In the second half of September, we spent 11 days traveling around Switzerland. This vacation was very unusual for us: we didn't even rent a car and relied completely on public transportation. Which, inside Switzerland, is excellent - traveling to and from Zurich by Swiss Air is quite another story, but I do not want to talk about unpleasant things... so I will concentrate on our adventures inside the country.
This kind of vacation requires certain preparation:
- We bought Swiss Pass, which covers all trains, boats, cable cars, buses, trams, trolleys - any and all means of public transportation in Switzerland (and even into and out of neighboring countries, like Italy and France - details later). Two Swiss Passes, one for each of us. We splurged for 1st Class, which was totally worth it.
- We packed very carefully into one backpack and one carry-on suitcase each, mindful of the fact that we'll have to carry our luggage everywhere. No option to lock our suitcases in the trunk of the car while we explore on foot... Given that we planned to be on the move all the time, we had to think carefully about what to do with suitcases in each situation. Baggage lockers at the train station helped us out several times. When renting hotels for the trip, I was also mindful of the distance from the train station and of how easy it would be to get to it with the luggage.
It all worked out beautifully! In total, we took 29 trains, 4 boats, 4 cable cars (and countless metro trips, trolleys, even a funicular). We visited 9 towns and 3 mountain summits, including the highest elevation in Europe - Jungfrau, at 3,463 m (11,362 ft) above sea level. We also traveled over the Bernina Pass - a scenic train ride through the Swiss Alps, 144 km long, through 55 tunnels and over 196 bridges.
Here is a series of short reports on each part of our journey:
- Zurich
- Bernina Pass, to Tirano and back
- Lucerne
- Mount Rigi
- Mount Pilatus
- Interlaken
- Jungfrau
- Montreux
- Lausanne
- Evian
- Geneva
- Bern
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