Planning a first visit to Switzerland as a graduation gift to our son. Family of 4 (myself, wife and 2 teenage boys). Flying in from London and will have 3 days and 3 nights before moving on to Berlin--schedule is short and we only have 7 nights total for London, Switzerland and Berlin (thinking 2 nights in London, 3 in Switzerland and 2 in Berlin). Would sure appreciate any suggested itineraries--looking for the most spectacular scenery and activities that are near Zurich. Family is adventurous and are up for anything. Should we stay in Zurich each night and take day trips? Move from city to city? Stay somewhere other than Zurich? Starting from scratch to be honest and looking for easy plan but great experience for the boys.
Posted by
Florida
1450 posts
Stay in nearby Luzern, not Zurich. It's about an hour away by rail. Luzern has easy access to three mountain peak excusions: Rigi, Pilatus, and Titlis. Lake cruises, a few neat museums, and general cuteness. When it's time to fly to Berlin, Zurich's airport is only a 70-minute train away from Luzern. Which leads me to a question...
Why are you spreading yourself between 3 distant locations with only one week to work with? You'll burn an entire sightseeing day getting from London to Luzern, leaving you only 2 days to explore Luzern. Then you'll burn another sightseeing day getting from Zurich to Berlin, leaving only one day to explore Berlin. And your first day in London will likely be shot due to jetlag (assuming you're flying in from the USA).
You might want to consider picking only one city and staying there the whole week. London and Berlin are huge and a total blast. You won't run out of great things to do if you spent your whole week in one of those cities! The rest of Europe isn't going anywhere; you can always come back for more!
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8966 posts
Dont stay in Zurich -its fine, but its just another large European business center. Luzern is much better option, but consider staying somewhere further into the mountains, which is probably what you came to see. Look into the Berner Oberland, which is not that much harder to get to. Zillions of threads on the subject here if you do a Search.