Switzerland in 3 to 4 Days on a Budget

Switzerland in 3 to 4 Days on a Budget

Ok, so you have a short amount of time but want to see all of the amazing things you keep seeing on your Insta feed from your favorite world travelers you follow, but don’t know where to go or what to do and are on a budget because Europe is expensive and what not. Here’s your guide to 3 to 4 days in Switzerland that will leave you more than satisfied and on your way like a traveler and not a tourist.

Before you go:

Are flights expensive? …is a fat dog heavy? The answer is yes, but if you’re thrifty like me, you’ve been looking for months on every travel site to get the best deal possible. My wife Michelle and I were coming from the west coast of the U.S. so I used points to get us to JFK and then from JFK to Zurich (ZUR) was the best deal I found. No matter where you arrive Switzerland, the following info is still relevant.

        HappyRail.com/en

Buy your Swiss Rail Pass ahead of time. You can purchase through the main railway (https://www.sbb.ch/en/) or do what we did and go through Happy Rail (http://happyrail.com/en/). Make sure you get the pass that is right for where you are aiming to go while you are in Switzerland. If you are following our itinerary, you are going to want to get the “Swiss Travel Pass Consecutive” and we did it for 4 days for about $280. If you only have 3 days, then the pass is about $230. I know this pass seems pricey, but it will end up saving you a ton of cheddar in the long run because it includes not only all of your train rides and bus rides anywhere in Switzerland, but it also includes most of the cable cars and boat rides in this blog and even gets you discounts on some of the activities you’ll definitely not want to miss while you’re there. P.S. print out the QR Code they send you in the email, or download the PDF receipt and have it readily available on your phone because you’re going to use it a ton and it will get checked.


Ok, so one more thing you do before you go is download the “SBB Mobile” app on your telephone. This is going to be your easy to use rail guide to all of the trains you’re about to take all over this beautiful country.

Arriving:

Congratulations, you made it to Switzerland! You’re jet lagged but gotta make it to your first train that you know you won’t miss because you looked on the SBB app ahead of time ;). Before you leave the airport, buy your “Travelers Wifi” from one of the many info centers at the airport. It’s about $50 for 4 days, works everywhere and will save you the hassle of buying $6 expressos every time you need to connect to the rest of the world to post your amazing pics you just took from baggage claim. P.S. the Zurich Airport has free WiFi, just visit an info desk for the password.


The train station in Zurich is attached so to the airport, so it’s super easy to just make it to your platform number heading towards your first destination, which for us was Lauterbrunnen. This quaint little town is a perfect landing spot that will put you in the heart of all the fun mentioned in this blog, plus it is in a gorgeous little valley that literally looks like it came out of a fairy-tail. This train ride will take about 3 hours with a few train transfers, so be sure to keep an eye on the SBB app timetables so you don’t miss your connections.

We arrived in Lauterbrunnen at around 11am and couldn’t check in to our hostel until 5pm. We found out the hard way that there are narrow windows of time you are able to check into most hotels/hostels in Switzerland. Luckily most major train stations have lockers to put your big bags in so that you can still adventure with your small “essentials bag” without having to lug everything around. Schutzenbach Backpackers & Camping was the name of the hostel we stayed at. It was a ton of fun, had good wifi and as soon as you walk out of your room you are staring down a 250ft waterfall.

Ok, so without further adieu, here is our itinerary for our four days in Switzerland:

Day 1:

• Take train from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen (3hrs)(USE SBB APP)
• Take bus from Lauterbrunnen to Trummelbachfalle
• Pay $10 to hike waterfalls and caves
• Take bus from Trummelbachfalle to Stechelberg
• Take cable car to Gimmewald - Stop at the amazing Hotel Pension for amazing panoramic views and tasty beer "Schwarz Monch."
• Take cable car to Mürren - Walk through the town, grab a bite, explore.
• Take Mürren train to Gruschalp - hike, explore etc.
• Take cable car back down to Lauterbrunnen.

                                      

• We highly recommend pairing your cable car ticket with a "mountain adventure". You can do trottie bikes, off road tricycles and a more. We did the took trottie bikes from the town of First all the way back down to Grindelwald and had a ton of fun. Great GoPro footage too :)

Day 2:

• Head to Mürren for paragliding - $175/person, but such an amazing experience if you are looking to splurge on something. You seriously won't regret this.
• Take train from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald - check out town, shop etc.
• From Grindelwald, get a discount with your Rail Pass and take the cable car to the town of First and hike to Bachalpsee (1hr each way). Hike goes much further past the lake if you want to make it an entire day hike.

• We highly recommend pairing your cable car ticket with a "mountain adventure". You can do trottie bikes, off road tricycles and a more. We did the took trottie bikes from the town of First all the way back down to Grindelwald and had a ton of fun. Great GoPro footage too :)

• From Grindelwald, take train to Interlaken and do free boat ride around Brienz Lake. It is absolutely beautiful and you can get off and walk around the beautiful lake towns it takes you to. Time it with sunset for even more amazing experience.

Day 3:

• From Lauterbrunnen, take train to Kandersteg.
• Head to the cable car station and get a discount ticket on the cable car + "adventure" ticket. We chose the 'alpine slide' option and had such a fun time flying down the mountain.

Hike to lake Oeschinensee (1 hour). If you're looking for a longer hike, there's a trail that takes you along and about 100ft above the lake that offers amazing views.
If you choose to go straight to the lake, there is a restaurant to grab lunch at and also a place to rent rowboats by the half hour to take out on the lake (roughly $20 for 2 hrs).
Many other hikes to do in this area depending on desired difficulty.

Day 4:

Take train from Kandersteg to Lucerne
Walk around the river’s edge and be sure to check out the old town of Lucerne as it makes for some beautiful site seeing.
Take free boat around the lakes of Lucern. Depending how much time you have, you can really check out quite a bit around the lake.
Head to airport and off to the next adventure!








Quick Notes / Options to Squeeze in:


Take train from Grindelwald to Jungfraujock (Top of Europe) ($100)
Most establishments in the towns close around 6pm including grocery stores.
Specific windows of time to Check-in at hotels & Hostels.
Most train stations have lockers to put your things.
Keep coins on you at all times as many places require money to use bathrooms etc.
Don’t pay more than $30 for Fondu
COOP is the best grocery store