Best time of year for a train based holiday in Switzerland.

[LaBelleSauvage123]

DH and I plan to fly to and from Geneva and then travel into the Bernese Oberland, staying in Grindelwald or Interlaken, then on to Lucerne, with some sort of circular route back to Geneva. Want to go outside high season but which month is best?

I went in September and it was wonderful.

Sounds fab, but don't forget that ski season is sometimes high season in CH. Prices of hotels can be eye-watering late Dec to late March, which is not typical of nearly everywhere else...very beautiful though.

We did Interlaken in early July. It’s one of my favourite places.

Enjoy.

The blue of the river 😱❤️

I’d love to see Alpine flowers - would that be May/June?

We had a 2 week train holiday in Switzerland early July last year too. Interlaken was fairly busy but it’s not ‘high season’ in the mountains. We had pretty good weather but unfortunately there had been severe flooding just before we went which had washed away part of the Glacier Express route which we were meant to have used. That’s not relevant to your planned route OP but worth keeping your eye on the weather even in summer.

There were loads early July

May (not a lot of use to you now really!) is gorgeous in Switzerland. Not too hot, because as with everywhere, the temperature has shot up there in the peak summer months. So May is ideal. Warm but not overly hot to prevent active pursuits.

We’re looking at 2026 so not too late!

Agree with the others, June or September. July and August are usually hot, although it's slightly better higher up. Last September was a washout though, and a few years ago it was 35 in early June - so no guarantees! Switzerland is very well connected by train (and bus if you need it).

Depending on where you live, it's nice to get the train there too rather than flying. You can take luggage without worrying about weight, and get into train holiday spirit from the start! London-Paris-Geneva is under 7 hours (including 1h20m in Paris, plenty of time to change stations (only 2 metro stops apart) and have a glass of wine/stock up on treats for the train). Quite affordable too if you book in advance. I did this last year before the bernina express and it was lovely!

Train all the way sounds good - I’d prefer that to flying, but it’s less easy for us as we live near Bristol airport - still doable though.