the evening is free for dinner wherever you like.

   Compris

   • Your guide on hand in the morning for tickets, tables and boat times

   Activités en option

   • Swiss Museum of Transport, Bourbaki Panorama or a round-trip lake cruise, at your own cost
   • Musegg Wall towers, free in season

   Temps libre : Full day and evening free

4. Jour 4 : The Pilatus round trip

   Lucerne to Alpnachstad (boat in season), the cogwheel railway to Pilatus Kulm, cable cars down to Kriens, back to Lucerne

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Lucerne
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave the hotel at about 9:30 for Pilatus, the mountain that rises straight out of Lake Lucerne. From about mid-May to mid-October we go the classic way: the boat to Alpnachstad, about an hour and a half into the lake's quieter southern arm, then the Pilatus cogwheel railway, opened in 1889 and the steepest cogwheel railway in the world, with gradients of up to 48 percent. The half-hour climb runs through meadows and rock tunnels to Pilatus Kulm at about 2,070 metres, where the terraces look down on Lucerne and across the Alps to the Bernese Oberland. Lunch is a sit-down meal at the top, then there is time for the short path to the Esel viewpoint or a coffee in the sun. We come down the other side by the aerial cable car and the panoramic gondola to Kriens, where the bus or our driver brings us back. The boat, the railway and the cable cars each keep their own season, so the exact routing is set by the Pilatus timetable on your dates and confirmed when you book. Late afternoon is free.

   Compris

   • Lake Lucerne boat to Alpnachstad, or the train when the boat is not running
   • Pilatus cogwheel railway to Pilatus Kulm
   • Sit-down lunch on Pilatus
   • Aerial cable car and gondola down to Kriens, and the bus to Lucerne, when they are running

   Option plus facile : Stay on the summit terraces after lunch; the Esel path is optional.

   Option plus active : Climb the Esel path with your guide, about 20 minutes up steps to 2,118 m, then walk the Dragon Path gallery through the rock.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Lucerne

   Activité : The day 4 routing (boat, train or bus to Alpnachstad, the cogwheel railway and the cable cars) is set by the Pilatus timetable on your dates and confirmed at booking. The full loop runs from about mid-May to mid-October.

   

5. Jour 5 : Bern and the Lake Thun boat

   Lucerne to Bern by our vehicle, then on to Thun and by boat along Lake Thun to Interlaken

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Interlaken
   Détail du jour 5

   Today is the one hotel change, and your suitcase stays in our vehicle from door to door. We leave Lucerne at about 9:30 and drive to Bern, about an hour and a quarter. The Swiss capital's old town sits in a tight loop of the green Aare river and is listed by UNESCO for its medieval street plan, its sandstone arcades and its painted fountains. Your guide walks you down the Kramgasse to the Zytglogge, the old city gate whose astronomical clock and moving figures perform a few minutes before each hour, past the flat where Albert Einstein lived in 1905, and on to the terrace behind the Federal Palace above the river. After a sit-down lunch we drive half an hour to Thun, where you board a lake boat for the afternoon run of about two hours along Lake Thun, past Oberhofen castle on the shore and the steep pyramid of the Niesen, to Interlaken West. Meanwhile the driver takes your suitcase to the hotel.

   Compris

   • Guided walk in Bern's old town: the Kramgasse, the Zytglogge, Einstein's street and the Federal Palace terrace
   • Sit-down lunch in Bern
   • Lake Thun boat from Thun to Interlaken West
   • Your suitcase driven to the Interlaken hotel

   Activités en option

   • Einstein House museum in Bern, at your own cost, if there is time before lunch

   Option plus facile : Skip the boat and ride with the driver straight from Thun to the hotel, about 35 minutes, to rest before dinner.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Interlaken

   Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot in Bern, with seats on the boat afterwards.

   

6. Jour 6 : The Jungfraujoch

   Interlaken to Grindelwald Terminal, the Eiger Express and the Jungfrau railway to the Jungfraujoch, back via Kleine Scheidegg, Wengen and Lauterbrunnen

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Interlaken
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave at about 8:30, the earliest start of the trip, after your guide has checked the summit webcams; if the top is in cloud, this becomes a free day and the Jungfraujoch moves to day 8. The train runs up the valley to Grindelwald Terminal in about half an hour, and the Eiger Express gondola, opened in 2020, lifts us to Eigergletscher in about 15 minutes. From there the Jungfrau railway, completed in 1912, runs through a tunnel inside the Eiger and the Mönch to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454 metres, the highest railway station in Europe, with reserved seats for the group. From the Sphinx terrace you look down the Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the Alps, at the heart of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO site. Take the Ice Palace and the snow plateau slowly, then sit down to lunch. We come down by train to Kleine Scheidegg under the Eiger's north face, then through car-free Wengen to Lauterbrunnen and back to Interlaken by late afternoon.

   Compris

   • Train to Grindelwald Terminal and the Eiger Express gondola
   • Jungfrau railway to the Jungfraujoch, with seat reservations: the Sphinx terrace, the Ice Palace and the snow plateau
   • Sit-down lunch on the mountain
   • Train down via Kleine Scheidegg, Wengen and Lauterbrunnen

   Option plus facile : If altitude worries you, stay at Kleine Scheidegg (2,061 m) for a slow lunch beneath the Eiger while the group goes up, and rejoin them on the way down.

   Option plus active : Walk from Kleine Scheidegg down to Wengernalp, about an hour on a wide path below the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and catch the train there.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Interlaken

   Activité : The Jungfraujoch is at 3,454 m: walk slowly, drink water, and expect it to be cold even in summer. If you have a heart or lung condition, ask your doctor before you book.

7. Jour 7 : Mürren and the Lauterbrunnen valley

   Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, the cable car to Grütschalp and the cliff railway to Mürren, back via the Staubbach Falls

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Interlaken
   Détail du jour 7

   A gentler mountain day. We leave at about 9:30 on the short train ride to Lauterbrunnen, a village on the floor of a deep, straight valley walled by cliffs and waterfalls. A cable car lifts us to Grütschalp, and from there a small railway runs along the edge of the cliff to Mürren, with the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau across the valley the whole way. Mürren is a car-free village at about 1,640 metres, perched on a ledge some 800 metres above the valley floor. Your guide walks you slowly through the village lanes and its wooden chalets, and we sit down to lunch on a terrace with the same three peaks in view. In the afternoon we ride back down the way we came and walk ten minutes from Lauterbrunnen station to the foot of the Staubbach Falls, which drop nearly 300 metres from the cliff, before the train to Interlaken. The late afternoon is free.

   Compris

   • Train to Lauterbrunnen, the cable car to Grütschalp and the railway to Mürren
   • Guided walk through Mürren
   • Sit-down lunch in Mürren
   • The Staubbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen

   Activités en option

   • Cable cars from Mürren to the Schilthorn (2,970 m), at your own cost, instead of the afternoon in the valley

   Option plus facile : Stay on the lunch terrace in Mürren and skip the village walk.

   Option plus active : Walk with your guide from Grütschalp to Mürren along the railway path, about 1.5 hours and mostly level, instead of riding the train.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Interlaken

8. Jour 8 : A free day in Interlaken

   Interlaken, at your own pace

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Interlaken
   Détail du jour 8

   A day with nothing planned, and the weather day for the Oberland: if the Jungfraujoch was clouded in on day 6, this is when your guide takes the group up instead. Otherwise breakfast is as late as you like. Interlaken sits on flat ground between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, so it is easy walking: the Höhematte, a wide meadow in the middle of town with the Jungfrau framed at its far end, the old cloister and castle church, and the river walk along the Aare between the two lakes. If you want water, the boat across Lake Brienz to Brienz, known for its woodcarving workshops, takes about an hour and a quarter each way; if you want height, the funicular to Harder Kulm climbs above the town in about ten minutes. Your guide is around in the morning to point you to the right boat or train and to book a table for lunch, and the evening is free.

   Compris

   • Your guide on hand in the morning for tickets, tables and boat times

   Activités en option

   • Lake Brienz boat to Brienz and back, at your own cost
   • Harder Kulm funicular, at your own cost

   Temps libre : Full day and evening free

9. Jour 9 : Grindelwald First and a farewell dinner

   Interlaken to Grindelwald by train, the gondola to First and back

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Interlaken
   Détail du jour 9

   We leave at about 9:30 for the train to Grindelwald, about 35 minutes up a green valley to the village beneath the north face of the Eiger. From the village the First gondola climbs in about 25 minutes to First at about 2,170 metres, over meadows where cows graze through the summer. At the top the First Cliff Walk, a steel walkway bolted to the rock face, leads out to a platform over the drop, with the Wetterhorn, the Schreckhorn and the Eiger across the valley. It is level and fenced, and takes about 20 minutes there and back. If the path is clear of snow, your guide leads those who want it on the walk to the Bachalpsee, a small lake that holds the reflection of the peaks on a still day. Lunch is your choice, on the First terrace or back in the village, and you return to Interlaken by mid-afternoon with time to pack. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Train to Grindelwald and the First gondola
   • The First Cliff Walk
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Walk the Cliff Walk, then sit on the First terrace in the sun while the walkers go to the lake.

   Option plus active : Walk to the Bachalpsee and back with your guide, about 3 km each way and an hour or so each direction, climbing about 100 m.

   Temps libre : Lunch your choice; afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activité : The Bachalpsee path is usually clear of snow from about late June; earlier in the season we stay near the gondola station.

   

10. Jour 10 : A last look at Bern, then Zurich Airport

    Interlaken to Bern by our vehicle, then on to Zurich Airport

    • Environ 2 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    After breakfast we load the suitcases into our vehicle and leave Interlaken at about 8:30. The drive to Zurich Airport is about two hours, so we break it halfway in Bern, about 50 minutes from Interlaken, for a farewell coffee. This time we go to the Münsterplattform, the shaded terrace beside Bern Minster, the largest late-Gothic church in Switzerland, where the old town wall drops straight to the Aare and you look down on the river, its weir and the Kirchenfeld bridge. If you want a last climb, the Minster tower has 312 steps to its viewing gallery. We leave Bern at about 10:30 and drive on to Zurich Airport, about an hour and a quarter, arriving around midday. Book a flight from Zurich after about 2:30 pm. If your flight leaves earlier, take an early train that morning from Interlaken Ost to Zurich Airport, at your own cost: about two and a quarter hours, with one change at Bern.

    Compris

    • Our vehicle from Interlaken to Zurich Airport, with a stop in Bern
    • Farewell coffee on the Münsterplattform above the Aare

    Activités en option

    • Bern Minster tower, at your own cost

    Option plus facile : For an early flight, take an early morning train from Interlaken Ost to Zurich Airport at your own cost; your guide sets out the connection.

    Activité : Book a flight from Zurich Airport (ZRH) after about 2:30 pm.

    

Faune et météo : Mountain views need a clear sky, and fog can sit on Pilatus or the Jungfraujoch for a day while the valleys are sunny, which is why each base has a free day your guide can swap. June to September brings the full boat timetables and snow-free paths at First and Mürren; May and October are quieter and cooler, with fewer boat sailings and a chance of snow on the higher paths.

• Lucerne4 nuits
• Interlaken5 nuits