Q: We are three adults who would like to visit Switzerland for seven to eight days in late September. We’d like help with: a) places to visit, b) accommodation (I believe Airbnb is an option), and c) travel between cities.

Marco Says:
For a 7/8D trip that covers some distance and offers a decent sampling of Switzerland, I’d suggest Zurich–Lucerne/ Interlaken–Montreux–Zurich. You could choose to stay two days each in Lucerne and Interlaken, or stay in one while exploring the other. For stay, Airbnb is certainly an option for the longish middle leg, although hotels might be more convenient for shorter bookending stays. Also see myswitzerland.com/en/hotels.html for a range of options. In Zurich, you’ll take in the Old Town, Bahnhofstrasse, Schanzengraben/Fraumünster and Grossmünster. Lucerne town is itself beautiful but also provides the base for many day trips: Mt Titlis, Mt Rigi as well as Mt Pilatus and Engelberg (you won’t have time to do them all, but I recommend Mt Rigi for its panoramic view of the Alps), and 13 lakes including Lake Lucerne. Interlaken, the best perch to explore the Bernese Oberland, lets you access the triple peaks of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, as well as the glacier village of Grindelwald and the lakes Thun and Brienz. Montreux is in the Lake Geneva region and that’s a wonderful area as well. A long, flower-bordered lake promenade links Vevey and Montreux upto Chillon Castle, so pencil in a stroll there. Travelling between cities is best done by train. You’ll need a Swiss Travel Pass for eight days (swisspass. ch; CHF 596 for a first-class ticket), which then entitles you to unlimited travel throughout the rail, bus and boat network. Zurich and Lucerne are well connected (a train roughly every hour); and Lucerne–Interlaken–Montreux are connected by the Golden Pass line (goldenpassline.ch), which offers panoramic views of the scenery.