Here we want to talk a little about departure and arrival times and the amount of time you will need to spend at each location based on your planned activities.  As a self-traveler planning your own trip, your itinerary does not need to be set in stone and planned correctly you should have the flexibility to make subtle changes even after you have made your bookings.

We want to start by saying that depending on your destinations and travel times, it’s not always possible to follow the 'depart early and arrive mid-day philosophy' for every leg of your journey.  In general, we try to adhere to this philosophy allowing us to make slight adjustments to our schedule as necessary to accommodate our activities.

Estimating time to spend at each location

If you will be visiting multiple locations on your trip, you will need to give some serious thought to the amount of time you need to spend at each location. As you create a list of everything you want to see and do, you will need to come up with an estimate on the amount of time required to accomplish everything.  Based on the time required for your activities and your estimated time of arrival and departure, you should be able to set the number of nights you will need to stay.

For example, if you arrive early in the morning, you may be able to accomplish everything in a day, stay the night and depart early the next morning.  If you arrive in the late afternoon, you may be able to perform some of your activities the same day while completing others the next day. Staying the single night may still be an option if you do not mind a late afternoon or evening departure to your next destination. If you are wanting an early morning departure, you would need to stay an additional night.

Benefits of an early arrival

Arriving at your next destination has some obvious benefits.

You will be able to find your accommodations during the day and avoid navigating an unfamiliar area in the dark.

If for some reason there are issues with your reservation, you would have the day light hours to work something out which may require finding another place to stay. Depending on where you have chosen to stay, you may be required to contact the owners for entry if it’s not a major hotel chain.  It's far better to wait for owners during the daytime rather than standing around in the dark should you be unable to immediately contact them.

Arriving early may provide the opportunity to adjust your schedule should you decide to do something unplanned such as stay longer or make an additional stop.

Adjusting your trip on the fly

Even with the best research and planning, you may discover something interesting you would like to do after you have solidified your schedule and booked your accommodations.  Traveling on your own, not tied to a tour group's schedule, it's often possible to make adjustments.

We had planned a trip to Switzerland, stopping in Interlaken, Grindelwald, Zermatt and a few other places.   We had booked our accommodations which included two nights in Gridelwald.  Later, we discovered the town of Lauterbrunnen and decided we really wanted to see it if possible.  Looking at our itinerary, we found two possible adjustments based on the two-night stay in Grindelwald.  We were arriving in Grindelwald early in the morning from Interlaken, so that gave us a full day to explore the small town and also do our planned activities riding the gondola up to Grindelwald First.  We had planned to take the train up to Klein Schedegge and then to Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe) on the second day, returning to Grindelwald in the evening.

Based on our orignal plan, we found that instead of departing Grindelwald on our last day, heading directly back to Interlaken and then on to Zermatt, we could leave Grindelwald a little earlier in the morning, taking a 40 min. train to Lauterbrunnen.  We could have breakfast there, walk around a little, then take another 30 min. train on to Interlaken then to Zermatt.  We would get to see the town of Grindelwald and only arrive in Zermatt a couple hours later.  This was a possibility to consider, but it would be very rushed, not a great plan.

Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen showing Interlaken

We kept on researching, looking at how much time we really needed in Grindelwald and what we could possibly adjust.  We came up with the plan described below, which we actually did, and it was perfect.

We kept our original plan of activities the first day in Grindelwald.  We explored the town and rode the Grindelwald First gondola.  The second day, we left Grindelwald early for Lauterbrunnen.  From there, we had the entire day to do the following through the Jungfrau Region.

Grindelwald -> Lauterbrunnen -> Grutschalp & Murren -> Schilthorn & Birg -> Gimmelwald -> Stechelberg & Trummelbach -> Wengen & Klein Scheidegg -> Grindelwald

Jungfrau Region of Switzerland

This may seem like a lot in a day, and it is, but the network of trains and cable cars are designed specifically for it.  It's actually a very common tourist loop to do in a day.  It worked out perfectly, allowing for ample time at each location.

We did not do the Jungfraujoch but have plans to return to the area in the future.  In fact, it can even be done as a day-trip from Interlaken.

The next morning, we departed on our train back to Interlaken and then to Zermatt.

Making these types of adjustments is another plus of not being tied to a tour group, where it would never have been possible.

Another future trip to the Zermatt area

We also found the Worlds Longest Pedestrian Suspension Bridge located by the town of Randa close to Zermatt.  If we had discovered this earlier, we may have adjusted our trip to include a half day for the required round-trip hike to cross the bridge.  There was no way to adjust our schedule to work this in, without eliminating some activities at other locations.  So, we have put this on our list for a future trip.

World's Longest Pedestrian Suspension Bridge

Randa Switzerland