Switzerland Road Trip: The Best 5 Days in Switzerland Itinerary
This Switzerland road trip itinerary takes you to turquoise lakes, through mountain passages, and around charming towns with hilltop castles.
With all the twisting mountain roads, glistening emerald lakes and cozy valley villages, a Switzerland road trip is one of the best ways to experience the breathtaking country, and this 5 day Switzerland itinerary will help you plot your path. The fast-paced route begins and ends in Zurich, never pausing in any place for more than one night. But in turn, you’ll get a well-balanced blend of big city sightseeing, quiet villages, stunning castles and scenic hikes.
I traveled around Switzerland by car in early June, when the weather was warming and mountain roads had opened. Late spring is a great time to visit to avoid any summer crowds while still being able to enjoy the outdoors!
If you want to prioritize museums and historic sites over nature and outdoor adventures (or vice versa), adjustment suggestions are made throughout. Since most days include a little of both, you can devote more time to whichever suits your travel style best. And with an average of fewer than 100 miles on the road per day, you won’t waste too much time behind the wheel.
t’s easy to extend this 5 days in Switzerland to a week or more by staying an extra night in a couple of towns that really catch your interest. Read on for how to plan a 5 day Switzerland itinerary.
5 Day Switzerland Road Trip Itinerary
This Switzerland road trip map shows the route I took over 5 days in Switzerland. You could also do much of this by train if you prefer not to drive.
Day 1 — Zurich to Bern
Day 1 is devoted to historic towns, with time split between Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and Bern, the capital. You could easily spend a couple of days in each locale if you extend your trip, but just hitting the highlights will allow more time for scenery outside the cities.
(Photo credit: © Zürich Tourism/Christian Schnur)
Zurich Sightseeing
In Zurich, start with a walk through the medieval Altstadt (Old Town), where cobblestoned streets fill with tourists by day and a lively nightclub crowd after dark. Highlights include the Swiss National Museum and Grossmunster church, where you can climb upstairs for panoramic city views. Parks and gardens surround Lake Zurich here and boat tours offer a quick overview of the sites.
Bern Sightseeing
After an 80 mile drive, you'll arrive in Bern, the Swiss capital located on the Aare River. A medieval astronomical clock tower, ancient fountains and historic statues fill the city’s Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
If you have time for a couple of indoor attractions, you’ll find thousands of paintings and sculptures at the Kunstmuseum, while the Historical Museum of Bern houses objects dating to the Stone Age and a huge exhibition dedicated to Albert Einstein, who once lived here. For some time outdoors, head over to Rosengarten, a public park full of hundreds of rose, iris, rhododendron and azalea species.
Where to Stay in Bern
Day 2 — Bern to Montreux
There are lots of trails and scenic views along the route today. If you’re not all that into nature, you can devote less time to the outdoors and more to the destinations on either end instead. While the suggested path takes about 3 hours, a direct drive from Bern to Montreux is only an hour.
Areuse Gorge Hike
The first stop of the day is in the little village of Noiraigue, about an hour to the west of Bern. From here, you can hike to the Areuse Gorge, where a stream cuts through giant rock walls speckled with greenery. A darling stone bridge makes for the perfect photo spot and turn-around point for about a two-hour excursion, though the path continues on for longer.
Creux du Van View
From Noiraigue, it’s a winding 12-mile drive uphill for an elevated view of the Creux du Van basin. The bottom of the natural arena is lush with forests, and from the rim trail along the top, you can take in the whole green scene. You’ll want to park in the big lot at Restaurant le Soliat and walk through the pastures and little stone wall to reach the sheer cliffs of the attraction.
Montreux Sightseeing
If you’re keeping a quick pace, you might have time to swing by the city of Lausanne on the way to your final destination today — Montreux. The resort town on Lac Leman is famous for the Chillon Castle, which you can tour inside if you arrive by mid-afternoon (check the hours here). If not, the picturesque exterior surrounded by mountains and the glistening blue lake is still worth a photo stop. Be sure to catch the sunset from the lakeside promenade in downtown Montreux, where you’ll also find some dinner options.
These are the Most Beautiful Places in Switzerland You Must Visit
Where to Stay in Montreux
Day 3 — Montreux to Zermatt and Kandersteg
Mountains are the theme today as we head into the Alps. You will have seen them in the background plenty already, but it’s time to get up close and personal with Switzerland’s most famous peak. This day involves the longest commute, but the drives are scenic and the destinations worth it!
Sion Castles
Less than an hour from Montreux, the first stop of the day is in Sion, where a pair of hilltop castles makes for a picture-perfect scene from afar. In the old part of town, you can climb steps to each fortification to get up close. The Tourbillon Castle is in ruins, but a 15th-century chapel within the walls preserves old frescoes. On the opposite mound, Valere Castle displays Romanesque and Gothic touches in its design.
Zermatt and the Matterhorn
Next, it’s time for a look at the famous Matterhorn. From Sion, it’s about an hour's drive to the village of Tasch, where vehicles must be left in a parking garage to hop on the train into Zermatt. You can see the pointy peak from the streets of the resort town on a clear day, but if you want to get up close, you’ll need to take another rail journey on the Gornergrat Bahn to reach a viewing platform more than 10,000-feet high. If you have extra time, join in on the outdoorsy fun in Zermatt with some hiking, mountain biking or skiing — the slopes are open year-round here.
Kandersteg
The final destination today is less than 45 miles away but requires car transport via an open-sided train through the Lotschberg Tunnel. In the end, you’ll land in Kandersteg, a sweet little village full of timber hotels and the base for tomorrow’s first adventure.
Where to Stay in Kandersteg
Day 4 — Kandersteg to Lauterbrunnen
Today is filled with two of Switzerland’s best features — lakes and castles. If you aren’t into hiking, you can skip the morning excursion and devote more time to the attractions around Lake Thun instead. The drive today is short with lots of stops.
Oeschinensee
Catch the first cable car ride up to Oeschinensee to maximize your time today. The lift takes off from the town of Kandersteg and climbs up to a mountain station with hikes, boat rides and a toboggan coaster run in summer and skiing and ice walks in winter. The walk to the Oeschinen Lake from the top takes about 30 minutes, but if you want to extend your time outdoors, you can follow a 3-hour loop trail that overlooks the emerald water. A restaurant by the lake is perfect for lunch, or you can picnic on the pebbly beach.
Lake Thun Castles
In the afternoon, it’s time to head to Thunersee, one of the twin blue lakes that sit on opposite sides of the town of Interlaken. There are three castles you can tour circling the lake counter-clockwise from Kandersteg — Spiez, Thun and Oberhofen. Spiez Castle has lakefront vineyards, a 1,000-year-old church, and museum exhibits inside. Thun Castle sits high above a town with the same name, where a picturesque historic district melds with bustling shopping streets on the Aare River. The medieval Oberhofen Castle juts into Lake Thun and is surrounded by colorful gardens along the water.
Interlaken Sightseeing
Other places to visit in Interlaken include Giessbach Falls on the southeast side of Brienzersee and St. Beatus Caves on the northeast shore of Thunersee, where waterfalls flow over rocks on their way into Lake Thun. If you have extra time, you can pay to tour the underground caverns, too.
If you make it to Interlaken in time for sunset, catch a ride on the red funicular up to Harder Kulm. The viewpoint overlooks lakes Thun and Brienz with snow-capped mountain peaks in the distance. If you run out of time or would rather take in the view in by day, save this for the next morning. At the end of the day, drive to Lauterbrunnen to spend the night.
Where to Stay in Lauterbrunnen
Day 5 — Lauterbrunnen to Zurich
The final route heads back toward our starting point, but not before a visit to a waterfall haven buried in a valley. Since you’ll be passing through Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich, you can finish the trip by hitting any highlights you’ve missed along the way. The drive only takes a couple hours, so there’s plenty of time for sightseeing.
Lauterbrunnen Waterfalls
Start your day in Lauterbrunnen, where dozens of waterfalls gush down the rocky cliffs that surround the picturesque village. You can soak up the views here in whatever style you prefer — with a quiet breakfast overlooking the imposing Staubbach Falls just off the main road, or with a heart-pumping paragliding excursion above the scene. Head over to the Trummelbach in the valley to see 10 glacier-fed waterfalls hidden inside a mountain. A lift, stairs, walkways, bridges and tunnels help you access the cave-like site.
Lake Brienz Views
If you didn’t have time for Harder Kulm yesterday, you’ll pass right by Interlaken again today on the 80-mile trek back to Zurich. If you want a slower but more scenic drive, you can take Route 9 along the shoreline of Lake Brienz before hopping on the A8 to continue your journey.
Lucerne Sightseeing
Since you’ll be passing right by Lucerne, use any leftover time to explore the lakefront city. The long wooden Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge) from the 1300s is a popular photo stop, as is the Lion of Lucerne monument carved into a rock. As in most Swiss cities, the Old Town district here brims with historic buildings. Promenades, parks and boat rides along Lake Lucerne can easily fill the rest of one day in Lucerne.
Where to Stay in Zurich
Switzerland Road Trip Planning Guide
After spending 5 days in Switzerland road tripping around to mountains and lakes, I’ve put together this guide with tips to help you plan.
How to plan a road trip in Switzerland?
I like to start my road trip planning by finding all of the places I’d like to visit and pinning them to a map. The Google Map at the top of this post can help you get started.
After you decide where to go, use the directions function on Google Maps to plot out your drive. I like to use the street view function to preview the route, especially when driving somewhere new.
How long does it take to drive around Switzerland?
Switzerland is a pretty small country, so it doesn’t take very long to drive from one town to the next. The drive between Zurich on the east side of the country to Geneva on the western border is only about 3 hours.
You will, however, want to make lots of stops on your drive and take various routes through the mountains to maximize the scenery. We were able to fit a lot into five days in Switzerland, but I would recommend spending at least a full week in the country on your first visit.
Is it easy to travel by car in Switzerland?
If you’re used to driving on the right side of the road, you will find driving in Switzerland pretty similar to your home country. However, not knowing the language in a foreign destination can make it tricky to figure out road signs and directions.
First, start by getting your International Driving Permit from AAA and reading this guide to driving in Switzerland.
Switzerland has four national languages, and road signs will change languages depending on where you go. I recommend familiarizing yourself with the different road signs and speed limits in Switzerland before you go so that you’ll know what you’re looking at.
You’ll also want to make sure you have WIFI or data to use driving directions on your phone as you go. Download Google Maps in advance so that you will still have access to directions in any place without service.
Finally, be aware that Switzerland has automatic speed checkers and will send you a ticket for going just a couple of km per hour over the limit, even if never got pulled over.
