Hi there,
I am trying to decide if I want to stay in Zurich for a couple of nights before heading to Luzern. What is there to do there? Can anyone recommend a nice hotel in Zurich that is in close proximity to the train station? Or should I just head to Luzern and not stop in Zurich? If anyone on the Forum has done this tour, suggestions would be appreciated. This is only my fourth trip traveling alone and I'm not that great at the research part of figuring out pre-tour and post tour things like how long to stay and what to see.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8413 posts
My vote is to head straight to Luzern. It isn’t that Zurich isn’t a nice city, it just doesn’t compare to Luzern for pre-tour opportunities .
Posted by
Chicago
2694 posts
I haven’t done the tour, but I would just head straight to Luzern from the airport. I have stayed at the Hotel Des Aples. It’s a nice, basic hotel easy to get to from the train station. I liked Zurich and would suggest a day trip from Luzern.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8496 posts
As far as I can tell, the Luzern part of the tour doesnt include any trips up one of the mountains - Rigli, Pilatus, Stanshorn - or a cruise on the beautiful lake. So I would definitely want to do one or all of those while I had the chance. Weather is always a factor, so you have to monitor the weather on top the mountain, and be prepared to leave first thing in the morning if it looks good.
I've been to Zurich three times and agree it's OK, but its a big cosmopolitan business center to me, without the Swiss "soul" of Luzern. You can take a direct train to Luzern from the Zurich airport rail station in about 1.25 hours.
Posted by
Bern, Switzerland
985 posts
An awful lot depends on the kind of thing you enjoy doing....
Zurich is the commercial heart of Switzerland and does not really have much in itself to offer the tourist beyond a single day of exploring. It does have one advantage over Luzern - fast train connections. If for instance you wanted to see what the Italian speaking part of Switzerland is like, you can be in the capital of the Ticino in three hours with some good scenery thrown in along the way. Likewise you can be in the heart of the French speaking part of the country in about two hours. These are two very different regions in both scenery and mentality. My compatriots in those regions have a very different perspective on live and how it is lived compared to us in the German speaking area.
Lucern on the other hand represents more of the same... given the choice I'd opt for Zurich and use it as a spring board to explore the Italian or French regions on day trips.
Posted by
North Carolina
86 posts
We were in Switzerland just a few months ago. Did the RS Switzerland tour with an extra week tacked on before, spending four of those nights in Zurich. We had enough to do, and at a leisurely pace so jetlag wasn't a problem. Took two half day city tours ("Zurich City Tour with Lake Cruise" and "Zurich Old Town Walking Tour") as well as wandered around soaking up the sights. Climbed up one of the towers of the Grossmuster church. Visited the Fraumunster to see the Chagall windows. Went to the Zurich Zoo. Visited the National Museum in Zurich. Did Rick's walking tour of the city (covering much of the same sites as the half day city tours, but getting a different perspective). Sat in several different cafes, watching the world go by..... Good memories! We stayed at Hotel Scheuble, which is a 9 minute walk from the Zurich main train station. Very good breakfasts.
As Stan wrote, the RS tour doesn't include any trips up one of the mountains. We spent two nights in Luzern before the tour and spent one of those days doing a half day tour of Mt Pilatus (which included an gondola ride up, cogwheel train down, and a boat ride.
We also stayed four extra nights in Bern after the RS tour ended. Each day we'd take a train to a different city - Neuchatel, Fribourg, Murten. All were close by so the train rides were short. The last day we stayed in town (Bern) but had already seen most everything we wanted to see.