🇨🇭 Switzerland Travel Diary – Day 1

 From Amsterdam to Lucerne via Zurich | Rhine Falls & Chapel Bridge

Welcome to the first post of my 4-day Switzerland travel series! I’m Prasenjit Ghosh — a trekker, traveler, and storyteller. This adventure began in the Netherlands and took us through the heart of Switzerland, filled with lakes, mountains, waterfalls, and charming old towns.

✈️ Morning: From Amstelveen to Zurich

Our journey kicked off bright and early at 7:00 AM from Amstelveen, Netherlands. We took a quick bus ride to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam’s main international hub.

We boarded a small regional flight with a 2x2 seating layout and reached Zurich Airport around 11:00 AM. Smooth skies, zero delays — a perfect start!

🚆 Midday: Train to Rhine Falls (Neuhausen am Rheinfall)

From Zurich, we hopped on a Swiss train to Neuhausen am Rheinfall, arriving at 12:43 PM. Rhine Falls — Europe’s largest waterfall — was a surreal experience. The thundering water, lush surroundings, and viewing platforms gave us a front-row seat to nature’s power.

We spent around 2 hours exploring:

  • Walking across the Rhine Falls viewing bridge

  • Taking stunning photos from different angles

  • Grabbing a quick snack while soaking in the view

We left for Lucerne around 3:05 PM.

🌉 Evening: Arrival in Lucerne & Chapel Bridge

We reached Lucerne by 5:00 PM and instantly fell in love with the lakeside charm of this medieval town. After checking into our hotel, we headed out again to explore.

Highlights of the evening:

  • A scenic walk by Lake Lucerne, with the sun slowly setting

  • Visiting the iconic Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) — Switzerland’s oldest wooden bridge, filled with history and character

  • Enjoying the calm lakeside breeze and relaxed atmosphere

We ended the day with a peaceful stroll and returned to our hotel to rest for the next day’s adventure.

📸 Photo Gallery

Chapel Bridge

Rhine Falls

Lake Lucerne

Rhine Falls

📌 Travel Tips from Day 1

  • Train schedules in Switzerland are super punctual — plan connections tightly.

  • Rhine Falls is great for a half-day stopover en route to Lucerne or Zurich.

  • Lucerne is perfect for a relaxing evening — walkable and scenic.

▶️ Watch the Day 1 Vlog on YouTube



Subscribe to my channel for the full 4-day series!

🗓️ Coming Up Next:

Day 2 – Lucerne to Interlaken | Scenic Train Ride, Lake Cruise & Harder Kulm Viewpoint
👉 Stay tuned by subscribing to the blog or following me on YouTube.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kishong Lake Trek

Image
Trip Detail We were 6 persons in the team. Following is the detail of how our trek. Watch the cover video: Day 0: 5-Nov-2017 (New Jalpaiguri to  Tingvong by Cab ) NJP >> Singthang >> Mangan >> Dzongu >> Tingvong Day 1: 5-Nov-2017 ( Tingvong to Tholung Trek ) Tingvong >>  Bay >> Chhana >>  Thulong Monastery Day 2: 6-Nov-2017 ( Tholung to Temrong  Trek ) Day 3: 7-Nov-2017 ( Temrong to Tholupey  Trek ) Day 4: 8-Nov-2017 (Stay at  Tholupey  Trek ) Visited Kishong Lake & Dikithang Day 5: 9-Nov-2017 ( Tholupey to  Temrong  Trek ) Day 5: 10-Nov-2017 ( Temrong  to  Tholung  Trek ) Day 5: 11-Nov-2017 ( Tholung to  Tingvong  Trek ) Cost Detail This was a package trek and for us (6 persons team) per head cost was INR 23000 . Transport Cab (Tata Sumo) suitable for 7/8 persons from  New Jalpaiguri (NJP)  Railway Station to Singtam  was  INR 1900 ...
Read more

Uttarey-Achaley-Kalijhar-Phalut-Gorkhey-Bharang Trek

Image
Trip Detail We were 5 in the team who were part of the trek. Following is the detail of how our trip was organized. Watch the cover video: Day 1 - 13-Mar-2016 We started our trek from Uttarey towards Achalley which is a constant uphill forest trail. It took us about 4/5 hours to reach Achalley , our first camp-site. Day 2 - 14-Mar-2016 Today’s trek would lead us to Kalijhar via Thulodhap . The first leg of the trek till Thulodhap is a gradual descent while the rest of the trail is a steep ascent till Kalijhar . Day 3 - 15-Mar-2016 The next day, we hiked to Phoktey Dara top early morning which is again a steep ascent of about 45-60 mins. Phoktey Dara certainly provides an enigmatic view of the entire range from Everest, Makalu & Lhotse , “the Sleeping Buddha” to the far-off mountain ranges in Bhutan. As it was too windy, we had to return to our camp early. Thanks to the clear sky the view from the tent was pretty magnificent. After having our breakfast, we s...
Read more

Rupin Pass Trek

Image
Trip Detail We were 4 trekkers in the team. Following is the detail of how our trip was organized. Watch the cover video: Day 0: 14-Oct-2016 (Fri) (Delhi to  Shimla by Cab ) Day 1: 15-Oct-2016 (Sat) ( Shimla  to Baota by Cab ) Shimla >>  Hatkothi >> Rohru >>  Chansal pass >> Baota Started from Shimla around 9AM by Tata Sumo. Most of the road was undergoing construction work and there were lot of dust throughout the journey. Worse thing happened when one of the tire got punctured near Hatkothi . While the repairing work was going on we had our lunch there. We reached Rohru around 4PM where we bought vegetables for our trek. We wanted to reach Chansal Pass before sunset but due to undergoing road construction works and tire puncture we reached there around 7:30PM. In the moonlight the experience was wonderful but we missed the sunset and the view of mountains. Finally we reached the Baota Village around  10:30PM. All o...
Read more