Bern to Zurich Airport on Saturday to catch an 8 a.m. return flight

Hi Tammy, I am a fairly risk averse traveler. Option B would be my choice.

I stayed overnight at the Dorint Airport Hotel- Zurich Airport in June. Hotel was fine. The shuttle was free both ways. The same shuttle is shared with the nearby Movenpick Zuerich Airport Hotel. Time to and from the airport less than 10 minutes.

Edited to add: it might be possible to go to farewell dinner and then go to Zurich in the later evening. I checked price for a Friday night mid Sept at the Dorint. It was 158 CHF.

When we flew home out of Zürich, we needed those 3 hours at the airport unfortunately. 2 1/2 hours is a risk.

If you want, attend the last dinner and then take a train to Zürich and stay at an airport hotel or a hotel in Zürich and take a taxi to the airport very early the following morning.

I would definitely stay overnight at zurich airport that is what we have done multiple times. If you stay at one of the hotels at The Circle , all you do is walk across the airport road and you are there.No need for transportation early morning. The airports at the circle do not have transportation because you don't need it.

I would hate to miss the final night’s dinner. It’s very fun and often the nicest one of the tour. In your situation I would stay for the dinner and hop the train right afterwards. You can check with the RS office to see what time the dinner is expected to end and plan accordingly.

I agree with the suggestions already offered and not trying to get from Bern to Zurich the morning of your flight. One other thought, and this may not be an option for you, but possibly can you stay one more day? Since the airline changed your flight, often you can get a free change to another flight? We have been on the Switzerland tour and one of my regrets was flying out the morning the tour ended. I really felt like we needed more time in Bern. And if you head over to an airport hotel on the night of your final dinner, you may even lose part of that day in Bern being preoccupied with getting your stuff together for the trip home. However it works out, I wish you happy travels, it is a fabulous tour!

Have you looked at changing your flight to a later one? I know sometimes that is not possible if you have connections. Right now it looks like your best option is to hop a train after the group dinner and stay at a hotel at the airport. After numerous tours, it’s not unusual to see people leaving the dinner early in order to make flights.

Unless you can change your return departure time, I would attend the farewell (assuming you've enjoyed traveling with your tour mates) and grab the 9:30 or 10 pm train to the airport and stay at an airport hotel. The Radisson Blu or the Hyatt Place are within walking distance.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Our original return flight was on Sunday, but we paid $140 per person to move it to Saturday because we have an event that day. After reading everyone’s advice, we’ve decided on Option B. Since we’re free on Friday afternoon, we’ll leave the tour, check out of our Bern hotel, head to an airport hotel, and spend the rest of Friday exploring Zurich.

Thanks to @Carol now retired. We will book Dorint Airport Hotel- Zurich Airport.

We did "C" after our RS Swiss tour, ( pre-covid ), and it worked out well. Actually, there was about a half dozen of us leaving Bern that early. The hotel gave us a brown bag breakfast. We did wish we had an additional day in Bern.

The farewell dinner is such a pleasant experience, it's a shame to miss. Perhaps you'll reconsider and leave after the dinner?

Either way, safe travels.