Switzerland: hiking, mountains, glaciers, lakes and plenty of trains

[dajop]

I spent several months in Switzerland last year during the end of summer and all of autumn. Whilst I worked during the week, on weekends and some days off there was plenty of opportunity to explore Switzerland (and areas close to the border in neighbouring countries).

This won't be a regular trip report, but a series of (mostly day trip) excursions from my base in Zurich. And no flight reviews. Lots of hiking - although just day, morning or afternoon hikes.

For getting around, during the first month I had a Swiss GA pass - which covers most railways, buses, trams and boats within Switzerland and gives substantial discounts on Mountain railways, funiculars, cable cars, gondolas etc. For the remaining 3 months I had a Eurail Global Pass +_an annual Swiss Half Fare Card (well worth it for 50% discounts on bus/tram/boat and mountain transport, cable cars etc). The passes allowed me to do the daily commute (about 50 mins each way) plus use on the weekends.

 

[dajop]

As for planning, typically my plans would be made the evening before, and actually there's a lot to be said for this sort of travel (even if not occupied weekdays) as in basing yourself somewhere central and taking day trips with the occasional overnighter rather than moving point to point, particularly if the trip involves the outdoors. That way you can adapt to the weather.

In planning three apps were most useful for this -
1) MeteoSwiss (which provides a level of granularity on weather forecasts that is difficult to find elsewhere, particularly for mountain peaks)
2) SBB App (for railway and transport planning) and
3) AllTrails (for hiking).

Plus the usual google searches and occasional youtube video.

 

[dajop]

First proper excursion was a daytrip to the spectular Oeschinensee in the Bernese Oberland. This was a Saturday morning train, which was rather packed with daytripping hikers with their gear, and was struggling to find a seat, until someone called my name, two of my colleagues were on the same train, so spent the next 90 minutes taking to them before I changed at Spiez to a standing room only train to Kandersteg which is where I would alight for the trek up to the lake.

The hike I was on took me up to the lake (about 400m ascent, but easy walking) and then a circuit over looking the lake (another 500 m of ascent, some of it a bit tougher). However the easier route is via cable car, then a 20 minute walk to the lake, or if mobility challenged they operate a shuttle from the cable car to the lake.

Here are some of the views of the lake. As it was August, the weather was gorgeous and I after completing the walk I went for a refreshing dip before catching the cable car back down the mountain.

Thoroughly recommended, a real highlight,

 

[dajop]

I went back with my partner 6 weeks later, after an early September snow dump. We caught the cable car up this time, as we deliberately didn't reach there until early afternoon (just when the clouds were clearing, as predicted). No swimming this time.

 

[dajop]

So next up was a trip to Lauterbrunnen. Originally going to do a long trek up from nearby Wengen, the weather wasn't kind, so this morphed into a valley and waterfall walk as the mountains all under cloud.

This involved a change of train at Bern, and another change at Interlaken. Bern is truly the ATL or DXB of railways in Switzerland, many trains come in just before the top of the hour and many leave just after the top of the hour so you have masses of people moving between different platforms, really quite impressive. Connection times usually ranged from 5-8 minutes and I lost count of the number of times I changed trains there (and didn't miss any). Zurich HBF , the main Zurich station is a lot busier, but more platforms and more underpasses so doesn't seem as frenetic.

I briefly visited the small but over-touristed village of Lauterbrunnen, before walking along the valley floor to the Trümmelbach Falls, impressive falls inside the mountain, with a phenomenal flow of water.

Staubachfalls near Interlaken:


Trümmelbach Falls

 

[VPS]

Beautiful photos already - looking forward to this

 

[dajop]

In August, whether was fantastic and I love swimming, and the lakes are really warm as well. Sometimes after coming home from work I'd simply head somewhere nearby for a swim.

Here are some

Zurichsee (Lake Zurich) @ Wollishofen:



Luzern:



and with Mt Pilatus in the background




Zug:


Lake Konstanz/ Bodensee:



And lastly, not a lake, but the Limmat River, near the Marriott Hotel in Zurich and less than 10 min walk from where I was staying (and only 10 min from main station), where a lot of people jump in and float down the river with the current (this is common in the Rhine as well at Basel). Unfortunately didn't have a waterproof floatable container to put my towel/phone in, so I didn't float far, but nevertheless good fun and great atmosphere with a few bars and people just generally lining the river enjoying the weather.

 

[zainman]

Stunning! I'm assuming you have an Australian passport? Is it relatively straight forward to get a work permit/visa sorted?

 

[ellen10]

Beautiful photos. We spent a couple of weeks in the Swiss region and loved it. And the travel around was so easy.

 

[Seat0B]

Dang it. Another place or two added to my “must visit list”.

 

[dajop]

Stunning! I'm assuming you have an Australian passport? Is it relatively straight forward to get a work permit/visa sorted?

Yes Australian passport. Employer sponsored, so it was easy as my role was moving to Switzerland as part of a suite of roles moving there as part of an agreement with one of the Swiss cantons. Mind you, it only came through 2 days before my flight to ZRH. (Could have moved there permanently, but opted for redundancy instead for various reasons). I understand without employer sponsorship it is much more difficult.

Beautiful photos. We spent a couple of weeks in the Swiss region and loved it. And the travel around was so easy.

Yes, one of the easiest places in the world to travel around. And taking great photos is really just point and shoot, the scenery does the work for you

 

[dajop]

So onto another hike in the Bernese Oberland.

This involved four trains Zurich-Bern-Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen where I changed to the mountain railway to the car-free alpine resort village of Wengen. Well known winter resort. Starting at around 1250m altitude, ascended to the Kleine Scheidegg mountain pass (which is also a mountain railway junction for 3 lines) at 2060m and then continued the walk to 2330m to the Eigergletscher moutain station (quite busy with tourists, as cable car from Grindelwald arrives here, and you can catch the train to Jungfraujoch - Europe's highest railway station). Then I descended to Alpiglen station before starting the journey home on rail via Grindelwald.

Every turn the scenery became more incredible, and highlight was the Eiger Glacier and being in the shadow of Eiger peak. There's a reason this area has plenty of tourists (just have to keep the fingers crossed there's no cloud cover).

Also note the self serve cheese fridge operating on trust (cash or QR-code payment)

 

[ellen10]

When we were last there we based ourselves in Wengen, for 5 nights, loved it. Love those mountains!

 

[dajop]

Picking this up again, as it's raining outside and have some spare time!


A day trip to Lausanne, and an extended walk along the shores of Lake Geneva, with a few pleasant dips in the water along the way, before walking up through the Lavaux Vineyards, and to the town of Cully to catch the train home, just as the rain arrived.

 

[dajop]

Now an "international" excursion to Liechtenstein. Starting of with a hike on the "Princess Gina way" a loop from the ski-resort town of Malbun, before returning via bus to the capital Vaduz. The journey back to Zurich included 2 buses and 2 trains with the connections of 2-5 mins between each mode and all worked like clockwork.

 

[Swaussie]

As a Swiss living in Sydney I enjoy your blog very much.

 

[dajop]

Now a trip south, to Locarno and Ascona on the shores of Lake Maggiore. It was cool, wet and cloudy late August day in Zurich (about 18/19 degrees, but after emerging from the Gotthard tunnel through the Alps it was warm, mainly sunny day of about 26-27 in the southern part of the country. And vice versa when I returned the following afternoon.

 

[dajop]

Before returning to the north, stopped off in Lugano. Ended up visiting there several times, including a couple of weeks later when we walked up the adjacent San Salvatore and then later in Autumn (as per second picture) when I caught up with a ex-colleague from Milan for lunch. The Gotthard tunnel makes the trip to the south of the country really quick, it's a 60km tunnel and the train hits 200kph in the tunnel. The journey from Zurich to Lugano is only 2 hrs, and from there another hour to Milan. In fact when we visited a couple of weeks later, after the climb we went to Milan for dinner before taking last train back to Zurich. The joys of rail passes on routes you don't have make reservations!

 

[dajop]

Now we had some cold weather in early September, and there was plenty of snow in the Alps. Next, I went to the car free town of Mürren, and you can see plenty of snow there. You reach Mürren by travelling to Interlaken (on one or two trains), changing to a train to Lauterbrunnen, catching a (75 person) cable car up the mountain and then another train along the mountain! From there I did the North Face trail, a hike very popular with Americans, perhaps understandably so. Also a popular spot for paragliding.