Before we went to Switzerland, I expected Jungfraujoch to be one of the highlights. It was the name I knew, the excursion people talked about and the kind of dramatic Alpine experience I thought would justify the journey.
Jungfraujoch was beautiful. It was also expensive, crowded and, for me, a little underwhelming.
Stanserhorn was something else entirely. It involved a train, a boat, another train, an old funicular and an open-air cable car. By the time we reached the summit, the journey itself had become as memorable as the view.
And none of it would have happened without a five-thousand-point decision when booking our flight home.
Switzerland wasn't originally on the itinerary
In August 2025, we were planning how to return to Vancouver from Manchester. I found a SWISS and Lufthansa routing through Zurich using Aeroplan points. A connection would have got us home. But for another 5,000 Aeroplan points, we could turn that connection into a four-night stopover.
Switzerland had been high on my travel list for years. There was very little debate about whether to take the opportunity.
We landed in Zurich late at night and stayed near the airport for our first night rather than spend Park Hyatt Zurich money - or points - merely to arrive and sleep. The next morning we moved into Park Hyatt Zurich, which became our base for the remaining three nights.
It was an excellent base in a country where both accommodation and everyday sightseeing can be expensive. The trade-off was that we repeatedly returned to Zurich after exploring elsewhere. If I planned a longer Swiss journey again, I'd try harder to arrive in one city and leave from another.
Why Stanserhorn was different
There are faster ways to get from Lucerne to Stans. We chose to make the journey part of the experience.
We took a train from Zurich to Lucerne, then a boat across Lake Lucerne towards Stansstad. From there, local rail brought us to Stans, where the ascent to Stanserhorn began. First came the historic funicular. Then, at the intermediate station, we changed to the CabriO cable car, with its open-air upper deck.
That sequence still amazes me. In the space of a single excursion, we moved from a city railway to a lake boat to a little mountain town, then into the Alpine landscape itself. None of it felt like wasted time between attractions. Every leg added something.
The open-air cable car was the final piece. Being outside rather than looking through glass gave the ascent an entirely different character. The green valleys, lakes and mountains were suddenly all around us.
I had arrived with high expectations of Switzerland. Standing at Stanserhorn, I finally understood the image of the country that people had been describing to me for years.
Dream Lux Travels
Dream Lux TravelsJungfraujoch was spectacular, but not my favourite
I don't want to pretend Jungfraujoch isn't worth seeing. The mountain scenery is extraordinary, and I understand why it appears on so many Switzerland itineraries.
Our experience, though, was dominated more than I expected by the crowds and the additional cost. There were moments of genuine beauty, but I never felt the same relaxed sense of discovery that I did on Stanserhorn.
Some of that comes down to personal preference. I enjoy impressive landmarks, but I am just as interested in how a place makes me feel while getting there. Jungfraujoch was the famous destination. Stanserhorn was the experience I wanted to keep having.
It helped that our Swiss Travel Pass covered so much of our everyday transport, including the Stanserhorn mountain excursion on our visit. Jungfraujoch required additional spending. That made the contrast sharper, but price alone didn't decide my verdict. I'd still have preferred Stanserhorn if the excursions had cost the same.
Dream Lux TravelsA country designed to be explored without a car
We took trains and other public transport almost everywhere, reserving taxis for some airport and luggage logistics. Switzerland's network made ambitious day trips feel unusually straightforward. Having travelled extensively in Japan, that is not praise I give lightly.
Our four nights also took in Zurich, Rhine Falls, Grindelwald and Lucerne. We enjoyed all of them, though Lucerne was a particular favourite. Zurich surprised me in a smaller but still welcome way: we ate very well. I liked one aglio e olio enough to order it twice, and I still remember the ice cream.
Those experiences matter because a Switzerland trip can easily become a checklist of mountains. For us, the pleasure was also in the cities, the lake, the food and the convenience of being able to connect them.
Dream Lux TravelsHow we made the stopover work
The original flight connection became four nights in Switzerland through an additional 5,000 Aeroplan points. We used 40,000 Hilton Honors points for one night near Zurich Airport and 120,000 World of Hyatt points for the following three nights at Park Hyatt Zurich.
These figures describe our August 2025 bookings, not what the same flights or hotels would cost today. They mattered because saving on accommodation and flights gave us more freedom to explore a country that can be genuinely expensive on the ground.
We also bought a Swiss Travel Pass. For our travel-heavy itinerary it simplified the moving parts considerably, though I would still compare pass types and separate mountain charges for a different trip. A pass is worthwhile only if it fits the journey you actually plan to take.
What I'd change next time
I would happily go back to Switzerland. I just wouldn't repeat the same itinerary.
Four nights were right for the places we chose, but I would like to discover other parts of the country rather than make every future trip another round-trip from Zurich. A one-way route across more of Switzerland would make better use of both the time and that excellent public-transport system.
I would also leave room for the mountains that don't dominate every travel brochure. Jungfraujoch gave us remarkable scenery. Stanserhorn gave us the feeling of being there: the boat, the funicular, the open-air ascent and the view waiting at the top.
That's the Switzerland I would go back for.