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Things To Do in Rome in 3 Days & Detailed Itinerary

August 16, 2020

Things to do in Rome in 3 days

• Colosseum
• Vatican
• St Peter’s Basilica
• Pantheon
• Piazza Navona
• Trevi Fountain
• Spanish Steps
• Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
• Campidigolio
• Via del corso
• Trastevere
• Venchi Gelato & Chocolates
• Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo

Detailed Rome itinerary (Our Story)

Rome – a romantic blend of culture and history spiced up with a vibrant street and nightlife.

Roma, as its popularly called is one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities of the world, which offers the window to the world of history, which is unparalleled and at the same time some of the most modern lifestyle and enthralling night life, was our 1st destination in Italy. We travelled to Rome, via Alitalia flight and landed in morning (as I generally prefer). I had pre booked the cab for my airport transfer an the driver was waiting for us just outside the gate. Link….. is from where I booked and they were professional and not stress in coordinating and the driver was also very friendly. After a 40min drive from the airport we reached our Bnb at Corso Vittorio, it was very central and waling distance to all the main places. This was our 1st Bnb experience and to be honest we were a bit sceptic, but all our doubts were put to rest by the 2 hosts ladies as they were really warm and welcoming. They even helped us out in modifying our itinerary which would be comfortable. (Read more in : Our 1st Bnb experience)

Day 1 – Pantheon, Navona, Trevi, Spanish Steps: After resting for sometime we just headed out to explore the city. Map was provide by the hosts, and we started walking towards the street (cobblestone street) opposite our apartment and after a fascinating walk for 8-10 minutes in the by lanes we reached Piazza Navona which is one of the most charming and popular squares (piazzas) in Rome.

This is where we 1st witnessed the grandeur of Italian architecture at its full bloom. With 3 beautiful fountains, colourful street hawkers, painters, chic restaurants on both sides. There was lively and delightful atmosphere which makes you immerse in the beautiful fountains, there sound, chilly water and the stadium like enormity (this square was erstwhile athletic stadium).

After looking around a bit, drinking water from the fountains we moved on towards Pantheon which was hardly 300m walk from here. And here it is, The Pantheon, one of the influential building of ancient Rome. It is a Roman temple turned into a church. The most fascinating part of this is its giant dome, with its famous hole. You can see the glimpses of ancient Rome and there architectural achievement. The hole is the only source of light. A lighting effect can be viewed on April 21 when the midday sun strikes a metal grille above the doorway, saturating the courtyard outside with light. The Romans celebrated April 21 as the founding date of the city. Within 2-3 min walk from here is a cute little boutique shop called Bartolucci (https://www.bartolucci.com/en/) which makes gift items and collector’s pieces, furnishing accessories and toys, all made out of wood and all made in Italy only. One should check this place out.

By now we were already awestruck by the brilliant architecture and fascinating history of the city. But this was just the beginning, as its just going to get better from here, as within 7-8 min of walk from Pantheon is the most famous fountain of Rome, The Trevi Fountain. Once you reach Piazza di Trevi you are just blown away by the grandeur of this fountain and magnificent architecture. You can go here at any time of the day/night, the place is always crowded, such is the beauty of Trevi. The Trevi Fountain stands a massive 85 feet tall and is almost 65 feet wide. With water pumping out of multiple sources and the large pool in front. Tossing a coin over your shoulder is a tradition and ensure a return to Rome. So, we were not far away from this tradition. After spending some time we headed for lunch towards pizzeria in the next lane.

If you are in Italy, how can you miss out on the famous “Gelato”, and one of the most famous in Italy is Venchi, which is also just a street across Trevi. This place is always crowded and if you have to wait in a que, it is totally worth it. Important thing to note is google map is really helpful in taking you from one place to another with perfect directions.

After relaxing a bit we headed towards Trinita dei Monti, which is a church on the top of Spanish Steps and is an ideal way to admire this place and have a complete view of Spanish Steps and the street. This is a slightly elevated walk. It’s a Gothic church with a Renaissance façade and from the gallery you can have a good view of the city. From there you can move down these iconic and historical 138 Steps, which is among the widest stairway in Europe. There is crowd which gathers around or sit on the Stairs and chill. So did we. Post that we moved down and there is Fountain Of Old Boat, another fascinating fountain of Rome.

By now you would be thinking that we were rushing between places and not soaking up the cities culture, but that’s not the case. We spent enough time at each place, enjoyed our lunch and relished our Venchi Gelato. Its just that all these places are within 5-10min and our Bnb location helped us a great deal. From Spanish steps we planned to head back to our room, but while on our way we stopped by at Piazza del Popolo, which is also another big square. After just sitting there for a while and post having some snacks, we headed back along the banks of River Tiber. We came back with some lovely pictures and with a thought that this was only 1 part of the history and there was Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican yet to be seen.

In the night we moved towards Vatican which was just across the river to have dinner at a pizzeria, post which we took a stroll around Vatican and moved back to the room, on our way back on the bridge there were lot of musicians performing, which was quiet satisfying to enjoy after a satisfying start to Italian trip.

Day 2 – Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill : We had our breakfast at the Bnb and then headed out for the day’s exploration and it was the Campidoglio, Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We took the bus from outside our Bnb and headed towards Campidoglio. Piazza del Campidoglio was the result of Michelangelo’s plan for the revival of the Capitoline Hill, a site of great importance since antiquity. It’s a huge square accessible through a stairway. After spending a while there, we now started for the main destination of the day, The Colosseum.

From the nearby bus stop we took the bus and reached Colosseum in 10min. And then on our arrival just outside it, we were 1st awestruck by the magnanimity of this great historical structure, and then by seeing the crowd we were reaffirmed why this is a part of the 7 wonders of the world. Thankfully we had already pre booked our jump the que tickets which helped us save time there through Coopculture.com. Even after this there is another que for the security and entrance, but it doesn’t take long here. And once you enter this iconic monument you feel the magic of this place. It is huge, it is historical, it is iconic and much more.

We reached the 1st floor and moved around to the designated places and I kept listening to the audio guide transmitter which I rented before entering. Its better that you take this, as it will make you understand relevance of various places and there significance in history. This place is so fascinating and so legendary that you would want to spend more time there and know more stories aligned to it.

Colosseum was opened in 80 AD and was in active use for 400 years. The place has been witness to gladiator fights, battle re-enactments, mock sea battles, drama plays, public executions of prisoners, and exotic animal hunts. It takes 45-60 min to see the entire place and understand the history of the place. Post this we walked towards the Roman Forum.

This place can be accessed using the same ticket which was used for Colosseum. Forum was once the beating heart of ancient Rome, is now in ruins. This was once filled with imposing civic buildings, bustling marketplace, public meetings and became the social, political and commercial hub of the Roman empire. This was built thanks to one of the world’s earliest sewage systems. There are many iconic structures within the forum, but none more than The Temple of Saturn recognized by eight surviving columns. After roaming around the forum for a bit an soaking up the history related to the place we moved ahead towards the Palatine Hill.

Palatine Hill can be accessed using the same ticket and is connected through Roman Forum. It is just above the Roman Forum and offers you a sweeping view of the ruins and the modern city. Its history dates even further back than the Roman Emperors and the legend says that the first people to ever live in Rome lived on Palatine Hill. There is a lot of history to be seen here along with towering pine trees and majestic ruins. During your visit don’t miss out on looking for the stadium, the ruins of imperial Palace (Domus Flavia) and grand views of the Forum from the Orti Farnesiani. While moving around this place you just keep getting amazed on how well the Romans have preserved the history and how majestic was it.

Via Del Corso, Trastevere : After spending the time till noon soaking up the history we stepped out toward the main street of Rome, Via Del Corso for lunch. There are innumerable pizzerias here, and you can confidently stop by at any of them and still the quality of pizzas remain good. After having our meal it was time for the mandatory stop at the Venchi for another round of mouth watering gelato. We spent the rest of the chilling along the streets and hoping in and out of the stores and doing some shopping. By late evening we were back the room, where we relaxed for a while.

Around 9Pm again stepped out to the most famous neighbourhood of Rome, Trastevere, which means across the river Tiber. This was 15min walk from our Bnb and is surely one of the beautiful and colourful places around Rome, with cobblestone streets and narrow lanes. If you really want to enjoy the nightlife of Rome, this is a must visit. This place varies from the fine dine with Michelin Star restaurants to small bars, you can have it all. The bars, pubs, lounges across the narrow lanes gives this place its own lively character. 1st we stopped by at a local bar to have couple of drinks and enjoy with the locals. It indeed was a fun experience. Post this we stepped out and headed to another pub and were there till midnight. One the way back we reached a big piazza where lot of youngsters were chilling, having there drinks and singing the night away. There is enough police around every corner of the streets to control any unruly behavior. It was indeed an enjoyable experience here and we planned to return next night as well to have our dinner at one of there fine din restaurant.

Day 3 – Vatican : Day 3 was for the visit to Vatican and Castle Sant Angelo. We had pre booked our guided tour to the St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican Museums. After having our breakfast we moved toward the Vatican which was 5-7min walk from our Bnb across the river.

Vatican is considered to be the smallest country in the world and is an independent city state. It is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and home to the Pope. Vatican City is governed as an absolute monarchy with the pope at its head.

Though it is advisable to pre book your tour through official website of Vatican and well in advance to get a good deal, else you would have to wait for private operators which are slightly expensive. Even though, you didn’t pre book, nothing to worry, you can hop into any of these operators and can get your selves booked basis the availability. 1 guide have a group of 12-20 people, but you have your headphones through which you can hear the instructions and about places being visited. It is important that you take a guided tour or else you would spend your entire day there, 1st spending time in the ques and then figuring out places to visit. We reached the office of our guided tour operator and after waiting for everyone who enrolled for it, we moved towards the Museums through the long the ques and people waiting to get inside. Another important thing to note is that there is a dress code to visit, wherein you should cover your shoulders and avoid shorts and short dresses and skirts.

After a quick security check we headed inside the Museum and its here we were amazed by the beauty of architecture and paintings. You can see the history and artistry at its full bloom. A walk though the galleries, gardens and the path to Sistine Chapel, every corner have brilliance of artistry. The entire tour ends at the St Peter’s Basilica is a large church and is considered the greatest church in Christendom. Even with a guided tour and jump the que, it still takes 2-3 hours. At the exit of the church you can see the colorfully dressed guards of the Pope and at the top of the hour and is a worthwhile experience.

This entire tour was slightly tiring, hence we headed to have lunch at a near by restaurant. A thing which we started loving in Italy was there “Fanta”, which had a unique flavour (orange) and was really refreshing. This has been a part of all our meals. After a refreshing break we headed towards the castle which was barely 5minute walk from here.

Castel Sant’Angelo is one which holds stories which are worth knowing about and which give an insight on the Eternal City that other monuments may not give. With its chunky round keep, this castle is an instantly recognisable landmark. It houses the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo and its grand collection of paintings, sculpture, military memorabilia and medieval firearms.

After spending some time at the castle we headed towards a café around the river and relaxed there for a while with some snacks and coffee, post which we headed back to our Bnb where we freshened up, did our packing since this was our last night in Rome and then stepped out again for dinner.

1st we went to Roscioli which is a very famous wine bar and wine tasting place and then to Trevi taking a bus, to have a view of the place by the night and it was truly worth a visit. Post that we headed towards Trastevere to pick from where we left last night. Today we wanted to relax a bit and hence went to one of restaurants and a glass of wine along with spaghetti and pizza. Post this we called it the night and ended our Rome sojourn.

Countries

Best 7 Day Itinerary for Italy & Things To Remember

By SuNup on

August 15, 2020

- Countries

Most would love to visit Italy, but very few end up going. Italy is a country which offers a plethora of options, the cities are legendary, history is fascinating, food is mouth-watering, wine is a lifeline, and then there is Venice ! Along with being historical, Italy is equally modern and contemporary. For any kind of traveller or tourist, Italy has a lot to offer. And its never a bad idea to live up and experience the proverbs you’ve listened all your live, viz. Rome wasn’t built in a day, All Roads Lead to Rome. The fashion here is eye-catching and food & wine are lip-smacking. I hope this definitely will make you plan a trip to this wonderful country Italy. All this contributed in making our decision for our trip to Italy.

As always, I did extensive research before our travel and finalized the itinerary in advance. This was a 7 night trip wherein we planned to cover the major cities and again, without Rush. Below is the same:

1) Rome (3 Nights)
2) Florence (2 Nights)
3) Venice (2 Nights)

Things to remember before traveling to Italy

It is one of the most tourist friendly places, hence should not worry much on how to travel within the city, where to eat, etc. For the transportation you can opt for Euro Rail Pass, but before that look at your utility and how extensively are you travelling.

In our case we didn’t take Euro Rail Pass and rather opted for daily tickets/passes which are easily available at any “Tabacchi”/ tobacco / General stores, and this commutation is not expensive. Also if you manage to get your Bnb/Hotel in a correct location, you might not need to take a lot of local transport.

Very important thing to remember is to do the pre bookings for all the places/monuments you plan to visit. And ensure you take “Jump the que” tickets by default if not with a guide, coz there is always a huge rush at all these places. Must buy advance tickets for Colosseum (Roman Forum comes along with it), Vatican Tour, Pisa, Duomo. Do these bookings well in advance. Also, you should pre book the rail tickets for between the cities travel, 1 point to remember is even though the trains here are among the fastest in the world but surely not as convenient if you travel with heavy luggage.

In Italy Vodafone works perfectly fine and we didn’t face any issues during our entire trip. Its recommended to purchase the sim from the authorized store only, as if you pick up from any general story or Tabacchi, it takes longer for sim to get activated.

An important thing to remember and avoid doing is to not engage with vendors selling bands or wanting just to
speak to you or try to be over friendly for no reason, they could con you.

The best time to travel is March – April when the weather is moderate an not much crowded but we travelled here in end May and by then the summers had set in.

Vacations

Flight Booking Hacks & Finalizing Itinerary !

By SuNup on

August 9, 2020

- Vacations

For most trips, airfare is the most expensive part of the trip. While prices for transatlantic flights have gone down in recent years, they can still put a sizeable dent in any travel budget.

1.Deciding the destination: The most important pre requisite for a budgeted vacation is to decide on your destination and do the flight bookings well in advance, atleast 2.5-3 months from the date of travel. One of the most efficient way of doing this is by using google flights. There are 2 steps which needs to be followed.
1st is on the search engine of google flights, put your departure city and travel dates, but leave the destination as empty. 2nd drag the map across to find the ticket prices available for those destinations. This will give you a quick headstart to funnel down on your choice basis the budget & the destination.
For eg, if you are looking to travel towards western europe drag the map towards there and look for the best options.
This also helps you decide in your port of entry for a particular country you wish to travel to.

2.Be flexible with the dates: Airline ticket prices vary greatly depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of July. June-August are big months for traveling around Europe. One of the easier solution is travel during off season. But if this option is not what you can work with, then the day of travel makes a difference. Travel during mid week generally have lower fares, but still you need to try and search with multiple options.

3.Flight Options: Prefer connecting flights than direct ones and there are 2 reasons, most importantly, they are less expensive and 2, they are convenient, coz a long flight takes a toll on the body and before reaching you are already exhausted. But ensure the lay over is between 2-3 hours. While choosing the flight also choose the one which lands your destination not later the mid day, as this will enable you to utilize the day to explore and also you pay for the room for the day.

4.Port of Entry & Exit: One of the most critical decisions is to have an apt port of entry and exit, so that you can easily travel through the destinations of your choice without much hustle. I prefer travelling from 1 corner of the country to another one. Another important thing to remember is that these ports should be well connected. Also avoid to keep port of entry and exit as the same, since this will lead to repeated travel at 1 destination along with the time being wasted in traveling. For eg, while preparing Switzerland itinerary, we decided on entry from Geneva & exit from Zurich, two of the busiest airports and very well connected. This helps us covering various demographics along with travelling through the heart of Switzerland. You can also do the reverse, viz. entry from Zurich & exit from Geneva, this is not only convenient but also helps in making a good budget trip.

5.When to Book: Airline fares will keep rising the closer you get to departure, but there is a sweet spot when the airlines begin to either lower or increase fares based on demand. Don’t wait until the last second but don’t book far, far in advance either. The best time to book your flight is around 6–8 weeks before your departure, or around three months before if you are going to your destination during their peak season.

How to finalize the itinerary

So for starters make sure that you are not travelling with your luggage to lot of places, ensure that during 8-9 day of vacation make 2-3 bases and do day trips. Coz packing and repacking is a lot of hassle and more than that is travelling with luggage. And ensure these base cities are centrally located and have good connectivity to make day trips.

Mind you, there is sooo much to see in any country and any itinerary will not fit in everything. But we tried to do best of all the destinations, because it is important to soak in and enjoy fewer places rather than rushing through to cover all.

Vacations

Couple Travel to Switzerland for 8 days under 3 lakhs !

By SuNup on

June 1, 2020

- Vacations

Not for nothing that Switzerland is known to be paradise on earth. And in true sense going to paradise is never easy not cheap.

Switzerland is rated as the most expensive country in the world to visit. Since it’s so expensive to visit, most of the people skip this destination for the later. Planning a swiss holiday seemed daunting, having a strong currency and high taxes, and being a mecca for rich banks, international organizations, wealthy residents, and tax shelters.

But what’s fun if you cant visit the most expensive destination in budget. And that’s what we, TheTravelTotes love to do, travel in budget but uncompromisingly.

For the detailed itinerary of Switzerland please click here.

In the this blog, we will take you through the detailed expenses we incurred for the entire trip from the Flight Tickets to the souvenirs.

Fight Tickets: This is the part which takes the maximum of your budget and needs to be detailed out. Hence we would be coming up with a detailed blog on the same very soon, as this needs a special attention. But for now, in a nutshell, we booked the tickets almost 3 months in advance and after a lot of checking and being flexible with dates and our port of entry & exit. We always have a preference for a stopover flight. But in this case we were lucky enough to get a direct flight at a good price.

Our quick hacks for efficient flight bookings, click here.

>Return Ticket for 2 via Swiss/Lufthansa : Rs 73890 / 940 Euro

Visa/Insurance: With VFS Global, the visa process is very simple and is not tedious at all. At the same time buying an insurance is extremely important and easy, which you can buy from any of your local insurance providers.

>Schengen Visa for 2 : Rs 12000 & Insurance for 2 : Rs 2117

Stay: For the detailed description on picking up Airbnb as preferred staying option please click here. Similarly we picked up our preferred option of Airbnb for the majority of our stay, which is for Geneva & Interlaken. For the last leg, we got a brilliant deal at a renowned hotel in Zurich just next to city centre, hence we chose that. But it is imperative you research in detail for the accommodation that you look to pick up, in regard to location, distance from city centre, nearby transportation, included meals, etc. Swizerland has amazing network of transportation, hence even if you are slightly away from the city centre, it would be easy to travel.

>Geneva 1 Night: Rs 8693 ; Interlaken 4 Nights: Rs 34802 ; Zurich 3 Nights: Rs 47424

Meal/Food: This part of the expense is ignored by lot of us and in the end, this could accumulate as the major contributor to your overall trip expenses. Hence, its important to plan the same wisely in advance. Switzerland doesn’t have many local delicacies which needs to be tried, so it makes more sense that you can carry your own ready to eat meals/breakfast or buy from the local supermarkets, which are equally economical. But carrying your own ready to eat meals will make sense only if you are staying in an Airbnb which mostly gives access to the kitchen.

For our trip we had carried ready to eat meals which we mostly had for dinner, snacks such as wafers, biscuits to be had on the move, maggi if we are back early. But few of these things you can to away from carrying from your home town as most of them are easily available at the local supermarts, Coop & Migros, as it can help you in travelling light. We used to buy frozen yoghurt, ready to drink coffee, nutri bars, fruits etc from Coop or Migros. This would take care of your breakfast and dinner, for lunch we used to have it at some local café/restaurant. Mostly we used to stop buy in evening to have coffee and some snacks. Also, Switzerland as a country sleeps early, hence you would not find that great a nightlife not will you miss much by having wine and dinner at your Airbnb. But at times post our dinner, we used to step out for a stroll.

>10 Ready to Eat Meals: Rs 900 ; 10 RTE Breakfast: Rs 500 ; 8 Maggi Cuppa: Rs 360 ; Waffers/Biscuits: Rs 500 ; Frozen Yoghurt: Rs 600 ; Fruits: Rs 500 ; 12 Meals/Lunch at local cafes: Rs 18000 ; 12 RTD Emmi Coffee: 2160 ; 12 Coffee/Snacks: Rs 6000

Chocolates: If in Switzerland, you cannot not have chocolates. Here you would find one of the best variety of chocolate, if not the best. Few of the best chocolate brands hail from Swiss. Hence, please don’t hold yourselves back in spending or keeping aside some money for this worthwhile spend. But it is important to buy them from the places where you can get good deals and 2 of them have best of the deals are Coop & Migros, two of the most famous local supermarkets. We had loads of it & bought loads to carry them back home.

>10 Lindt Bars: Rs 2160 ; 5 Assorted Lindt: Rs 2880 ; 3 Toblerone Bars: Rs 1296 ; 10 Coop/Migros local chocolate bars: Rs 720 : 4 Fresh Chocolate Bars: Rs 1000

Souvenirs/Shopping: Buying souvenirs or picking up some local stuff if a part we love doing as these are memorabilia that everyone want to take and collect. But in Swiss be mindful that shopping from brands is extremely expensive, even though you will find best of them. Hence, we restricted our selves to mostly souvenirs & shopping small stuff as swiss knife etc

>Spent: Rs 10000

Given below is the total breakup for 2 of us

Holidays

Things To Do In Zurich & Lucerne

By SuNup on

April 11, 2020

- Holidays

Things to do in Zurich

• Uto Kulm

• Lake Zurich

• Old Town/Altstad

• St Peter’s, Grossmunster and Fraumunster

• Bahnofstarasse

• Paradeplatz

• Lindenhof

• Luzern

• Fifa Football Museum

Things to do in Lucerne

• Stanserhorn

• Lake Lucerne

• Chapel Bridge

• Lion Monument

• Weinmarket

• Mt. Pilatus

Detailed itinerary & Things to do in Zurich for 3 days (Our Story)

After having our breakfast at Bnb in Interlaken and bidding adieu to our lovely hosts we started the last leg of our vacation to Zurich which is a 2hour journey. But the transport is so nice with lovely views and comfortable trains that these journeys never tire you. We reached Zurich by after noon and checked into our hotel, which was opposite 1 of their major stations. This was back to being in a big city, among hustle & bustle which was in sharp contrast to the village towns. Zurich is center for finance with 2 of the biggest Swizz Banks HQ here, which was 5min walk from our Hotel. The weather was pleasant and Sunny. On checking at the reception, we were advised to visit Uto Kulm, Uetilberg. It is Zurich’s own mountain which gives brilliant views of the city and Lake Zurich and is a 27min train ride from central station. It indeed provides lovely views of the city. Then there is a big tower which gives an adventurous experience due to sound and pressure of high wind speed, which you should definitely climb on your visit here. There is also a restaurant where you sit and relax.

After spending some time there, we headed back to central station and from there walked around the city’s old town (Altstad) along Lake Zurich. Along the old town is the famous Adler’s Swiss Chuchi, which is known for its fondue and is the 1st fondue parlour in the old town. If you want to try an authentic swiss fondue, you should visit this place.

On our stroll to the city there is Mühlesteg bridge which we crossed to reach the other side, this is also famously known as Wooden Love Lock Bridge. The side rails of the bridge is full of locks, which lovers lock together & throw the keys in the river. This is very similar to the love lock bridge which we have seen in Salzburg & Paris.

But as I said earlier, to explore any city in Europe best way is to start from the main station, and here its Zurich Hauptbahnhof. But we decided to explore this part of the city on the last day.

Lucerne

Next day we had planned to visit another beautiful city of Switzerland, Lucerne. We took at the train from the central station at 1030am and reached Lucerne in 45min. on reaching Lucerne you will be welcomed by a grand façade and moving further ahead in a really pretty view of Lake Lucerne on 1 side and across is the famous Chapel Bridge.

The city rests beside Lake Lucerne, couched in a heart-lifting mountainous landscape.

2min walk from the station you reach the Chapel Bridge which is a covered wooden footbridge over the river Reuss from the 14th century. In the ceiling pediments are triangular 17th-century paintings depicting events from Lucerne’s history.

On reaching across you will be awes trucked by the sequence of squares hemmed by tall painted houses and linked by cobblestone shopping streets. These are traffic free lanes where there are cafes and shops all along. Weinmarkt is the starting point for the same.

As you walk along, you’ll come across Bachmann, which is the best bakery in Lucerne and you should definitely try a pastry, puff or anything from there. Just 5 min walk from here is the Lion Monument, where in a dying lion is carved into sandstone and it represents Swiss Guard. Just outside this are souvenir shops.

Along the walk back from here to the river you will see a lovely local liquor shop on the right, Fine and More, which have really pretty and artistic bottles in which you can take the locally brewed liquor.

After a stroll along the old town, we headed towards Chapel Bridge again and had lunch and beer at the famous Rathaus brewery. Post having a relaxed lunch by the river side we headed to the Historical Castle Chateau which is now converted into a Hotel. You need to take a funicular to the top of it and it gives you a brilliant birds eye view of Luzern. By this time it was just past 2Pm and we have mostly covered all the major attractions of Lucerne without much of rush.

From Lucerne we had planned to go to Engelberg for which the train is from the central station. But mid way towards Engelberg our fellow passengers spoke about a small town/hill excursion, Stans and we randomly decided to get down at this town. And to our greatest surprise it turned out to be a much more prettier and quaint town than we had seen.

There is a small station which welcomes you and as you walk towards the station for hill excursion you fall in love with this small town and now more so by this beautiful cog wheel train station which leads to Stanserhorn mountain. The journey starts by a vintage wooden funicular built in 1893, one of the oldest in the world and from there you reach the most thrilling part, the cabrio station.

Cabrio is the world’s 1st open rooftop cable car with a 360degree view. This is indeed a unique experience to have, with breathtaking views of the town, lake and mountains from the open roof. This is not known to many tourists and hence not very crowded, but the experiences are unique from any other excursion.

On the top are snow covered mountains with chill in the air and atop 10 min trek is the house of Heidi. This excursion should surely be part of any traveller looking for truly unique experience with hardly any fuss and rush. After spending some time there playing with snow, we came back to the station and went to a small café which served a brilliant latte and cookies. Post relaxing we headed back to Zurich and retired for the day.

The last day of the trip was primarily for exploring the city and its old town. We started the day by visiting the Fifa Football Museum which was next to our hotel and offers some unique insights about Football history along with the display of the original World Cup trophy.

Post this we took the tram and headed to the main shopping street, Bahnofstarasse, which is world’s most expensive shopping street and boasts of biggest and the most luxury brands. Take a stroll along this street, shopping or window shopping. From the end of this street you can walk upto Lindenhof which is approx. 3-5min hike. It looks like the roof of Old town, where again you’ll come across 2 big chess boards where locals can be seen playing it during there breaks. Overlooking the ledge is the view of entire old town, the limmat and mountains in the background.

After relaxing there a bit and soaking in the views, we left for the old town. Its almost a 45 min stroll across the old town which will take you through the churches, St Peter’s, Grossmunster and Fraumunster. You can end the walk of old town at the Opera house and next to it is Migros, which is one of the bigger malls and serve you variety of cuisines and drinks.

We relaxed here and had a meal. Post that we walked again by the Lake Zurich and sat by it having coffee. From here we moved towards Paradeplatz and went to Sprungli House which is the most famous confectioner’s café among locals. Post this we headed back to our hotel and later in the night we stepped out for dinner at old town.

Stories

Things to do and places to see in Interlaken in 4 days

By SuNup on

March 29, 2020

- Stories

• St. Beatus Caves,
• Village towns – Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, Engelberg, Stans (we didn’t plan to go), Wilderswil.
• Mountain excursions – Schilthorn, Harder Kulm, Stanserhorn
• Towns – Lucerne, Bern
• Funky Chocolate Club
• Casino Kursaal
• Paragliding
• Rafting
• Kayaking
• Stroll through Interlaken Ost to West

Detailed itinerary & Things to do in Interlaken for 4 days (Our Story)

As the name suggests, this is a small quaint town situated between 2 beautiful Lakes, Lake Thun & Lake Brienz. This is the most central place in Switzerland as it connects most of the major mountain excursions and village towns. We were to stay here for 4 nights and we had planned to explore the village towns and atleast 1 mountain excursion. Another important thing to note for Interlaken is not to have fixed itinerary and keep making one on the basis of weather and preference. Weather is critical, coz on a cloudy/gloomy day, it’s a waste to do a mountain excursion since you would not be able to enjoy the breath taking views which they offer.

Just under 3 hours of train journey from Geneva, and we reached the place to witness the real Switzerland. We reached by late noon, so after relaxing a while at our Bnb we headed out to explore what this beautiful town had to offer. Most of the places are confined between Interlaken west & east stations. We started from west (as we were staying here). Its advisable to walk through the town and absorb the beauty it has to offer, with Jungfrau standing tall on 1 side, harder kulm on other then lavish green parks with a stream of lake by the lanes of the road. This is a perfect setting for a dreamland. While you walk, you will see plenty of restaurants and cafes offering the best of various cuisines, and more so Indian. Things not to miss out are cute little ancient church, Casino where there is a bronze status of Yash Chopra, Casino Kursaal. One must try coffee sitting in any café with outdoor sitting and relishing the beauty of the town, which further gets enhanced by quality of coffee (read milk). Post having a long walk and visiting various shops we headed back to our Bnb, where we cooked our dinner using ready to eat which we got from India along with a local wine.

Day 2:

Next morning, we woke up to a clear sky, hence the decision was made to do the mountain excursion. We had planned for Schilthorn for our excursion. (we skipped jungfraujoch since it consumes an entire day, it’s way too crowded than schiltorn and is way more expensive). Schilthorn offers similar views and have more things to do, bit less crowded and is included in Swiss Pass. We took train from Ost station to Lauterbrunnen, from there we took trolley to Murren.

Murren is a village town worth exploring, which we did. The scenery in this region is stunning and there are no public roads to this place. Its here that we did our lunch after coming back from schilthorn at Hotel Alpenruh, which is overlooking the valley with lovely views and is just next to the cable car station. From Murren we took a cable car to Birg and from here another trolley to Schilthorn. And here we are, welcomed by a whiff of stupefying chilly air with 1-degree temp.

There is a 360degree rotating restaurant with 007 theme named Piz Gloria and is highly recommended to have a meal there and would be great if you can get a window seat. Its also called 007 peek. Step out on the terrace and there is brilliant view of swiss alps combined with Jungfrau. After enjoying the breath-taking view, we took trolley back to Birg. Here we headed directly towards the thrill walk, a must do experience, wherein we walked along the cliff with a transparent path. Post this we headed back to Murren, had lunch there and decided to go to Gimmelwald.

Gimmelwald

is a small traffic free village with a population of hardly 100. This lies in between Murren & Stechelberg in the Bernese Oberland. It has some really pretty self-service shops and beautiful pathways and chalets. As you get off the cable car, there is a small amusement park surrounded with breath-taking scenic views. This village should definitely be a part of any itinerary and should surely visit one of these self service shops. After an enjoyable evening stroll we headed back to the Bnb and retired for the day.

Day 3:

We woke up to a rainy day and the forecast predicated rains through the day in Interlaken and nearby village towns. But on checking, Bern was showing as clear weather. Hence, we decided to make a trip to Bern which was 47 min from the west by train. So, not having fixed plans help as you can head to a new destination depending on the weather and other forecast.

Bern, it might surprize you, is the capital of Switzerland. The Old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its 6 kms of arcades boasts of the longest weather-sheltered shopping promenades in Europe. There is a huge museum of Albert Einstein which has some unique offerings, then there is an extraordinary astronomical clock, Zytglogge, which offers a little show at stroke of every hour. Also there is a really nice Bear Garden, BarenPark. This capital has enough to keep you occupied for almost a day. Post having our lunch, we headed back to Interlaken. But since we had time at hand, enroute we diverted to St. Beatus Caves, which is small detour to Interlaken. On our way we made a quick coffee break stop at another small town Thun, and sipped coffee by the beautiful Lake Thun. From there we took a bus ride for 32 min to Beatushohlen. The bus ride was really nice with the views of Lake Thun and Alps on the background.

St. Beatus Caves is another hidden gem of Interlaken (Unterseen) which is worth a visit. It’s a cave hiking overlooking the lake and alps to accompany. There are few legends related to this cave, but this is completely safe to visit. The hike through waterfalls is really an experience. From here it was 15 min bus ride to our Bnb and we retired for the day.

Day 4:

Our last full day at Interlaken was Sunny and pleasant. Hence, this day we headed to explore few other hidden gems and village towns, Lauterbrunnen, Wilderswil, Grindelwald and Harder Kulm. 1st we headed to Lauterbrunnen which was a 30min train ride from Ost. And here we are at one of the most scenic and picturesque town of Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen’s 72 thundering waterfalls, secluded valleys and colourful alpine meadows make it a picture perfect destination. 2 of the famous waterfalls are, 300m high Staubbach falls and Glacial water lead Trummelbach falls. And it’s a must to visit both these. It has a lovely trail to hike towards Staubbach which is 10-15min from station. On the way are beautiful meadows and lovely cafes. From there it is another 30min walk to Trummelbach, but you can also take the bus, which is 5-8 min ride. After soaking up the beauty of this village town and having a cup of coffee, we headed toward Wilderswil which is enroute Grindelwald. Its also a small village town.

From here its 15min train ride with extremely breath taking views to Grindelwald. And as you near the mountain you are faced with this huge and towering mountain with snow covered peeks of Eiger Mountain. It’s a small mountain village, where in it is thrillingly pleasant to walk around or even do hiking. Also you can visit “First”, its another centre point of lot of adventure activities, 25min from Grindelwald. You will not regret a trip to First as you will experience literally few “First” experiences.

There multitude of activities which can be enjoyed at First. Activities included are :

• First Glider: is 800m long flight in form of zipline suspended by eagle like glider.

• First Flyer: is an 800m zip line where one travels almost at the rate of 84km/hr

• First Mountain Carts: are a mix of a go-cart and a sled, created specifically for snow-less paths.

• First Cliff Walk By Tissot: this is a metal walkway around the cliff. This is full of thrill and a section ends at a point where you can have a panoramic view of surrounding mountains and the valley below.

• Trottibike Scooter

We had lunch at Bebbis in Grindelwald and then headed back to Interlaken. Since we were not rushing through the places, we didn’t leave enough time to visit Harder Kulm, though its open till 9PM, but we skipped this.

Since this was our last day, we headed to the local souvenir shop which is owned by an Indian and offers the best deals (probably in Switzerland, where we travelled). Post this a visit to Funky Chocolate Club is must for there lip smacking Strawberry Chocolate Fondue. You can also purchase some of the amazing handmade chocolates. After relaxing a bit with a cup of coffee, we came back to our Bnb freshened up and went out for dinner at 1 of the most famous local restaurant Baren. Then retired for the day.

Countries, Holidays

Switzerland – Best Itinerary for 8 Days

By SuNup on

February 11, 2020

- Countries, Holidays

If you haven’t yet seen “the heaven on earth” then the destination choice is simple. There can no better choice than Switzerland where the nature has so liberally showered its beauty on its lakes, country sides and the unforgettable gasping experience on its hills where its virginity is still protected.
The primary reason which prompted me to finalize Switzerland was to go into the confines of nature where I could engulf it, breathe it and sip its nectar and rewire the brains and body of a robotic life.

Switzerland Itinerary for 8 days, a relaxed yet extensive travel through the Gems of Switzerland

So for starters make sure that you are not travelling with your luggage to lot of places, ensure that during 8-9 day of vacation make 2-3 bases and do day trips. Coz packing and repacking is a lot of hassle and more than that is travelling with luggage. And ensure these base cities are centrally located and have good connectivity to make day trips.
Mind you, there is sooo much to see in Switzerland and any itinerary will not fit in everything. But I tried to do best of all the destinations, because it is important to soak in and enjoy fewer places rather than rushing through to cover all. Hence, below are the places that I finalized that I would endeavour to see:

1) Geneva (1 Night)

2) Interlaken (4 Nights), also read places to see around Interlaken.
• Village towns – Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, Engelberg, Stans (we didn’t plan to go), Wilderswil.
• Mountain excursions – Schilthorn, Harder Kulm, Stanserhorn
• Towns – Bern

3) Zurich & Lucerne (3 Nights)

This might seem a lot of places to be covered in 9 days, but Switzerland is a small country with one of the best transport systems. And as I mentioned earlier, I avoid rushing though the places, and when I take you in detail of these, you’ll realize this.

Can also refer : https://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/what-all-to-cover-during-8days-in-swiss

Countries

8 Best Things to do and see in Geneva in 1 day

By SuNup on

December 12, 2019

- Countries

1. Old Town

2. Lake Geneva

3. Jet D’eau

4. Palais Des Nations

5. The Broken Chair

6. Park des Bastions

7. St. Pierre Cathedral

8. Art and History Museum

Detailed itinerary for the things to do in 1 day in Geneva (Our Story)

In Europe, the best place to start exploring the city is from the central stations. Hence, we started exploring Geneva from there central station and headed to Jet D’eau, which is 10 min ride from there. Its one of the famous landmarks, but with the relentless rains, it wasn’t such a great experience for us. But its definitely worth a visit along with a stroll around Lake Geneva.

From there we headed Palais des Nations, which is the headquarters of League of Nations and home of UN office, while you can book pre book your tickets to go inside and discover behind the scene perspective of UN activities. Just outside of this is another landmark of Geneva, the Broken Chair which also attracts number of tourists. This is a 12meter tall sculpture echoes the message to remember the victims of land mines and urge your government to promote a ban on the same.

After spending our evening seeing these places we headed back to the central station, relaxed there for a while with a cup of coffee and then headed back to our Bnb. Cooked our ready to eat dinner and retired for the day. Due to relentless rains and constraint of time, we could not see other major places of interest but as there were many things around to see, we decided to start our next day quite early to cover as much as possible of them and then to proceed on to 2nd leg of our trip to Interlaken.

Next morning, after having the breakfast we headed to the Old town which was 15 min walk from our Bnb and along the route we had Park des Bastions (a must visit beautiful park which is famous for Reformation Wall, big chess board at the entrance and lot of green lawns with big trees), Place de Neuve, Art and History Museum and St. Pierre Cathedral. Old town was typical of any European city, with clobber stone roads, lot of hustle & bustle and good amount of history to be witnessed. After soaking in the old town, we headed back to our Bnb using the bus, checked out and headed towards the central station to catch our train to the main destination of Switzerland, Interlaken.

Countries

Best Time to Travel to Switzerland

By SuNup on

December 12, 2019

- Countries

Switzerland is literally a heaven, so anytime you go is the best time. But still basis what you want to do and the purpose, a little run though of the best time to visit Switzerland :

April to mid May and Aug – September are the period which should be preferred to visit Switzerland, since it is not very touristy and crowded (which is a real boon), weather is moderate and most of the excursions are open.

June-July are the busiest months. People with family and also few others due to their leave schedules prefer to travel during this time.

Oct – Nov & Jan – Mar is for Adventure junkies, skiers, etc. as this period is most suitable for them with snow covered swiss land.

So depending on your purpose and availability, you can pick your best time to visit Switzerland.

Countries

How to Make Best use of Swiss Rail Pass | Tickets, Cost & Benefits

By SuNup on

December 9, 2019

- Countries

Swiss Rail Pass

A detailed look through on the most important decision of Switzerland – Swiss Rail/Travel Pass – To Buy or not to buy

Switzerland’s transport system is the most efficient one, but at the same time very costly and reason for the same is that you get the state of the art travel across most difficult of terrains (read hills) with utmost comfort and punctuality (you can actually match your watch with train timings). Hence, it is an important decision on whether to buy the Swiss Travel Pass, rent a car or buy individual tickets. While this is dependent on how extensively you are travelling, which places, etc. Individual tickets would be really really expensive, and to give you an heads up, if I would have gone for this option, I would have spent approx. 60k, which is much more than the amount I spent on buying Swiss Travel Pass. Renting a car is a good option as its slightly less expensive than Swiss Pass, it gives you flexibility, but with this comes right hand drive, parking related hassles, local rules and still need to buy tickets for village towns and mountain excursions as most of them are not accessible by car. But if someone has an experience of driving in Europe, this would be a very good option. Renting a car for 8 days would cost approx. 25-30k.

The option that we chose was Swiss Travel Pass and 1 reason was, the excursions and villages we were planning to travel were all included with the Pass. For once, it pinched to spend 56k (28k/person) for transport. But by the end of the trip we were glad that we bought the Swiss Travel Pass. There are various denomination in which Swiss Travel Pass can be purchased. The same can be done online or at any SBB office. For online you’ll receive your Pass via e-mail, shipped to your home or hotel, or collected at the airport. The children upto 5 years can travel for free. There are group discounts as well for bulk bookings and as well there is an option of Swiss Family Card.

Types of Swiss Rail Pass

There are 4 types of Swiss Rail Pass, which are as follows:

Swiss Travel Pass
Swiss Travel Pass Youth
Swiss Travel Pass Flex
Swiss Travel Pass Flex Youth

Price and denominations of the same is as follows:

Swiss Travel Pass : Normal Pass for various denominations of consecutive days

Denomination	Price in CHF in 2nd class	Price in CHF in 1st class
Swiss Travel Pass 3 days	232.00	369.00
Swiss Travel Pass 4 days	281.00	447.00
Swiss Travel Pass 8 days	418.00	663.00
Swiss Travel Pass 15 days	513.00	810.00

Swiss Travel Pass Youth : This can be purchased by travellers aged under 26. It entitles the holder to the same advantages as the Swiss Travel Pass or Swiss Travel Pass Flex, but costs 15% less.

Product	Price in CHF in 2nd class	Price in CHF in 1st class
Swiss Travel Pass Youth 3 days	198.00	315.00
Swiss Travel Pass Youth 4 days	240.00	381.00
Swiss Travel Pass Youth 8 days	357.00	566.00
Swiss Travel Pass Youth 15 days	439.00	692.00

Swiss Travel Pass Flex : The Swiss Travel Pass Flex is the perfect ticket for quick deciders. It Combines scope and services of the Swiss Travel Pass with the advantage of increased flexibility.

Valid: on 3, 4, 8, or 15 freely selectable days within one month

Product	Price in CHF in 2nd class	Price in CHF in 1st class
Swiss Travel Pass Flex 3 days in 1 month	267.00	424.00
Swiss Travel Pass Flex 4 days in 1 month	323.00	514.00
Swiss Travel Pass Flex 8 days in 1 month	467.00	742.00
Swiss Travel Pass Flex 15 days in 1 month	563.00	890.00

Swiss Travel Pass FlexYouth

Seat Reservations with Swiss Rail Pass

For the most part, you can hop on nearly all Swiss trains with just your rail pass in hand. Designated scenic routes (those with names, such as the Glacier Express), and some international trains (such as to/from France and Italy or night trains through Germany) do require paid seat reservations.

Benefits of Swiss Rail Pass

A lot of comfort, flexibility and efficient travelling.
Travelling in all the public transport (trains, busses, cogwheel, funicular, cable cars, boat ride) across the country is included. And where its not 100% included, you get substantial discounts there.
It even covers lot of good excursions, such as Schilthorn, Rigi Kulm, Stanserhor. For all other excursions except Jungfrau you get 50% discount and on Jungfrau you get 25% discount.
Entry to over 500 museums, including Einstein Museum in Bern.
Golden Pass Line is entirely covered.
Along with the pass you should download “SBB App” to keep track of the train timings and also google maps to know the bus/tram number & timings.

Refer links : https://www.sbb.ch/en/timetable.html ; www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass ; https://www.rentalcars.com/