Morning
Land at Zürich Airport
ZRH has its own station directly under the terminal, so you are on a train within ten minutes of clearing customs.
Train to Lucerne
Direct from the airport in about an hour. A Swiss Travel Pass covers the trains and lake boats outright and cuts most mountain fares.
Afternoon / Day
Check in: Hotel des Balances
Weinmarkt, 6004 Luzern. A painted facade on the old-town square, with the better rooms looking straight down the Reuss.
Lunch at Rathaus Brauerei
Unter der Egg 2, under the arcades on the river. Every beer is brewed on site in the copper kettles behind the bar.
Kapellbrücke and the Water Tower
Around 650 years old. Fire took most of the roof paintings in 1993; the octagonal Water Tower beside it dates from about 1290.
Lion Monument
Denkmalstrasse 4. Thorvaldsen's dying lion, cut into the rock in 1821 for the Swiss Guards killed in Paris in 1792.
Evening
Dinner at Old Swiss House
Löwenplatz 4, opposite the lion. The Wiener schnitzel is fried at your table in butter. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
Morning
Lake boat to Alpnachstad
Pier 2, beside Luzern station. The Lake Lucerne boat takes about 90 minutes down to the foot of Pilatus.
Pilatus cogwheel railway
Alpnachstad up to Pilatus Kulm at 2,132 m in 27 minutes. The steepest cogwheel railway in the world, 48% at its worst. It runs May to November only.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Pilatus Kulm
Summit restaurants at 2,132 m. Eat out on the terrace over Lake Lucerne rather than inside; the view is the whole point.
Walk the summit ridge
Short signed paths ring the station. Twenty minutes on steps gets you above the day-trippers for the full Alpine panorama.
Dragon Ride cableway down
The aerial cableway drops off the summit cliff to Fräkmüntegg through big panoramic windows. Stand at the downhill end.
Panorama gondolas to Kriens
Fräkmüntegg down to Kriens on the edge of Lucerne, over forest and farmland. This is what completes the Golden Round Trip.
Evening
Dinner at Hotel des Balances
Weinmarkt. The hotel kitchen holds a Gault&Millau rating, and the terrace tables sit right on the water.
Morning
Swiss Museum of Transport
Haldenstrasse 44, open daily. The Swiss Railway Experience hall is the reason to come on a trip like this. Allow ninety minutes.
Afternoon / Day
Train to Andermatt
Luzern to Göschenen on the old Gotthard line, then the Matterhorn Gotthard rack railway up the gorge to Andermatt. About two hours.
Quick lunch in Andermatt
The connection here is tight and the village centre is five minutes from the platform. Do not stray far.
Glacier Express to Zermatt
Board the westbound train at Andermatt for the run through the Furka Base Tunnel to the Rhone valley and up to Zermatt. Seat reservation is compulsory and sold separately from the ticket, so book months ahead for July.
Evening
Check in: Grand Hotel Zermatterhof
Bahnhofstrasse 55. Built by the villagers in 1879, in the years after the Matterhorn was first climbed. Zermatt is car-free — walk or take the electric shuttle.
Dinner at Grampi's
Bahnhofstrasse 70. Italian, open daily from 6pm until 2am, which makes it the reliable option when you arrive on the evening train.
Matterhorn at dusk from the Kirchbrücke
The little bridge by the church is where the whole village points its cameras. The peak holds light long after the valley goes blue.
Start from this itinerary.
Copy all 8 days into your account, then change whatever you like.
Already have an account?
Morning
Gornergrat Bahn
Valley station directly opposite Zermatt railway station. Every 24 minutes from 08:00 in summer — go early, before the cloud builds.
Gornergrat summit
3,100 m, with the Gorner Glacier below and 28 four-thousanders around you, the Matterhorn among them. Take a warm layer even in July.
Afternoon / Day
Sunnegga funicular
Back in the village, the underground funicular climbs to Sunnegga in a few minutes. The path to Findeln contours off from the top station.
Lunch at Chez Vrony
Findeln, 2,100 m. Air-dried meat, house sausage and alpine cheese from their own herd. Two seatings only, and you must book.
Walk down through Findeln
Timber hay barns and a chapel scattered across the meadow. Reckon on an hour downhill on the path back into Zermatt.
Matterhorn Museum - Zermatlantis
Bahnhofplatz 5. Reconstructed old village houses, and the broken rope from the 1865 first ascent, when four of the seven climbers died.
Evening
Dinner at the Zermatterhof
Bahnhofstrasse 55. The Lusi brasserie is the easy option after a mountain day; Prato Borni in the same hotel holds a Michelin star.
Morning
Train to Visp
Down the Matter valley on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, about 65 minutes to the main line at Visp.
Visp to Interlaken Ost by rail
Through the Lötschberg to Spiez, then along the north shore of Lake Thun. About an hour, and the lake stretch is the good half.
Afternoon / Day
Up the valley to Lauterbrunnen
The Berner Oberland-Bahn runs from Interlaken Ost in about 20 minutes. Leave the big bags in a locker at Lauterbrunnen for the afternoon.
Staubbach Falls
The fall drops clear off the cliff behind Lauterbrunnen village and is visible from the station platform. Five minutes on foot to stand under it.
Trümmelbach Falls
Ten glacier waterfalls inside the mountain, up to 20,000 litres a second off the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. A tunnel lift takes you in; open to 6pm in July.
Evening
Wengernalpbahn up to Wengen
The rack railway from Lauterbrunnen is the only way in — no road reaches Wengen. Fifteen minutes, climbing the valley wall.
Check in: Hotel Falken
Beim Gruebi, 3823 Wengen. Open since 1895, up the hill behind the village, with a piano room and a bar over the rooftops.
Dinner at Restaurant 1903
In Hotel Schönegg, 3823 Wengen. Traditional Swiss cooking on regional and seasonal ingredients; the hotel has been here since 1903.
Morning
Wengernalpbahn to Kleine Scheidegg
Up past Wengernalp to the saddle under the Eiger north face, about 35 minutes. Take the earliest train you can face.
Jungfrau Railway to the Jungfraujoch
The tunnel line bores up through the Eiger and the Mönch to Europe's highest railway station. Book a fixed time slot before you travel.
Sphinx Terrace
The observation deck above the station looks straight down the Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the Alps and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch inside the station
Several restaurants sit within the Jungfraujoch complex. Eat before you go out on the snow — the altitude slows everybody down.
Back down to Kleine Scheidegg
The same tunnel line in reverse. Trains run roughly every half hour, so you do not need to fix a return in advance.
Walk to Wengernalp
A wide, easy track drops beside the railway with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau at your back. About an hour, then pick the train back up.
Evening
Dinner at the Hotel Falken
Beim Gruebi. The dining room and the bar both look out over Wengen and away down the Lauterbrunnen valley.
Morning
Down to Lauterbrunnen, then the cableway
Wengernalpbahn down to the valley, then the aerial cableway from Lauterbrunnen up to Grütschalp on the opposite wall.
Grütschalp to Mürren by rail
A small railway runs the wooded terrace to Mürren with the Jungfrau standing across the gap the whole way. Ride it slowly.
Mürren village
1,638 m, car-free, and small enough to cross in ten minutes. The main street runs out at the Schilthorn cableway station.
Afternoon / Day
Schilthorn cableway to Piz Gloria
Mürren to Birg at 2,677 m, then on to Piz Gloria at 2,970 m. The section below, Stechelberg to Mürren, is the steepest cable car in the world at 159.4%.
Lunch at the 360-degree restaurant
Piz Gloria turns slowly through a full circle, so a two-course lunch hands you the entire panorama without moving seats.
Piz Gloria viewing terrace
2,970 m. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau line up across the valley and the rest of the Bernese Alps run off behind them.
Back over to Wengen
Cableway to Mürren, terrace railway to Grütschalp, cableway down to Lauterbrunnen, rack railway up the other side. Four lifts, no road.
Evening
Dinner at La Fondue, Hotel Silberhorn
The Silberhorn's a la carte room in the middle of car-free Wengen, a few minutes on foot from the station and from the Falken.
The Brünig Line Home
Morning
Wengen down to Interlaken Ost
Rack railway to Lauterbrunnen, then the Berner Oberland-Bahn on to Interlaken Ost. Allow 45 minutes for the pair.
Luzern-Interlaken Express to Lucerne
Part of the GoldenPass Line, hourly and 1h50, past the Lungernsee and Sarnersee and over the Brünig, whose summit station is the 1,001 m high point of the route.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Wirtshaus Galliker
Schützenstrasse 1, five minutes from Luzern station. Old-school Lucerne cooking — Chügelipastetli, cordon bleu, pot-au-feu on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Closed Sun and Mon.
Last hour on the Reuss
Left luggage at Luzern station, then the lakefront and the covered bridges one more time before the airport train.
Train to Zürich Airport
Direct from Luzern in about 70 minutes, arriving in the station underneath the terminal.
Evening
Fly home from ZRH
Check-in sits one floor above the platforms. An evening departure leaves you the whole morning in the Oberland.
