Dublin to Amsterdam, definitely fly. Check Ryan Air for cheap fares, www.whichbudget.com to see which other low fare airlines fly this route, and read the stickys on our “cheap flights” forum for more help.

The rest of this will work by train, although you may want to fly to Athens rather than do the train-ferry-train or bus thing.

Why Zurich?

According to skyscanner.com, Aer Lingus charges 96 bucks a flight (using July 5th, 2012), not including luggage fees.

Hi, Thank you for your reply. It will be very useful though I found the which budget site sort of hard to use. We may fly to athens as well. My hubby loves the idea of all the travelling but I want to see my destinations in person not just drive bys. We want to go to Switzerland and see the lovely country side. DO you have any suggestions instead of Zurich?

Assuming you picked Switerland for alpine scenery as opposed to cityscapes…. None of the big cities in Switzerland is in the Alps. Zurich and Berne are reasonable bases for day trips, but not, IMO, great visits themselves. Interlaken or just about any place smaller and actually in the alps would be a better visit.

If you want to stay in the scenic parts of Switzerland, the big cities are not it, although I think Lucerne is very scenic and has good access to some mountains, at least in the summer months.

Interlaken is an old resort town and close to some scenery, but I would rather stay right in the scenery, such as Lauterbrunnen in the valley near Interlaken, or in one of the resort towns above the Lauterbrunnen valley. The mountain hostel has great scenery and good hiking. http://www.mountainh…. Some prefer Brienz to Interlaken as it is a little farther from the base of the mountains, so you can see more. Don’t plan to drive to the mountain towns; many of them ban cars. But trains and cable cars are plentiful.

Thanks for the info, does the train go through these or what is the best way to get to a place like interlaken? where was your favorite place or most memorable spot on your journeys? and what is the point system on this website about?

I love the mountain hostel website. thanks for showing it to me. did you stay at this hostel? how did you access the hostel-are you able to use the train?
cheers

We visited it, but didn’t stay; my wife is not comfortable with the idea of hosteling. Perhaps if we were younger?

Swiss public transportation is excellent. The trains, buses, boats, and almost all cable lifts are integrated. So if you go to http://www.sbb.ch/en… and ask for a ticket from Lucerne to gimmelwald (the small town where the mountain hostel is) is will show you the trains, bus, and cable car you need to get there, with a single ticket (I don’t buy in advance, because sometimes our plans or the weather change). As I recall, the SBB site also tells you how far you have to walk between connecting points.

Many consider the Lauterbrunnen valley and environs the scenic highlight of Switzerland. We’ve spent a lot of time around Switzerland, and I think other places match it, but I can’t think of one that beats it.