7-Day Switzerland Itinerary: Cities, Mountains & Trains

Move to Lucerne on the second morning and give the afternoon to the old town, which is compact enough to cover on foot. The Kapellbrücke, the covered wooden bridge with its painted interior panels, and the Water Tower beside it are the first stop, and the riverfront squares behind them lead into the car-free lanes of the Altstadt.

Keep the day flat: the Musegg ramparts above the town and the lion monument reward a short walk, and the lakefront promenade gives you the mountain backdrop without a ticket. If you are weighing Lucerne against other stops on a longer trip, the wider switzerland itinerary lays out the alternatives before you commit the nights. For a closer look at how to fill these two days by area, our Lucerne city guide plans them at the same unhurried pace. The same logic of matching a stop to your dates applies to the whole country, so it is worth checking the best time to visit Switzerland for a city break before you lock in the week, and Switzerland scenic trains are the other decision worth weighing before you settle the route.

Choose one summit for the day and give it the whole day, because the cable cars and funiculars eat time at both ends. Mount Pilatus is the pick if you want a cable car and a cogwheel railway in a single circuit, and it can be done as a loop rather than an out-and-back if you check the seasonal operating pattern before you go.

The trade-off is cost against altitude: a high summit with multiple cable-car stages is the most expensive day of the week, and the weather can close the top even when Lucerne is sunny. Decide the night before, keep a town day in reserve, and buy the mountain ticket at the valley station so you can walk away if the webcam shows cloud.

Interlaken sits between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, which is where the name comes from, and it works as a base for the central Alps rather than as a sight in itself. Arrive by mid-afternoon, walk the main street between the two lakes, and use the evening to plan the next day's summit rather than to add another transfer.

If you are deciding between two bases for the mountain days, Interlaken puts you closer to the Bernese Oberland summits while Lucerne gives you the lake and Pilatus. Pick one and day-trip from it; changing hotels twice inside four days costs more time than most people expect.

Jungfraujoch, billed as the Top of Europe, is the headline excursion and the most expensive single ticket of the week; it is also the one most exposed to cloud, since you pay for a view you may not get. The honest alternative is a lower summit or a village on the valley floor, which costs less and still gives you glaciers and peaks on a clear day.

Grindelwald is about 45 minutes from Interlaken by train and makes an easy half-day out, with the village sitting under the Eiger north face. It is small enough that an afternoon covers it, which is the argument for sleeping in Interlaken and visiting rather than moving your bags again.

For travelers extending the trip later, the 10 day switzerland itinerary shows how the extra days open up the far south and the Valais without breaking this linear route.

Bern rewards a full day on foot, and the old town is a UNESCO-listed arcaded spine that stays walkable in any weather because the arcades run for long stretches along the shopping streets. Start at the Zytglogge, the medieval clock tower, and time your pass for the hour when the figures move, then walk east through the arcades to the Münster.

The Münster's platform gives you the best roofscape view in the city, and the riverside terrace below the cathedral is the place to sit afterward. Bern is also the stop where a city day and a museum hour fit together easily, since the old town sights sit within a few minutes of each other.

Return to Zürich on the last morning and keep the final hours close to the station: a last walk through the Altstadt, a coffee on the river, and a chocolate purchase you have not already made. Zürich and Geneva are Switzerland's two major airports, so a loop that starts in one city and ends in the other can save a backtrack if your flights allow it.