T’S TRAVEL GUIDE: Switzerland
The Ultimate 9-Day Switzerland Itinerary: Top Destinations and Hidden Gems
Switzerland is one of the most magical places you will ever see. It’s also such a small country that you can really get a lot in without feeling rushed in just over a week! If you’ve decided to go to Switzerland, you’ve already discovered, or have been told how costly it is and let me tell you they are not exaggerating! In September of 2024 we opted for 9 days to reach all the must-sees on our list and here’s how we did it:
RAIL PASS
First things first, if you plan to spend days in Switzerland and want to see a few different places the rail pass is a must. Costly yes, but not nearly as much as it would be if you booked individual rides each time. We got the 8-day pass and it was around 500 CHF. The pass includes museums, boats, trains, buses and discounts on many things!
FLY INTO GENEVA TO START IN ZERMATT
Zermatt was destination #1 for me. The Matterhorn?!? Hello!!! Pure perfection. The best way to get there is to fly into Geneva and take the train from there. A quick 3.5 hours and you’ve arrived. We landed in Geneva in the afternoon and stayed the night so we could head to Zermatt the next morning after some rest and acclimation.
GENEVA
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Right by the water and right across from the Four Seasons. Great location and fairly priced. Spa use is included at pretty much all hotels in Switzerland if they have one so we took advantage of the steam and sauna here. The hotel is walking distance to tons of shopping and great restaurants!
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This spot was amazing and probably one of my favorite meals of the trip and it was on day 1! The restaurant is in a hotel and sounded a bit touristy but we’re so glad we just went anyway as it was incredible.
ZERMATT
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Cervo (pronounced Chair-voe) is a stunning hotel tucked into the mountain with its own elevator that takes you down to the little town. We were obsessed with this place and it was the perfect way to start our vacation. Spa use was complimentary and a highlight of the property. The restaurants were great and the included breakfast was other-worldly! They also have complimentary yoga and meditation classes daily.
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We took the elevator down from our hotel and walked the little main street of Zermatt then kept going up and up past little hotels and houses until we reached Sonnmatten. The restaurant is in a hotel and it was so beautiful. We had dinner reservations in a few hours so we just went for a drink and a snack. Highly recommend the food and drink. If they have their homemade tarts, you must get one. The rhubarb was to die for.
This was one of the restaurants in our hotel and we had made reservations in advance. It was an Italian restaurant with a small menu. The service was amazing and the food was good. Not my favorite meal of the trip but it was still enjoyable.
The Bazaar at Cervo was where the complimentary breakfast was served daily. On top of the buffet filled with fresh yogurts, breads, cheeses (in their own cheese cabinet) and fresh sliced cured meats, there was also a large menu with tons of items you could order off of. The amount of butter and cheese I consumed every morning was impressive and necessary. Do not skip the cheese and butter anywhere in Switzerland!
The Bazaar was also open for dinner and we had made a reservation in advance for this dinner as well. It was my birthday and they decorated the table with dried flowers it was so cute and sweet. The food was incredible and so so beautiful. Be hungry!
This place came highly recommended by many and it is 100% a MUST! We hiked here right from our hotel. It’s a perfect, adorable, Michelin starred restaurant tucked into the side of the mountain with insane views of the Matterhorn. If you don’t want to hike up to it, you can take the funicular up and then walk down the road a bit to reach it. I had my first real fondue with champagne on my birthday. I will never forget the perfection of it all! The food was divine, the views stunning and the cows that grazed in front of us with bells around their necks made the cheese we dined on. Insane!!!
This steakhouse was inside hotel Beausite and it was such a cute spot. The steak was great, the wine amazing and I had the most amazing salad I have ever had in my whole life. The food in Switzerland is unsurpassable. I can’t even describe how good lettuce is here.
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The Gornergrat Railway station is directly across from the main train station and you can purchase your tickets there as well (you get 50% off with the Swiss rail pass). We took the train up until the second to last stop (Rotenboden) and hopped out to hike the rest of the way up. We chose to get off at Rotenboden because just a short walk down from the platform is a little lake with amazing views of the Matterhorn reflecting in the water and we wanted to do a little hiking. The elevation is 10,000 so be prepared to be humbled as you hike. The top was nothing to write home about but making the climb was amazing and the views spectacular. Pack a lunch (we grabbed sandwiches at a little cafe) or dine at the restaurant up top!
Hiked to Chez Vrony
We were lucky enough to have the trail head start right at our hotel! Follow the signs for Sunnegga and you’ll run right into all the little restaurants. It took us about an hour and a half from Cervo to reach Chez Vrony. The hike is stunning and at one point you just pop out above this valley with the best views of the Matterhorn in existence. It was unreal.
Every day after our hiking or walking or adventuring we would steam, sauna, onsen repeat! The spa was gorgeous, co-ed (don’t forget your suit) and complimentary with your stay. I've said it a lot I know... but this stunning outdoor spa also had great views of the Matterhorn. Sorry but it just never gets old. I promise.
THUN
I randomly chose Thun (pronounced Tune) as our homebase for all the little day trips we had planned to do. It was central and right along the railway. Thun has a gorgeous river running through it. It’s so beautiful, we absolutely loved it. I would highly recommend coming here even if you have a different homebase! From here we day tripped to Bern, Luzern, Interlaken, Grindelwald and Spiez!
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A super cute boutique hotel walking distance to the train station that we used daily. With only 15 rooms this spot was quiet, peaceful, super clean and felt very homey. It’s right along the train tracks which literally means nothing in Switzerland because there is zero crime and you can’t hear a thing from your room. The bed was the best bed I have ever slept on besides my own at home. If you have travelled to Europe before you know how bad the beds are, this was not the case at Spedition. The best sleep we had our whole vacation. We had breakfast included and it was simple and did the trick. No spa here but we didn’t mind as we had planned to be travelling most days anyway.
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A delicious Italian restaurant that we ended up going to twice for dinner! Staff was amazing, food was delicious and the wine pours were generous, the best I had in Switzerland (the Swiss apparently consider 3-4ozs a glass of wine).
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Explored the town, went to the old castle and found some yummy food.
DAY TRIPS
BERN
Bern is a stunning, elegant city about 20 minutes on the train from our homebase of Thun. It is a UNESCO world heritage site! We spent the day walking the old city, sightseeing and finding little cafes to stop, have a drink and relax. Bern is known for the bears that live in the park along the Aare River. It was super fun and cool to see them and to walk along the beautiful river.
Where I Ate
This spot we happened into to duck out of a downpour! So glad we did, the place was adorable, right along the bridge by the bears and the food was delicious. Go here for lunch! Expect some sassy old French servers but great food and honestly, we didn’t mind the sass it was kind of fun!
We tried to walk in here but they sent us away and said they had no space so we left, went online and snagged a reservation for an hour and a half later. We found a cute little bar to hang out in while we waited called Eniline. Once back at the restaurant we ordered the fondue and the schnitzel salad, both were divine.
LUZERN
Luzern was a lively city with lots of great shopping, restaurants and historic sights. We explored the city, went to the old castle, Mussegmaur, saw the beautiful lion statue, Lowemdenkmal, and had a couple great meals! I would recommend making dining reservations if you’re there on a weekend like we were because it was hard to find a dinner spot.
Where I Ate
Yummy Italian food with an adorable inside and a nice outdoor patio. It was cold and rainy and the indoor was packed so we had to take the patio but the food was delicious, so it was worth it. The only bummer was the amount of smoking in Switzerland was shocking and disgusting to have to smell through a meal. But it was everywhere, not just in Luzern.
This place turned us away at first (like a bunch of other spots had) since we didn't have reservations but when we asked to sit outside, they let us. We wanted to eat at The Old Swiss House but apparently you need reservations way in advance for that spot. Helvetia was great however and we had a delicious meal. The good thing about Switzerland is you can’t get a bad meal; all the food is incredible.
INTERLAKEN + GRINDELWALD + SPIEZ
We did these three in one day and grabbed sandwiches on our way out at the train station in Thun so we would be prepared for lunch! Don’t you love that wherever you are in Europe the food at the train stations is SO good?!
We spent most of our time in Grindelwald where we hiked the town and ended up at Gletscherschlucht. A glacier gorge that we paid to walk into, it was super cool and I highly recommend it!
Interlaken was cute but we didn’t spend much time there because I had Spiez on my mind. Spiez is stunning!!! I wanted to spend some time there before we headed back to Thun for the evening.
The train station in Spiez is above the city so you have to walk down about 20-25 minutes to get to the water. We looked for a spot to have dinner but there were only about 2 restaurants and they both didn’t look great. We ended up staying for a drink along the stunning lake then made the lovely trek back up to the train station and had dinner at Waisenhaus again in Thun.
Zurich
We had Zurich for a day and a half as it was our launch point to Berlin to end our trip! We got rain and gloom but Zurich is a stunning city with lots of beautiful architecture, bars, restaurants, cafes and shopping.
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A beautiful hotel up on the hill with amazing views of the city. We planned to arrive in the afternoon as the train ride from Thun was only an hour and a half to reach Zurich. We planned to take advantage of the beautiful spa during our stay. The included breakfast with amex fine hotels and resorts was insane! It was beautiful and delicious. This was by far the worst bed I have ever slept on in my life. If you can call it sleep. I took home my neon pink stitched slippers they leave for you in your room though! I also wore them to breakfast and that was a mistake (not that I cared) as everyone was dressed to the nines for breakfast. Wow.
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Ok not food but a super cute cocktail bar in an adorable neighborhood we ducked into to take a break from the walking and the drizzle. I had a gin martini that was delicious and Gabe had, of course... a beer!
We didn’t have a plan for dinner and luckily it was a Monday night so we weren’t too concerned with getting in anywhere. I searched the web for best restaurants in Zurich and came across a timeout article that had Kries 6 listed. It looked good, the location was adorable (in a gorgeous neighborhood) and so we hopped on the Tram and headed over.
Gabe went ahead and made a reservation online just to be safe. This was by far one of our favorite meals of our entire trip. The staff were a little funny with us at the beginning, they kept giving us grief like: “How did you find us?!” “This is a local spot” “We never get tourists!” I had explained the article and in no time, they warmed up to us and ended up bringing us some stuff on the house! You know that feeling as a tourist when you’re like: “We’re in!” that was how we felt by the end!
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Explored the city, walked, stopped at a cute neighborhood bar and found a local’s only restaurant for dinner!
Spent the afternoon at the Dolder Grand Spa. Soaking up the steam, sauna and jacuzzi.
