Dear God. It look entirely way to long to get to Switzerland. We got delayed in Newark, for the weakest rainstorm, which made us late for our flight from Amsterdam to Zurich. Ultimately, we had to buy a new flight to Zurich.
While waiting at the Amsterdam airport,we went to this restaurant and tried Bitterballin, which are Amsterdam’s version of boudin balls! So good.
Also, to add to our already stressful day, I decided I needed to use the bathroom before getting on the train in Zürich (despite finding out that there was a bathroom on the train that I could use). While searching for the bathroom, which I can found out you had to pay to use the bathroom, I got lost trying to find the way back to the platform. It was a shit show and I went full panic mode.
Great spot in the middle of the city. Easily accessible to everything. Great Terrace that we spent many nights drinking too much wine and talking!
Great place nearby the AirBnb. Location was the best part—fantastic, right on the water! The food (Mediterranean) was really good too.
Ended the night drinking wine back at the Airbnb. Not too many liquor stores stay open. We needed up going to a place called Drinks of the World, in the train station to get a night cap. Plenty of good options for beer and wine
This place was directly under our AirBnb. Amazing pasteries and breakfast options
Morning exploration of the sites—chapel bridge and Spreuer Bridge. We unfortunately didn’t get to visit glacier garden or the lion monument, just since it was a little bit out-of-the-way. I don’t think we missed a lot by not seeing things. On a side note: on Saturday’s, they have huge farmer markets on both sides of the river.
Walking the walls and got great views of the city. Some of the steps are quite steep and I myself getting out of breath at the very top of them! However, it really is a great way to get a view of the city and lake Lucerne.
Grabbed the ferry to get some more exploring done. Our initial plan was to head to Mt. Titlis but with the rest of the things that we wanted to do in Lucerne, we had to change up our plans. We grabbed a boat to Vitznau to get to mount Rigi. It is definitely worth buying 1st class tickets so you can sit on the upper deck. Recommended sitting on the back of the boat for the best views of the city of Lucerne on your way to Rigi and the views of the lake and the mountains on the way back.
Rode with the conductor up to mount Rigi. The views are incredible. Plenty of stops along the way. If you ride the cog wheel train up, sit in the left hand side going up, or right hand side going down
Hopped on the cog wheel train to get to the top of mountain. We didn’t ride the train all the way to the top, so I don’t actually know if it’s worth going all the way to the top but we ended up getting off at one stop right before the very peak. We are at bahnholfli— The views were legit and the food was surprisingly good! There’s also the option to hike up and down Rigi, which is probably beautiful but I would imagine take ALOT of time. Therefore, recommend to take the train on the way up and down and get out on random stops, to hike portions of the mountain as it is very beautiful. There is a hotel and a campground, that you can also stay at on Rigi but since it is approximately an hour away, via ferry, I deafly don’t recommend staying if you want to see the rest of Lucerne. Rigi. Both the tickets for the train and the boat were quite expensive— therefore, recommend buying the half fare card as this does save you a good chunk of money. It doesn’t necessarily make sense to buy the full Swiss pass, unless he will be using a lot of the trains and other ground transportation this is free with a Swiss pass. Since we had rented a car, it was actually going to only save us dollars in the end
I mean, the views from the hike down. Insane!!! That’s why I definitely recommend getting off the train and hiking a portion of the mountain.
We Stopped at Rigi Kaltbad-First, where we found this cute little church tucked between the rocks. This is also the location of the hotel as well as a couple of different restaurants.
Grabbed a drink here before going on the hunt for dinner. Didn’t have reservations but they weren’t busy early in the night, and they were able to take us. They were a few other roof top bars we considered— Montana Beach club, Carlitos and Suite. If I would have known about these, I definitely would’ve made reservations early for pre-dinner drinks
Luckily stumbled upon this place.
Tapas styled—ordered one of everything on the menu! The atmosphere this place was great, as was the food but the wine was expensive. We were able to find one that wasnt too expensive though
Interlaken is only about 1 hour from Lucerne. The town itself is super cute! I read a lot about not staying in Interlaken and instead stay in one of the other small towns outside of the city but I’m so glad we stayed in interlaken itself. We stayed at a great place on an “island”. It’s a small hotel but super quaint and very well staffed. There is a Café on the first floor, which fits right in with the ambiance of the hotel.
There’s a TON of Arabic/Muslim tourist here which is so different from Lucerne
Took the funicular up, which took about 15 minutes. You can also hike this up, but the climb is pretty steep. We spent about 30 to 45 minutes you’re taking in the views and pictures. While we were up there, there were these 3 guido dudes takes a million pictures—clearly for their Instagram which caused a line to form. Absolutely absurd!
Almost missed this ferry by a few minutes. Unfortunately, due to such a tight time schedule we missed lunch but it was so worth it! The water on this lake it stunning (it was overcast this day and the water was still beautiful) and the little towns along the lake are adorable. We bought the tickets for this beforehand. This ferry is hop on and hop off, which allows you to explore the towns around me the lake. We did 2nd class and I was absolutely fine, as you still have access to food on the boat. If necessary you can always upgrade to 1st class while on the boat, if you wanted too.
Definitely check the schedules of the ferries and other forms of transportation the morning of!
Got off the ferry at Iseltwald to make our way to Gissenbach Falls. I don’t know if there was much to do it in Iseltwald, since we didn’t get to explore but it is a small little town. There is a castle on the peninsula that is not accessible to the public.
The hike itself took about two hours and was relatively easy along the Lake and woods. You have the option to hop on and off the boat, but the hike was pretty so if you have the time, I would recommend it.
WOW. Now this is definitely worth seeing. These are beautiful waterfalls that are located in the mountains and over look the lake. The hike up is kind of steep but SO worth it to at least go to the bridge, that goes underneath the waterfall. The views of the lake and the hotel is stunning. There is a hotel Grandhotel Giessbach, which does look amazing to stay at. If you going to do an extra night around interlaken—might be worth doing a night here .
This is an adorable town at the opposite end of the lake. We walked around the Main Street, stopped at a place at the end to grab a bite and then walked back along the water. It’s not necessarily something that you have to do or see. However, the plan was to initially take the Brienzer Rothorn from here to a beautiful lookout point but it was overcast this day and it’s not worth it do make it up here, unless it’s a clear day. However, I read numerous things about how beautiful it is from here.
To get back to interlaken, you can either catch the train from breinz back to interlaken (which is what we did, since the last ferry stopped running at around 430/5pm) or you can hop back on the ferry.
Grabbed a quick bite and some booze here, while in Breinz before heading back.
Great place in interlaken for food and dessert.
The plan was to do the actual mountain view trail but we kept hearing how easy it was, right along and next to the train. Well, when we saw the signs for the trail, the initial hike up was super steep, so we assumed it was the wrong trail head. Turns out, we were wrong! Take the hard hike up because then should level out and they views will probably be better! The hike along the train wasn’t terrible and was extremely easy.
Beautiful little town, only accessible via foot or train. No cars are allowed here. This was the jumping point for paragliding. It is easily explorable in 30-45 minutes. Since we had extra time, due to a scheduling mistake for paragliding, we walked around and took in the sites. You can stay in murren or even lauterbrunnen, but I recommend staying actually in interlaken and making these day trips.
Grabbed a quick drink before paragliding, since we had some extra time before taking off (thanks to me not reading the fine print in the email). Views from here are great and it’s right next to the gondola where we met for paraglide.
Booked time for 10:45 but didn’t read the small print. Apparently if you leave from Murren, you actually leave 45 minutes after this but this was SO WORTH the wait. We met up at the schilthornbahn station and walked our way up to the take off point and we paraglide down to stechelberg. We did the wall flight. Spent about 30 minutes of actual flight time (despite what the website says)
This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing that I am SO happy we did. I was scared shitless at first but wow—The guys that took us were great. My guide was Walter. There was a couple of places to paraglide from around interlaken but the views in Lauterbrunnen were bar none, the best. I would 1000% do this again, even with all the flips and rolls at the end.
Holy shit. This place is MAGICAL. Walked from where our paraglide—ended in Stechelberg, back to the town of Lauterbrunnen. Super easy walk, all paved but WOW. Decided to skip Trummelbach falls, since it was such a beautiful day. If we had more time, we would probably go back to see it.
The gondola to get to Grindelwald takes about 30 minutes. At the top is the cliff walk which is a crazy high and frankly, kind of scary walk. Takes about 15 minutes to walk this. There are a couple of other things to do at the other stops along the gondola (Trottbikes @ Bort, First Glider @Schreckfeld). Along with the cliff walk, there are numerous other hikes to do at the top of Grindelwald. But I’m glad we spent majority of our time in Lauterbrunnen.
Quick snack at the top of Grindelwald. We had planned to take the trot bikes or tricycles down, but they shut down at 430pm. Make sure you check the times when things open and close before hand.
We looked for fondue everywhere but no places seemed to have standout fondue. We settled on this place, which was equally a let down. The fondue was super smelly and they had odd pairings to go into the fondue—mostly vegetables but weird choice, like pickles. The other food was pretty decent though.
It was super cold and cloudy on our start but DAMN did this turn out to be a beautiful hike. Easy gondola ride, follies by a quick 20 minute walk to the lake. Two restaurants spots with great views. We grabbed coffee and Beer at Arya
The car train through the alps, on the way to Zermatt
The end of the drive towards Tasch—the town you leave out of, to head to Zermatt (no cars allowed) is really beautiful. Easy train ride from Tasch to Zermatt. Since it is a no car town, they have these cute little mini cars everywhere. Our hotel was waiting for us when we pulled into Zermatt
Cool, modern spot, while keeping the Switzerland feel. It’s not in the middle of town, but that’s all relative when everything is within a few blocks walking distance. It is close to the gondola for the ski slopes though.
Walked around to see the old town—all small little houses (some still functional) with barns beneath. It’s crazy that these homes and doorways were so small! The Main Street here is called Bahnhofstrasse, which is good to meander down and has a ton of shops and restaurants.
5 courses—chef tasting menu and all delicious. The atmosphere made this place though. The staff was impressive. They made a great gin martini too.
Dear god. Took 1 hour to get to the top for one run. All other runs were taken by the international slolom teams. The most work for the least amount of skiiing
T bars, hikes to go the the t-bars. Prescott losing his card, then getting his pole stuck in the ropes, then eating it in the t bars, followed by it hitting me in head
Stunning hike—both the hike to there and through the gorge. It felt like lord of the rings.
Fantastic food!! The “carrot tartar” was to die for. We also got the blue fin tuna, potato risotto, Indian prawns, the best cooked salmon and sea bass in saffron.