Switzerland is a country that every Indian dreams of visiting since they first get a taste of Bollywood. It is the one place on Earth that is advertised as the most beautiful place on Earth with the greenest of green grass and the whitest of white snow and the coolest and cleanest of all places on this planet.
So it is but obvious, our first trip outside Germany, once we had settled and kiddo had her summer vacations, was Switzerland. There is so much to do and so many places to see, and we had a hard time deciding where to visit and what to skip. At the end, we agreed (my family and my friend’s family) that we would visit Lucerne (Luzern), Jungfraujoch, Mount Rigi and visit Zürich for a bit.
Hint – be careful and read about the road regulations and speed limits beforehand. Switzerland is stricter than Germany about over-speeding.
We decided to book an apartment at Lucerne as the base, and thought we had a 2 bedroom apartment. Until we reached and realized the owner had converted a studio sized 1 bed apartment into a 2 bedroom – that was a little hard for 5 people to adjust in for 5 days. First time I got cheated in my life. Since then, I have never ever booked a place without doing a detailed review beforehand.
Lucerne is a beautiful place and there are some old historical places to be visited and experienced. Given the amount of time we had, we decided to land in the Old town area (Altstadt) and park our car there for a walking tour. The Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) over the River Reuss, Lake Lucerne and the Lion monument (Löwendenkmal) are well known.
I am not a big fan of cities, but Lake Zürich could not be missed. We went to a place on the North East end of Lake Zürich, far away from the main city, Schloss Rapperswil. If you like old tiny castles, walking in old town with street vendors and small shops all around you, you will love this place. There is a small Rosengarten too.
Always remember this – Jungfrau is the mountain. Jungfraujoch is the research center at the top of the mountain. If there is only 1 thing that you can do when in Switzerland, I would recommend Jungfraujoch. This is the top of Europe and there is no other Observatory that is at this height. The views of the glaciers from the top are just awesome! For the more adventurous people, you can hike up Jungfrau as well instead of taking the boring train to the top.
Tip – open the images to get a better view.
Mount Rigi is a very easy to walk mountain. We had our reasons not to walk but take the Gondola lift instead. Arrive at Weggis, and walk around this beautiful picturesque and small town. You can get the Gondola at the Weggis (Luftseilbahn) and reach the top easily. If you would like to eat, and it could be expensive, I would highly recommend the Rigi Kulm – Hotel. Unfortunately, we arrived on a rainy day and could see clouds everywhere – the landscape could not be captured. And still, the memories are as clear as yesterday because the weather was just so beautiful and perfect! And of course the company was great too!
There is so much more about Switzerland than can be captured in a 5 day trip on a blog post. I would recommend that you plan your own visit and share your own memories with the world. Don’t forget to tag me so I can experience how it is today vs 2014!
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