You Can't Plan the Perfect Trip

I’m planning my next trip to Switzerland — and I can’t bring myself to decide what to do.

I’ll depart in the first week of May, and I’ll be traveling by train from the Netherlands as always. It’s quite a journey from all the way up north here. It takes at least four hours just to reach the German border, and then it’s only getting started.

I love it. But it’s exhausting sometimes. My train leaves around 6 a.m. and I’ll arrive around 6 p.m. in Thun, central Switzerland. I can’t wait, even though it’s “only” been 6–7 months since I last came to my favorite country.

But I still don’t have my itinerary ready.

Which could be a problem — especially if you’re like me and want to know every single detail of your trip.

The good thing is I’ve booked my train reservation for the outward and inward journey and the hotel in Thun. So I won’t be hit with a big surprise by Deutsche Bahn (I hope).

You might wonder why I haven’t planned it yet if I’m leaving within 5 weeks.

Well.

I can’t decide what to do.

And that’s the problem.

Especially the hikes. They need to be planned. Last year, we had terrible weather during our week in Switzerland and were so lucky to get a bit of sunshine in the end. But also a lot of rain and fog.

We did the Grindelwald First hike to Grindelwald town, but it was so gray where it usually looks like the giant valley of mountains with green and blue.

I want to see that so badly — that’s why I’m considering going there again.

However, the other side of me would like to try new hikes, visit new places.

Like Stoos, a beautiful ridge hike in the canton of Schwyz and near Altdorf. It’s often described as one of the best hikes in Switzerland, with a beautiful blue lake between the mountains. Also, the fact that it uses the “world’s steepest funicular”.

Or heading a bit further down the country and trying new hikes in Uri or Ticino (the more Italian side of Switzerland) where you’ve got Airolo and Andermatt.

But choosing isn’t the only problem. I’ve only got 3 Interrail days to travel, and I’ve got one reserved for a city trip (of which I don’t know where to go either).

There are a couple of cities that I love: Zürich, my first love. The city where it all started back in 2019 when my girlfriend and I visited Switzerland for the first time and stayed in Zürich for nine days.

Or Lugano, the Italian gateway city in Southern Switzerland with beautiful Lake Lugano and Monte Bré.

Same dilemma, I’ve already been there many times.

New places I want to explore are cities like Luzern, and have coffee in the old town, walk over the chapel bridge and wander over the boulevard next to the lake Lucerne.

Or Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland. Far in the east where the Rhätische Bahn operates the trains and drive over the road next to the cars through the city.

I think it’s my kind of FOMO.

Where people fear missing out on parties or social events, I fear missing out on the best hike of my life.

I don’t want to “waste” the trip. Because if I choose to do the Grindelwald First hike, it means I can’t do five others.

What if I pick the wrong one? And the weather turns on me? I only have 3 travel days, the other days I’m spending in and around Thun. Every choice I make in my planning is so valuable.

I want to control every single bit, even the weather, to avoid having to shuffle everything around like last time.

The more I try to control everything, the more the trip starts to feel like something I can get wrong.

Maybe that’s the real problem.

Not that I don’t know what to choose. But that choosing means letting go of everything else.

And in a place like Switzerland, that feels almost impossible.

And perhaps that’s what I need to let go of.

Not the planning itself, but the idea that everything has to be perfect.

Because in a place like Switzerland, it probably never is.

And maybe that’s exactly why it’s worth going.