Advice for 3-4 days in Switzerland

I’d fly into Zurich and head straight to Lucerne. It’s an easy train ride from the airport.

This video will give you an idea of some things to see and do while in Lucerne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2St3R344S04

Unless your flight back to the US is super early, it’s easy to take the train from Lucerne right to the airport for you departing flight.

As far as does the schedule seem too rushed, yes, but you have the time that you have. If it was me, I would pick Paris or Switzerland, not both.

All here will say that's not enough days to see Switzerland, but I think it will show you that it's worth a longer visit in the future.

Geneva and Zurich are big cities, and not in the mountains that Switzerland is famous for. Geneva is, to me, a very nice city, on a beautiful lake, you can see mountains in the distance. Geneva is much closer than Zurich, and honestly, the last part of the train ride from Geneva to Zurich isn't all that beautiful.

So I'd take a train to Geneva, ideally to Cournavin station in the center of town, not to the Airport. if you left Paris Gare de Lyon at 10:34, you could be at Geneva at 14:35. From there I'd suggest putting your luggage in lockers, and walking down to the lake, it's a beautiful lake. You can see the famous Jet d'Eau (big fountain). Then back to either the train station and a short train ride to Montreaux. Or possibly a boat to Montreaux, that would be awesome if you could fit it in.

Montreaux is a beautiful town on the north shore of Lake Geneva. Lots of hotels, beautiful flowers on the lakeside promenade. Big statue of Freddie Mercury. You could stay there for one or two nights, visit Castle Chillon, then go on into the mountains, perhaps the Interlaken area. Then take a train to Zurich via Lucerne (beautiful scenery here), and continue on to Zurich and fly home. Very likely you'll find more flight choices out of Zurich and Geneva.

So many possibilities. I think to go from Paris to Interlaken or Lucerne might be too many hours in one day, Others will comment on that. And others will comment on Montreaux being too far away for the first night or not. I really think flying back from Zurich would show you a lot more Switzerland than flying back from Geneva. You could look up the Panorama Express train, if you could fit that in, it would be a very memorable, beautiful trip.

The Swiss train system is the best. Glad you are using the trains. There are Swiss Rail passes and half-fare cards that might fit your schedule. Others here will have suggestions about that.

You will really love seeing Switzerland, and want to come back!

Thanks so much for the information. Very thorough. To be clear, we are only going to try to visit either Zurich OR Geneva, not both.

It sounds like maybe Zurich and Lucerne would be a reasonable option?

It is a horse a piece flying or taking the train timewise to get to Luzern, so I would probably take the train, as it less hassle and more relaxing. 3 hour TGV to Basel, then a 1 hour train to Luzern, plus a 40 minute change time at Basel SBB station.

sorry, for some reason i thought you were flying from Paris. Yes, the train is better. :-)

I see you also posted today planning 7 days in Italy. Is this part of the same trip? If so, your whole itinerary proposal will be helpful to make planning suggestions. I posted a similar note on your Italy thread.

Ha! No, we were looking at either Italy OR this trip. Not both. Rome just seems too crowded because of Jubilee and the Amalfi coast and Rome will be too much for one trip.

Follow up question. If we took the train from Paris to Zurich is Lucerne close enough to Zurich to rent a car?

Thanks again for all the information please keep it coming!

Why do you need a car in Switzerland? Best train system in the world.

3 or 4 nights Paris
Train to Lucerne- change in Basel
Lucerne 3 or 4 nights
Easy train from Lucerne to Zurich airport

No need for a car at all

I agree, no need for a car. But a warning: You'll find everything is more expensive in Switzerland, the food, lodging, transportation, etc... I'd recommend downloading the SBB app for your phones and get familiar with it. You could see the prices for the various train journeys, and decide if a Swiss Travel Pass would save some money. It sure is much more convenient than buying tickets each time you travel, and it includes most of the boats. It gives a discount on some mountain peak trains.

If you based in Lucerne you could take trains all over. Lake Lucerne has a lot of boats going all around the lake. You could monitor the weather (I use an app called "Swiss Weather"), and each morning decide which mountain peak to visit. For example, you could take a nice boat ride from Lucerne to Vitznau, and take the tram up to the top of Mt Rigi. Lots of options. But you need to monitor weather, and don't go up to a mountaintop if the weather is all clouded over.

and eating good food would Zurich or Geneva be the better option?

Let me answer this question. Both cities will have great food, but different. Geneva is very French, French language, French food style, as it's surrounded by France. Zurich is very German, with more German sort of food. As they are both big cities with lots of tourism, they will both have Fondue (even though it's not technically "melted cheese season"). You want cheese fondue not Chinese fondue. A wonderful dish in Zurich is "Geschzeltes Zurichoise" which is veal slices in a delicous gravy with spatzle (egg noodles). I love that stuff! (hope I spelled that right).

I'm not sure just when, but I believe it's springtime when all the Geneva restaurants have "Filet de Perche" (fresh Perch from Lake Geneva).

You don't need to be in a big city to find great food, though.

Luzern is probably your best bet for having such a short amount of time and that much ground to cover between places, but if you're envisioning "the hills are alive" alpine countryside that's absolutely not Luzern. You can go up to viewpoints where you can see the alps, but Luzern is a city on a lake. If you're envisioning being immersed in mountains and waterfalls then you have to go to the mountains, which you don't have a lot of time for. Luzern is a great option for a short trip, just want you to have the right expectations going into it. If you're okay with a historic city, boat ride on lake and riding up to some mountain viewpoints, Luzern is a great option. If you were thinking of some hikes and waking up to the mountains, you need to rethink some of your plan. 6 days for 2 countries with a 6-9 hour commute between them taking up an additional day means that you really only have 5 days.

With 5-6 days on the ground I'd strongly recommend picking either France OR Switzerland, not both. Do Paris and the surrounding areas (castles, countryside, etc.) OR go to the mountains of Switzerland by flying in and out of Zurich and going to what everyone thinks of when they think of Switzerland. I think you'll get more out of this trip if you try to cover less ground.

@5normans, Why not start your own thread with your questions? Then you get notifications of answers and they won't go to the OP of this thread.

Thanks Sam for your advice.