7 unforgettable highlights + tips from my recent Switzerland trip to help you plan yours!

Ever felt excited but a bit stressed about planning a trip to Switzerland? I get it! 

Picking the best places to visit, sorting out how to get around, and finding the right spots to stay can seem like a lot.

Join me as I share the highlights and insights from my recent three-week adventure through Switzerland! Fresh from the journey, I dive into a detailed overview of our travels, starting with a scenic train ride from Austria and moving through picturesque towns like Lucerne, Locarno, and Lauterbrunnen. I'll talk about the unique experiences we enjoyed, from riding the Voralpen Express to exploring the serene beauty of Bettmeralp and witnessing the majestic Aletsch Glacier.

Learn practical tips on how to navigate Switzerland’s transportation with ease, the best uses for travel apps like MeteoSwiss and SBB Mobile, and why sometimes carrying a bit of cash is a good idea. I also share my thoughts on staying connected with E-sims and some of the charming hotels in Lucerne.

Whether you're planning your own Swiss adventure or just love hearing about exciting travel experiences, this episode is packed with valuable advice and inspiration to help you get the most out of your visit to Switzerland. 

Happy travels,

Carolyn

👉 Show notes - Episode 103

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Transcript

Intro  

Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which of the many scenic cities, towns and villages to visit? Which mountain top excursions should you take? And what's the best way to get around Switzerland? And of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your timeframe? If you've asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland travel podcast, and in each episode, your host  chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you'll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let's get started.

Hello, and welcome to episode 103 of the podcast. I've just returned from three weeks in Switzerland, visiting some favorite destinations, as well as a few places that I visited for the very first time. My husband and I had a fantastic trip. But it wasn't just a holiday, there was plenty of research and trying out new experiences too, so that I can share them with you and the readers of holidaystoswitzerland.com. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the lovely guests who have been on the podcast and to spend some quality time with them. So that was really nice. In this episode, I thought I'd share with you an overview of my itinerary and some of the many new things I did and learned along the way. Hopefully this will give you some fresh ideas and some useful tips to help you plan your own dream trip to Switzerland.

Now before arriving in Switzerland, we spent almost a week in Austria. So we arrived into Switzerland by train from Austria. And we went firstly to St. Gallen where we boarded the Voralpen Express. This is a train that runs between St. Gallen and Lucerne very scenic route. Beautiful train very modern, very large windows, and you pass through sort of rolling countryside, firstly through the app and the cell region. And then it makes its way to Lucerne. So that was a really nice experience. We spent three nights in Lucerne. We've been there many times before. But we did some new things. So that was really great. And from there we took the Gotthard Panorama Express, a combined boat and train journey from Lucerne down to Locarno. 

Now this train journey was featured a few episodes ago so if you haven't heard that episode, definitely go back and take a listen. That was a really nice experience. Firstly on the boat which took about three hours from memory from Lucerne to the other end of the lake at Flüelen. On board we had a lovely lunch which I'd pre booked a table in the dining area. And we had a really relaxing journey to Flüelen. As soon as the boat pulled into the jetty there or the boat pier, we could see the train waiting for us so it was just a matter of hopping off and walking over to the train, not even a couple of 100 meters. The luggage was automatically transferred from the boat to the train because we had checked the luggage when we arrived at the boat pier in Lucerne. So that was a really simple experience. 

Once we got to Lugano we collected our luggage from the platform. And then we took another train to Locarno, so just about a 30 minute journey. We stayed in Locarno for three nights. Again, we had been here before but there was a couple of things that I wanted to do. Unfortunately, due to the weather I didn't actually get to do that, but we still had a very relaxing stay in Locarno. From there we took the Centovalli Express, a train which travels from Locarno to Domodossola in Italy. Centovalli translates as 100 valleys and as you go on the train and either side you look out you can just see all these valleys going off up into the side, into the hillsides and lots of water - very green, very scenic. 

Once we got to Domodossola we had a quick lunch and then took the next train to bring and from there we went to a place called Bettmeralp and now Bettmeralp is a car-free village. It's in the Valais region to in southern Switzerland. And the reason I wanted to go to Bettmeralp is to see the Aletsch Glacier. You might have heard of the Aletsch Glacier and you can actually see the other end of it from Jungfraujoch. But I wanted to see it from the other end, and it certainly didn't disappoint. From there, we moved on to Lauterbrunnen, which is probably our favorite place in Switzerland. We've been going there for over 30 years, and we just absolutely love it. So we were there for seven nights. And then just to have a really relaxing time before sort of making our way home. We spent three nights at Spiez, a little lakeside town on Lake Thun, which was absolutely beautiful. And then we took the train back to Zurich for one last night. So that's sort of our itinerary in a nutshell. I will put it in a little bit more detail in the show notes. So if you'd like to see exactly where we stayed, which trains we went on, and what we did in each place. I will put that in the show notes. 

A few things that I observed on our trip this year. The weather was very changeable. So last year in 2023, we were in Switzerland most of June. And the weather was just unbelievable. It was perfect, although probably at times perhaps a little too hot. Now it was definitely over 30 degrees many days last year. In 2024, that was quite different. All the locals that we spoke to were saying what a wet start to the summer it had been. And we certainly did experience some rainy days. The day that we traveled from Locarno to up to Bettmeralp. When we stopped in Brig, we were waiting at the station and we could hear all these announcements saying that the line to Zermatt had been closed due to flooding. And so we did a bit of Googling and chatted to a few locals when we got to Bettmeralp to find out that there was serious flooding in Zermatt. And yes, the train line had been closed due to the risk of avalanches and flooding, and so forth. So that was quite dramatic. It didn't affect us. And thankfully, things look to be back and all running as normal in Zermatt again, which is fantastic. But even a week later, there were a lot more storms and heavy rain causing flooding and landslides again in the valet and also in Graubunden. So it really has been a strange start to the summer. 

So we found that there were days when we got up in the morning, sky was beautiful, crystal clear. We could see for miles and 30 minutes later, it was cloudy. So on a few occasions, we were lucky enough that we started our day early, we went and did what we wanted to do, judging by what the weather forecast was saying. And then later on, as we were making our way back to our accommodation, there'd be a massive downpour. So you really do need to keep an eye on the weather apps. My tip is to pick your must do activity for each location that you're going to and just watch the weather forecast so you can alter your itinerary if necessary. And if you're staying in a location for a few days, the chances are that you will get at least a half a day of good weather or whether that's going to offer you the best views. And I was constantly checking the MeteoSwiss app for updates. 

When we stayed in Lauterbrunnen, for instance, we were there for a week, and there were quite a few mountain excursions that I wanted to do. And for me, the mountain excursion is not so much about the cable car ride to get there or the the activities when you get to the summit, but it's just all about the views. That's just what I love. So for me, trying to get views of the mountains without cloud is really important. So I was able to sort of work out within that seven day period when we were going to be there, which days looked to be the clearest, and we made sure we were up early, we got on our way and got up to the mountain summit as soon as we could. And we yeah, we were rewarded with those beautiful views. 

Now, sometimes we might only have been at the mountain summit 30 minutes or so. And the clouds would start to roll in so it can be very changeable. 30 minutes later, they might have moved on again. So it can be a bit hit and miss but using the apps and sort of looking at ahead a bit and working out you know what's the most important thing you want? to see and do, and if it's weather dependent, following the weather forecast to try and plan that should hopefully mean that you can get to experience it. 

The SBB mobile app is another that I used constantly. Now, this is the app of the Swiss railways. And you can use it to check for timetables for trains, buses, boats, mountain railways, everything's on there. And it's also really helpful, well for many reasons, but it tells you which platform each train is to depart from. So when you're heading to the station, you know that the train is leaving at 11:15am, for example, it also tells you what platform number you need to go to. And if you're changing trains along the way, it'll also tell you what platform you will arrive at, and the platform of the next train that you're departing from. So you can easily know in advance which platforms you need to move from without having to look for big boards up at the stations. 

Now, this time I mostly paid for everything with a debit card. But there were a couple of occasions when cash was necessary, or preferred. Now a few of these instances, we attended a folklore evening in Wengen, which was fantastic. And there was a you know, a dish or a bucket at the entrance, requesting donations. Now, it wasn't obligatory, of course, but it's nice to make a donation for these folks who go out of their way, and volunteer their time to put on a special evening. So having cash then was very useful. A few times we were out hiking or walking, and we passed by a little refrigerator out the front of a farm where you could buy cheese and yogurt. Now most of these are quite basic, and you do need to pay by cash. It's an honesty system. So having cash there is very useful. 

There was also one occasion when we went to a cafe by Lake Brienz, and we were asked to pay by cash as the bill was less than 20 Swiss Franc. Now that was something I hadn't really come across before, but it's very handy to know. And I did notice that the lockers at a couple of the smaller train stations only accepted coins. So another good reason for having a little bit of cash. Certainly not too much. I think I took out 100 Swiss Franc, and yeah, I look I brought 20 Swiss franc home and we were there for three weeks. So as I said, mostly everything could be paid for with a debit card. 

For using the toilets, at the larger train stations, there is usually a fee of around one Swiss Franc. But in most cases, you can pay by card. So that's very useful. The past couple of trips I've purchased like a portable Wi Fi device that I've traveled with me, but this time, I just decided to try an E sim. So I bought an E sim for both my husband and I, before we left home, and we activated them once we got to Europe. Now the E sims that we bought covered all of Europe and Switzerland, but not all E sims cover the entire continent, as Switzerland has a different roaming system to the rest of Europe. Strange but true. So just check before you purchase your E sim, that it does cover Switzerland. And if you're also going to other European countries, make sure that they're both covered. 

With the E sims, we didn't have to put anything into our phone, we just had to scan a QR code and then it runs you through the instructions on how to enable it. We weren't able to make phone calls as such, but we could make calls via Wi Fi apps like FaceTime and WhatsApp. But we did have the ability to check websites and apps on the go. And that is so handy. If you're somewhere and you're looking for directions or you want to bring up the cable car timetable. For instance, when you're out for a hike and you need to know what time is the last cable car heading down the mountain I need to be there before that leaves. It's very handy to have Wi Fi wherever you are. And of course, we could also send text messages via iMessage, WhatsApp and messenger app. So really, really handy.

Now I want to mention a couple of the hotels that we stayed at because I'm often asked for recommendations, especially for good value hotels in Lucerne. So on this trip even though it was only staying there three nights I decided to stay at two hotels in slightly different locations just to compare them and to see what they were like. On the first night, we stayed at Hotel Schlüssel, which is just a five minute walk from Chapel Bridge and the Jesuit Church in the Old Town, and just a 10 minute walk from the train station. It's a boutique hotel that's recently reopened after a full renovation, and has 10 small but comfortable rooms, and the location really can't be beaten. It's a self check-in property. So what that means is, you are sent a code the day prior to check in, so that you can open the main door of the hotel, so the door that's on the, on the street or on the square in this case, and then you enter your name and confirmation number on an iPad that they have in the reception area. And once you've done that, you can activate a keycard for access to your room. So it's all pretty straightforward. And you're given all the instructions with photos with that code the day before. 

Now at Hotel Schlüssel, there's a lift which is very handy, and an on site restaurant, but they don't serve breakfast there. However, there are plenty of great options nearby because you're right in the old town. Each room has its own bathroom and tea and coffee making facilities and complimentary water is provided. But there is no air conditioning or TV. So if that's a concern for you, perhaps keep that in mind. We stayed at Hotel Schlüssel on a Saturday night. And as there is a bar next door and the European football championships were in full swing. I was a bit worried that the room might be noisy because our  window phased out to the square which was right above this bar. But we didn't hear a thing all night so it was super quiet. So that was really great. So my thoughts on Hotel Schlüssel, if you're looking for a reasonably priced, well located hotel in Lucerne, absolutely, I would definitely recommend it. 

Now from there we stayed the next two nights at a sister property of Hotel Schlüssel called Hotel Villa Maria. This hotel is a bit further out. It's located right beside the park alongside Lake Lucerne, and it's a six minute bus ride from the train station, or about a 30 minute leisurely walk into the Old Town. This small hotel has just eight rooms, two of which are suites. They all have private bathrooms and you get all the regular things tea and coffee making facilities. There was complimentary snacks and drinks daily housekeeping service, our room had air conditioning, which we didn't need because it wasn't that hot, but there isn't a lift in the building. So keep that in mind. If you're traveling with a lot of luggage which I don't recommend that there is no lift, you'll have to take it up the stairs. Again there's no TV but at this hotel there's a TV, sort of a salon, they call it, a room in the basement which has a TV and board games and things. Breakfast isn't available at Hotel Villa Maria, but you can take it at Hotel Beau Sejour which is a third sister property and it's just a 400 meter walk or one bus stop back towards the city. 

Hotel Villa Maria is another self checking hotel again with very easy to follow instructions. And although it was a bit further from the Old Town, I really liked the location because I really enjoyed strolling by the lake each night. So if being right in the Old Town isn't a big factor when choosing your accommodation in Lucerne, Hotel Villa Maria is definitely worth considering as it's very good value. Now I'll include links to the websites of both those hotels in the show notes for this episode so that you can find out more about them if you're planning to stay in Lucerne. 

Some of the new things that I experienced this time. I'll start with Mount Pilatus. So I'd been to Mount Pilatus last year for the first time and absolutely loved it. This tour is a little different to just sort of your guided round trip or your guided trip to Mount Pilatus because it includes a small hike as well as a Swiss barbecue. Now my friend Celine from Lucerne Tourism knew that I was going to be in Lucerne and she reached out to me and said, Would you like to try our new guided tour? We'd like to get some feedback service and yeah, absolutely. Count me in. 

So the tour, what we did is we met at the Lucerne Tourism office which is at at the main station in Lucerne, and we met our guide who took us on the bus from Lucerne to Kriens, where we then took the cable car, the series of cable cars up to the summit of Mount Pilatus. Once we're at the summit, we then had a bit of a look around and then set off on our hike to Tomlishorn. Now this hike is, takes about an hour round trip, a little steep in parts, but very, very, very scenic. The day we were there, it was a little cloudy, so we couldn't see very far in every direction. But we could certainly see over Lake Lucerne, and it was beautiful. As I said, the hike took about an hour round trip. And then once we had got back to the summit of Mount Pilatus, we took the cable car back down to the intermediate station Fräkmüntegg where we had a beautiful Swiss barbecue. Now the Swiss love to grill their sausages when they go out for a hike. And this is exactly what we did. So waiting for us was our choice of different sausages. And it was barbecued by our guide with a bread roll which is grilled as well. And that's the traditional way to do it. And we also had some fruit and a snack and a drink included. So that was great. 

Now typically then with the tour, the guide then goes with you as you go back down and takes you back to the Lucerne train station. But we had decided to stay on a bit longer, and just make our own way back down. So we've tried out some of the activities at Mount Pilatus, a couple of which we tried last year, the Sommer-Rodelbahn, the toboggan and the zipline. But my husband also went on the Rope Park, which he really enjoyed as well. So that was a great, great day out at Mount Pilatus. And we learned so many new things because having a guide is yeah, is really helpful, in that instance. 

From Lucerne, another excursion that we did was to Mt. Stanserhorn. You might remember this mountain as it was featured in Episode 96 of the podcast. And it was a mountain that I'd been wanting to visit for some time. The unique thing about this mountain excursion is that there are two modes of transport to reach the summit of the mountain. And you start in stands, which is just a short train ride from Lucerne. And in stands first off, you take an historic funicular for the first part of the trip up to the intermediate station at calty. And then from there, you transferred to an amazing Double Decker, open air cable car. 

So the top deck of the cable car has no roof on it, you're standing like on a rooftop balcony. And I was a bit worried because generally not that fond of cable cars and I'm a bit scared of heights. But honestly, it was so smooth that this cable guy, and it was just an amazing experience. I highly recommend it to anyone. 

So aside from the two fabulous ways of getting to the summit, once we’re up there, the views over Lake Lucerne and this whole surrounding area, you actually get 360-degree views. They're just amazing. There's a panorama walk, which you can do, which takes about half an hour to an hour depending on how often you stop for photos. During the day, there are ranges there that you can chat to about the flora and fauna that's on the mountain summit. And there's even an area where you can see marmots, those thought theory Alpine animals. Of course, there's lots of hiking trails, and there's a revolving restaurant. And we took advantage of that as we were invited to enjoy a four-course candlelight dinner in the restaurant. And it was just amazing. It's all the- as much of the ingredients as possible, are sourced locally, and it was really delicious. 

Now the candlelight dinner is not on all the time. It's on Friday and Saturday nights, generally from May to November but do check the website for the exact dates but I highly recommend it. And then on our return trip back down to Stan's which was at about 9:30 in the evening, we were rewarded with this most amazing sunset over Lake Lucerne. So it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Our trip included a couple of visits to chocolate factories, and the first one was from Lucerne, just out of Lucerne, Aeschbach  Chocolatier. Now it's just a 10 minute ride from Lucerne train station. And the train actually stops basically right next door to the Chocolate Factory. So it couldn't be easier to get there. And this is a it's quite a small chocolate factory, they do produce some of the most amazing chocolate, it's absolutely delicious. But the factory itself is quite small. We visited on a Sunday, so the factory wasn't in operation. But if you go on a weekday, you can actually look down from the exhibition part, you can look down through windows into where they're actually making the chocolate. But as you walk through the exhibition for want of a better word, you can see and learn about the history of chocolate and the cocoa bean and so forth. And then you can see some examples of chocolate being made. For an extra fee, you can also make your own chocolate bar. So what they do is you choose which kind of chocolate you want, whether it's milk, dark or white, what shape you want, and then they put that into a mold for you. And then there's a whole range of different toppings and flavorings that you can add to it to decorate it. And then it goes through a process where it's set, I guess. And you pick that up off the conveyor belt, you know, a few minutes later. So that was a lot of fun. It's visited by mainly locals. We visited on a Sunday and at the cafe, there was lots of locals enjoying a brunch. And when I say we I had the pleasure of meeting up with our three Swiss based moderators from the Switzerland travel planning Facebook group there, Serena, Carrie and Richard. So that was a really nice time we all went through the exhibition together, made that chocolate bars and then sat around and chatted for a while. So that was great. 

Another chocolate experience we had was in Interlaken at the Funky Chocolate Club. Now this is quite different. Basically, it's a cafe where you can go and enjoy lots of delicious chocolaty treats, but they also run workshops where you can learn a bit about the history of chocolate and make your own chocolate bars as well. And that workshop lasts for one hour. So we did that and that was a lot of fun. And we had some extra chocolate to bring home so that was very good. I mentioned earlier about the Aletsch Glacier and that was the main reason that I wanted to go to Bettmeralp, which is a small car free village, it's pretty much off the tourist trail for international tourists. Certainly the Swiss do go there. It's popular for hiking and mountain biking in summer and it's a very popular ski resort in the winter. But for me, the reason as I said for going was to view the glaciers. And again, this was the time when there was all the flooding in Zermatt. So it was a little rainy. But we were able to see the glaciers and it was just absolutely unbelievable. 

From Bettmeralp where we stayed, we first took a cable car up to Bettmerhorn, where there's a very good viewing platform, we can look at over the glaciers and you get really good views. And then the following day, we went to Eggishorn, which is a little further along the valley. When I say Valley, well, you go down to the valley and then went by train to a little place called Fiesch. And then we went up there by cablecar to Eggishorn, so you get a slightly different perspective of the glaciers. And yeah, unbelievable. The photos really don't do it justice. But it just takes your breath away. When you look at that glaciers that the facts about it. It's yeah, it's absolutely incredible. All the cable cars that we went on there to view the Glacier, we got 50% off with our Swiss Travel Pass. So that was really handy. And all the train travel, of course, was fully covered. 

If you're keen to see the Aletsch Glacier, as I mentioned earlier, you can see it from Jungfraujoch, but honestly, at the places where we went, Bettmerhorn and Eggishorn, there was hardly anyone there. We were there over a weekend. And I think at both viewing spots, there would have been no more than 20 people at any time looking at over the Glacier. And this was in in June on a weekend. So if you're looking for somewhere to go to see the glaciers without crowds, and it's much quicker to get there than it is to get up to Jungfraujoch as well, maybe keep that in mind. 

Another place we visited for the first time is the Swiss Selfie Museum in Interlaken. Now, I wasn't sure what to expect. This is quite new, it's only had only been opened a couple of weeks when we visited. And I imagined that you would go there and there'd be a photo of for instance, the Matterhorn and you would stand in front of it, hold your phone out and take a selfie. But that's not exactly how it works. How it works is they have these abdomen and I think there's about 30 or so huge backdrops that have been painted, hand painted. And then they're painted in a 3D fashion. So you can't see when you first look at them you think okay, that's that's a painting. But when you stand on a particular spot where they have marked on the floor, and you take a photo, it really makes it look like you are in that scene. It's it's amazing how it works. So some of the scenes they have, for instance, backdrops of snowy landscapes, and there's a there's an actual gondola, you know, that's not used now a gondola cabin that you can sit in and it looks like you're going through the sky, you know, along the cable car line. There's a ski chairlift that you can sit in, there's a cow that you can pat, things like this. It's yeah, it was really quite a lot of fun. And we got some great photos. 

That's in Interlaken, and it's not far from the Interlaken West Station. And they, I was talking to the owner and they're going to be adding more backdrops and more scenes over time. But for now, look, it was a lot of fun to visit, particularly on a rainy day when we were there. You probably only need an hour or so. But yeah, definitely something to keep in mind. 

When we were staying in Spiez we're lucky enough to enjoy a private cruise on Lake Thun. I'd been contacted by Chris from Boat Tour Interlaken. And he said when you're in in the area, I'd love to show you my new boat. I'm doing some private tours come and have a look. So we did that and we spent about an hour and on the water with Chris just cruising around having a chat and having a look at his beautiful boat which can take up to 12 passengers. So if you're in the area and you don't want to do just the regular boat trip that takes you from one point to another. Have a chat to Chris because he can offer food on board, he can basically take you where you want to go, boattrips from an hour or even half day or longer day trips, maybe you want to go and do a trip to one of the castles that are around the lake or you want to go out and you know, have a sunset cruise or something, all of those options are available. 

Hiking normally plays a fairly big part in my visits to Switzerland, and I'm not like a, I wouldn't say on hiker that wants to do anything too strenuous. A couple of hours is good for me. But I just love being out there in nature and seeing all those views. So there were plenty of hiking opportunities and lots of different hikes we did this time. And yeah, they were all so good. One hike that we did was with a local from Wengen James, who was on the podcast two episodes ago, Episode 101, where he chatted about Grindelwald. But when James knew that I was coming to the area, he said, let's catch up, have a coffee, or maybe we'll go for a hike. So we actually decided to go for a hike. And this was an amazing day or amazing morning. So we met quite early, he met us off the train at Wengen station, and we hiked up to a local farm. So I guess it took about an hour to hike up to this farm. It was a little steep at the start. But after that it was no problem at all. 

When we got to the farm, we could have a look at the animals, there was cows, there was goats, etc. And we also got a chance to go into the barn where the or the area where the farmer was making the cheese. So we actually saw this happening, saw the big pot with all the cheese in it. And then we went out and the farmer made us a breakfast from the farm produce bacon and eggs, home baked bread, absolutely beautiful sitting out with beautiful views, eating breakfast that you know it's come from right where you are. So that was fantastic. And then we had a really nice hike a bit of a different way back down into the canyon. And we got to see views that we hadn't seen before because we're coming from a different angle. So that was really good. And this is the kind of thing that James can do. It's he can organize these kind of authentic experiences for you. And all the links to all these things that I'm talking about and how to organize or book them for yourself. You'll find in the show notes for this episode. 

Just quickly a couple of other hikes we did that we really enjoyed we hiked from Giessbach Falls, which are on Lake Brienz to Iseltwald. So that was really nice. We went up to Sulwald. So this is a little village, Isenfluh actually is a very small village, not far from Lauterbrunnen and you reach there if you don't have a car you reach there by one of the small postal buses. It's quite a windy road with big drops. So it's not for the faint hearted. But it's only a 10 or 12 minute trip. So it's not very long. So we took the bus to Isenfluh. And from there we took a little table car, which only takes eight people up to Sulwald. And from there, we hiked back down to Isenfluh and then to Lauterbrunnen. Now, we've never done that before. And it was fantastic. Because there had been so much rain in the preceding sort of couple of weeks, the waterfalls, in Switzerland were just amazing. And there were some really nice waterfalls that we saw on that hike that we didn't even know exist. So that was great. 

One other hike we did, which we hadn't done before, was from Allmendhubel back down to Murren. So we went up to Murren to have a bit of a look around, did a hike on the way as well. And then we took the little funicular up to Allmendhubel, where we had a beautiful lunch and a walk around and then we decided to hike back down. That was only about an hour. But again, it was really good to see the views of Murren from a different angle. So that was very enjoyable as well. 

Now on this trip to Switzerland, we traveled entirely by public transport. And we used a Swiss Travel Pass for the first 10 days, and a Berner Oberland Pass for the next 10 days. And once again, I found that convenience and the flexibility that having a route pass offers to be just be so worthwhile. You can just make decisions as you wish based on the weather or the mood or what you think you might want to do today. And just having a pass means that there's so much that you've already paid for. If you want to go on a boat ride, you can if you want to take a train to the next town, you can because it's all covered. So really, really worthwhile. We didn't have to wait in queues at all to buy tickets for anything. And when we were doing mountain excursions with the Berner Oberland Pass, for instance, and they were fully included, we just easily scan the QR code at the turnstile through you went in it was simple, easy, and very, very convenient. 

We had first class passes, and we were always able to find space on the trains. However, the second class carriages did look fairly busy, and particularly on the trains in Jungfrau region. On a couple of occasions when we traveled on the Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen or Interlaken to Grindelwald line, there were often only about six people in a first class carriage, which had 24 seats. But there were people with second class tickets, who had to stand near the doorway of the train in the second class with all their luggage because the second class carriages were full. So my advice here is, if you're traveling on this line, so Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen or Interlaken to Grindelwald from June to September, I'd really encourage you to consider buying a class upgrade for this sector if you don't want to buy a first class rail pass, or plan your travels so that you're not on the train between sort of 8:30 and 10:30 in the morning, or four and six in the afternoon, because this is when the line is busiest during those times. So many people are going out to start their mountain excursion for the day or they're moving from one hotel to another. And between four and six. Again, it happens in reverse - people are either arriving in the region, or they're coming back from their daily excursion. So that's when the trains are really busy. So if you don't want to buy a first class rail pass, you can buy a class upgrade just for that short trip. And you can do that at the station before you board the train. Or you can do it on the SBB mobile app. 

Well, I've shared plenty of info in this episode. So I hope you've gained some useful tips and advice and perhaps some inspirational ideas of things that you might like to include in your Switzerland, vacation itinerary. Now, all those different things activities, rail passes, etc, that I've mentioned, you'll find them all in the show notes for this episode. And there's lots of articles on holidaystoswitzerland.com about the different destinations that I've talked about. And they'll be updated with all the my latest learnings in the very near future as well. So I hope you've got something out of this episode. And you're now really excited to plan your own Swiss trip and perhaps incorporate some of the things or the information that I've shared with you today. If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I'd be super grateful if you could leave a five star rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts, more reviews and ratings means that it gets shown to so many more people and we can help them plan their dream trip to Switzerland too. Thank you very much for joining me today. I look forward to having you join me again next time for more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. Until then, tschüss.