Favorite towns/places in between Lauterbrunnen and Geneva

Posted by Heather (California, U.S.A.) on 04/12/26 09:30 PM

I'll spare readers my whole itinerary, but I've planned a 16 day trip in October to Lake Como, Italy for 3 days > Lucerne, Switzerland for 4 days > Biarritz & Bordeaux in Southwest France for 4 days > Paris for 4 days.

My question is about SWITZERLAND: I will be flying to Biarritz from Geneva, but the travel time from Lucerene to the airport is 3+ hours. I started looking at a map for a place to stop for one day/night that would be in-between the two towns.

Suggestions on a great place to see and stay overnight that would be close to Geneva Airport?

Thank you!

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

04/12/26 09:52 PM

23460 posts

Montreux is about 1 1/3 hours from Geneva airport by direct train every 30 minutes. Close enough?

Posted by Gundersen

Niagara, Ontario

04/13/26 02:53 AM

2000 posts

If you prefer a smaller town, give Morges some consideration. We stayed 3 nights on the edge of town last year (La Longeraie, best with a car). Morges is good spot on the lake and has direct rail access to the airport (about 45 minutes).

Posted by WengenK

Wengen

04/13/26 03:47 AM

3887 posts

Why is the 4+ hours on a train an issue? I would not break the trip. Spend more time in Lauterbrunnen. Going through the hassle of changing hotels for just one night is something I would avoid, not spending 4 hours on a train.

You plan on 5 days in Switzerland, so that is, I assume, 4 nights. My suggestion would be to actually spend all of them in the same place (eg. Luzern) and then go to the airport on your last day and fly out.

Posted by Gundersen

Niagara, Ontario

04/14/26 11:47 PM

2000 posts

WengenK, Heather is departing from Geneva. She might have an early flight.

Posted by Heather OP

California, U.S.A.

04/15/26 07:22 PM

49 posts

Thanks for the replies to my question.

We have decided to make Lucerne our base for 4 nights and then we are going to stay one day/night in Geneva. We fly out early morning from Geneva to southwest France to visit our daughter who lives there.

This will be our first time in Switzerland so it's so tempting to try to see "all the things and all the places" that I see on Instagram :) but we know from our previous travels that new places are best when we take our time to explore and savor what they have to offer. So we'll only be in Lucerne (and Geneva) on this trip and see the surrounding areas as possible. It looks like a day trip to Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen is very possible from Lucerne.

Any other suggestions??

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

04/16/26 02:51 AM

23460 posts

If you want to take your time, you could take the scenic route from Luzern to Geneva by taking the Golden Pass route to Interlaken to Montreux to Geneva. It will take 6 3/4 hours vs just over 3 hours on the direct IR train. If you do a day trip to Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, you will already have done the Luzern-Interlaken section.

BTW, The only direct flights to Biarritz from Geneva I can see in October are Swiss, 4 days each week at about 6:30 pm.