Switzerland Trip from India?

Question

I am planning a trip to Switzerland in mid-March this year with my wife. I plan to land in Zurich and immediately move to Interlaken and Lucerne, in that order. I have a few questions.

Should I go through a tour operator, or can I venture out on my own ? A tour operator (pretty safe & reliable) has quoted a price of CHF 1625 for accommodation for 5 nights, local transport (limited) and two excursions - one to Jungfraujoch, the other to Pilatus. Only breakfasts are included. Does this seem like a reasonable quote, or do you think that I can get it cheaper if I try on my own ?

A detailed reply would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

In my opinion it's not cheap, but not really overpriced either. Roughly I would estimate a split of the sum in 1000 CHF for accomodation and 600 CHF for travel.

1000 CHF for 5 nights is 200CHF per night. You could probably find something cheaper if you tried, it depends on what kind of accomodation you're looking for. You could find a 2 or 3 star hotel for less than that (150 CHF or even a bit less), both in Interlaken and Lucerne, but then you'd have to consider you may need additional transport to and from the Jungfrau and Pilatus excursions. Taxis in Switzerland are extremely expensive, so you would end up spending what you saved on the hotel room, unless the hotel is near public tranport (bus, train or whatever). Try the Swiss National Tourism Office

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/home

Swiss trains are quite expensive, especially if you purchase a normal ticket. Being swiss myself I don't know exactly what kind of discounts are available for tourists. I believe there are several one-week passes, day tickets and things like that, but I don't know if you can order them in advance or if they need to be purchased upon arrival in switzerland. Try the Swiss Federal Railways website

http://travel.sbb.ch/index.php

If you buy a basic one-way ticket from Zurich to Interlaken, then Lucerne and back to Zurich, plus the Jungfrau and Pilatus excursion, then you won't be able to save much on the 600 CHF of your package. With one of the week passes/discount cards/tourist tickets or whatever is available, you may be able to get a better price.

If I were you I would look on the sites I gave you (and others) to have an estimate of what you could save by organising your own trip (I'd say you could save maybe 200-300 CHF at the very most), and then decide.

In any case, enjoy your stay :)