We just came back from a Trip to Switzerland and I must say it is one of the most amazingly beautiful places we have seen ever! In this brief travelogue I will share some of our experiences and some of the best pics from our trip. But truly no pictures can do justice to the real beauty of the land there and it has to be seen to be believed!
The landscapes are so pristinely beautiful and clean and heavenly and the country is immaculately maintained and the Swiss citizens take extreme pride in maintaining their country well. One of the benefits of going to Switzerland in this weather is that the days are extremely long - sunrise happens at 5:30 am and the sunset happens at 9:00 pm - so you have such a long day available to maximize the experiences! The weather in the daytime is pleasant at around 25 Deg and 15 Deg in the night. Only in the mountains - Jungfrau and Titlis, the temperatures at around -2 Deg in the day - so you will need to carry jackets and woolens for these places.
We did a quick 5 Day trip to Switzerland and our itinerary, due to the short time was to stay in Interlaken for 2 day and then in Lucerne for 2 days and then Return to India from Zurich. We landed in Zurich on the early morning of 26th July - the flight from India takes around 8 Hours and there is a time difference of -3:30 Hrs from India. After reaching there, we took the Train to Bern and from there boarded the train to Interlaken - the trip from Zurich to Interlaken took around 3 Hours. The trains there are really very efficient and high speed and run like clockwork to the minute. Many of the trains there are also Double decker trains , where you can sit higher and admire the scenery!
On reaching Interlaken we were absolutely amazed by the beauty of the place and the lakes there - Interlaken is a city between two lakes - Lake Thun on one side and Brienz on one side. Both lakes are extremely Blue in colour and very clean - I have never seen such blue lakes in my life - the colour of the lakes is due to the glacier water runoff and the low temperature of the water in the lake. You can see the colour of the lake in the pictures below - it is actually like this and the image has not been digitally altered! It really has to be seen to be believed - even in Switzerland, the other lakes like Zurich lake / Zug/ Lucerne lake are the normal colour which you see in other places, but the ones in Interlaken are a very different blue colour!
After reaching Interlaken, we rested for a few hours and then had a quick brunch at Maharajah Indian restaurant in the market area there. It is run by a Punjabi gentleman from Jalandhar and the food served there is nice and much better than the other restaurants (Taste of India) that we tried in Interlaken.
After Brunch, we went on to visit the St. Beatus caves, which are also really nice and a natural cave which leads for almost 1 Km inside the Mountain. It is quite tiring but this is one of the few places in the world where one can see such natural wonders.
One of the really good decisions that we took before our journey was to take a "Swiss Travel Pass" for our trip and with this pass one can do unlimited travel in Swiss Trains, Buses and even Boats in any of the cities. Apart from this, you also get discounts on Passes to places like Jungfrau and even Titlis. Children below the age of 16 are also complimentary when travelling with an adult as a Family pass.
In the evening, we reached back and hopped onto a Boat Cruise in the Thun Lake - and it was really amazing. The boats there are very large and have a restaurant and indoor and outdoor seating areas and are very well maintained and clean. We spent almost 1 1/2 hours in the boat cruise and it was absolutely beautiful.
The next day we left early around 7:30 am for Jungfraujoch. Jungfrau is a mountain glacier which is connected by TRAIN all the way to the top. It is the highest mountain in Switzerland and has a height of around 3466m. It is insanely beautiful (and Cold!) in this season, the temperature there in the day was -2 Deg Celsius and in the night it is around -13 Deg Celsius. We were well prepared for the cold and were wearing heavy jackets.
The scenery on the way to Jungfrau (in the mountain train) as well as from the top is just mindblowing! The Glacier cave in Jungfrau is also a wonder and very nicely maintained.
The Jungfrau viewing deck is also very spacious and well built (it is much better than Titlis ). Jungfrau is also much higher than Mt Titlis - for someone who is going to a short trip to Switzerland and can visit only one of the two mountains, I would recommend going to Jungfrau and not to Titlis as it is much more beautiful in Jungfrau (we went to both places in our trip and I will cover why I don't recommend Titlis). Jungfrau really has amazing views of the glacier and the mountains around it.
After our way back from Jungfrau, we took a slight detour and went on to Lauterbrunnen, where the Trummelback falls are located. These are also an amazing natural creation. Trummelback falls is a series of 10 waterfalls - some inside the mountain and some outside, all part of the same river flow which carries around 20,000 liters per second from the glaciers to the river. The Trummelback falls are an absolute must-see!
This was an underground (or In-mountain) waterfall.
This is the last waterfall where all the water finally falls into the river below.
We reached back around 9:30 pm and after a long tiring day (we would have walked almost 15 kms!) we went for dinner and crashed.
The next day we headed off to Lucerne as we would be staying in Lucerne for the next two days. Lucerne is a large city of Switzerland and has more of concrete and less of natural beauty. We spent the day in Lucerne touring the city and also took a nice long boat ride in the Lake Lucerne (which is very large) - it was very calm and peaceful once you reach far away from the city. The Lucerne lake is not as clean or blue as the lakes in Interlaken.
The next day we went for Mt Titlis - we had heard a lot about Titlis earlier and had high expectations of the place - but unfortunately we disappointed! The weather played spoilsport and it was raining and was very cloudy at Titlis. Also, there is a lot of construction going on ontop of the mountain for the new Gondola ride (which is to open in Nov 2015) and those guys have made such a mess of the natural beauty of the place.
Honestly Titlis is overrun and overhyped and it does not have enough facilites to cater to the number of visitors who are heading there each day. The restaurants there are crammed to overcapacity, the interiors look old and shabby - for anyone visiting Switzerland with less time, Titlis can be avoided and Jungfrau should be taken. Junfrau offers much better views and much better Observation deck than Titlis. The rotating Gondolas of Titlis are also overrun and overhyped. The ongoing construction work at Titlis is also spoiling the beauty of the mountain.
After coming back from Titlis , we came to Zurich to roam around the city and do some shopping for souvenirs. We again hopped onto a Boat cruise and enjoyed the experience.
In our whole trip, we took 3 different boat cruises in three different cities, and each one was a different scenery and we thoroughly enjoyed them.
The next day we returned from Zurich to Delhi and it was back to reality for us! Overall it was an extremely amazing trip for us and we enjoyed every moment of it to the fullest!