Please sign in to post.
Holiday Sale! Save 20% Storewide!

Contingency plans for late October trip to Switzerland.

Posted by on

Hello All:

We will be in the Engadin/St. Moritz area for a conference from October 21-25, 2019. We are aware that this time of year is a toss up for weather at best. If the weather and trail conditions are good, we plan staying in the area or possibly heading over to the Lauterbrunnen Valley for an additional 3-4 days. However, if the snow has set in early, we will need another destination for after the conference.

I realize that St. Moritz is a bit difficult to get to and from, generally requiring heading back west for better train connections. Obviously, the bigger Swiss cities would work, but I do not know much about these options, especially given the late season conditions.

Zurich, I understand to be nothing special as it is a modern commercial center.

Lucerne. I was there 20 years ago, but not sure if this area might merit 3 days.

Geneva or Bern?

Strasbourg France. Possible, but a bit difficult to get to.

Any comments on these cities would be welcome, as well as other suggestions based on the time of year e are forced to travel.

Thanks All,
Jason

I am actually having difficulty finding good options from research

We will fly into Zurich before the conference and can fly out of another city if need be.

Posted by
6462 posts

I believe its good to have a contingency plan for October. Cities will be more "forgiving" in terms of weather than the smaller mountain villages since there are more activities that would not be so weather dependent. I really liked Lucerne, you can find plenty to do in 3 days. I would recommend the trip to the top of Mount Rigi on a day with good visibility. In terms of Geneva vs. Bern. I didn't love Geneva and its even more expensive than other Swiss cities. Bern felt different than other Swiss cities, I visited. It has a medieval town center with an amazing clock tower and really fun water fountains. The history museum is excellent and has a rather extensive Einstein exhibit. You could do a day trip to Bern from Luzern (Lucerne) if you'd prefer to not change hotels. If you wanted to be near/on Lake Geneva, you could look into staying by Lausanne, Montreaux or maybe Vevey. Another interesting city near Luzern is Basel. It is really interesting/beautiful and on the Rhine. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing it doesn't have is mountains. Strasbourg is a fair distance away. A bit closer, and somewhat similar is Colmar (unfortunately, no cathedral)

Posted by
4656 posts

Does Milan have any appeal? It is an easy flight home, can absorb several days, or you can go further from there. Zurich to Milan by train is just over 3 hours.....so even if you decide to stay in the area, you can get to Milan for your return flight.
I don't know if this will help you in this situation, but I will use seat61 website for train travel or connections .
https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Switzerland.htm#Switzerland-Italy
If you want a scenic longer route, check out the Bernina Express on the website. It is from Chur to Milan and it looks like Chur would be on your way from St. Moritz to Zurich.

Posted by
299 posts

Jules: Thanks for the input on the Swiss cities. Exactly what I needed.

Maria: Your response opened up a whole new avenue of consideration. Zurich was advised as the arrival/departure city as there are easy and cheap flight from Denver at that time of year. I initially wrote off MXP as an arrival airport as I assumed train connections would be more difficult and we have travelled extensively in Northern Italy previously. However, upon researching weather in the Piedmont, it seems that this might be a nice diversion on the way home. Plus, it has been on my list for many years!!!

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.