We will be making our first trip to Switzerland in early December and staying for 10 days, and are flying in/out of Zurich. We would like to be able to experience some of the Christmas markets as well as other sites and activities in various areas. In order to finalize our itinerary, I am trying to determine if it is better to perhaps spend time in Basel or Lucerne from a logistics and more things to see/do aspect either before or after we visit the Jungfrau Region.
Posted by
San Diego, California
4705 posts
Hopefully my Trip Report will have some helpful info.
I'd say Basel, as the Lucerne markets are smaller and open later. Bern's markets are a little bigger. However, Basel only has two markets. But, from Basel you can jump on a 90 minute train to Strasbourg, which has some of the most magical markets I have ever visited.
The Zurich main train station has the largest indoor market in Europe.
Have a great trip!
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8445 posts
The way I look at it is this: I go to Switzerland to see the mountains. Basel is not in the mountains; Luzern is. Basel is a nice city, but Luzern has the surrounding mountains you can go up, and the very scenic lake you can cruise on. And you can get to/from Luzern directly from the Zurich airport rail station in about 1.25 hours. I dont know anything about Christmas markets there, so if thats a deciding factor, take others' advice.
Posted by
San Diego, California
4705 posts
Oh, I think Lucerne is worth visiting in the winter, but not used as a base. When I was there in Dec., 2019, even tho it was cloudy and brisk, we decided to take the beautiful boat ride to the cogwheel train to Mt Rigi. The cloudiness got worse as we chugged up the mountain. Suddenly, the train ascended the clouds and we had a spectacular blue sky against fresh powdery snow. We were above the clouds and the tree line. It was memorable!
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you for the responses as the points made are helpful. Since we are going to be there in December, we wanted to take advantage of the timing by experiencing some of the Christmas markets however, that will not be our primary focus. It appears that it is more convenient to travel between Zurich to Lucerne as opposed to Basel, as well as the benefit on the scope of other activities to do and see in Lucerne. The other logistic aspect which I am trying to determine is the benefit that one city has over the other, as we will be wanting to go to the Jungfrau Region either before or after we spend time in either Lucerne or Basel.
Posted by
Chicago
2672 posts
Basel and lucerne are both slightly over an hour from Zurich airport. With the train station right inside the airport, it is super easy to get to both cities. And both are about an equal distance from Lauterbrunnen. you could do a loop—basel for 2-3 nights, Lauterbrunnen (or other) for 4 nights and lucerne for 2 or 3 nights.
Since there is no time advantage either way, I’d do a little research (watch some you tube videos) to see what appeals more to you.
Here’s the trip report from my Sept. 2021 trip. We went from basel to Lauterbrunnen to lucerne.