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Help with 4 day itinerary using Zürich as a base

Hi all, this is my first post, so bear with me. I can see from other posts on similar topics that those of you who offered suggestions because you live in Switzerland or had visited were extremely helpfull, so any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

My wife and I have never been to Switzerland, a country we have always wanted to visit. We are flying into Zurich on March 24, 2025 ahead of a cruise where we will be leaving from Rome, on April 1st

The plan is to use Zurich as a base for day trips to cities and towns around Zurich. On the 25th we would travel around Zurich and then for the 3 days after, take day trips from Zurich using the train to cities and towns that you would recommend. My wife has some health issues so we would not be hiking but we would like to see scenic areas from the train, walk the towns that we visit, see some waterfalls, if possible, and perhaps even take some boat rides. We would also love to see the mountains but we would not be taking any trips or tours into the mountains.

We will be leaving Zurich on March 29th and taking the train to Chur, to ride the Bernina Express to Tirano. Once there we would connect for a train to one of the Italian cities on our way to Rome, and we would stay over night in that city and tour that city next day. The following day we would take the train to Rome. However, we are not sure at this point what city we would visit, so any suggestions for that would be appreciated.

Here are my questions

  1. What cities or towns would you suggest we visit over the three days and any insight into what you would suggest for us to do beyond walking the city would be great

  2. I have read a lot about the Swiss rail pass but like every other tourist I find it challenging. What Rail Pass and what class would you suggest that I purchase based on my itinerary? We are looking for roomier seats because of my wife's health issues

  3. Any suggestions concerning our travel on the Bernina Express? Either what class to purchase, where to sit and whether the Swiss rail pass is something we can use on this train.

  4. Any suggestions on which Italian city to visit from Tirano before going to Italy?

Thank you so much!

Posted by
21142 posts

Luzern I can see you spending at least 2 days, as it is only 1 hour (or less) from Zurich. In fact, I would almost say stay there rather than Zurich, but Zurich might be better for your last day to get easily to Chur for the Bernina Express. Luzern has boat rides on a beautiful lake that goes all the way into the mountains. There places to stop and take a rail line to the top of a mountain (Rigi). All these are included on the Swiss Travel Pass.

And yes, the Swiss Travel Pass is valid for travel on the Bernina Express, but you have to pay for the required seat reservation separately. Looks like a 4-day 1st class Swiss Travel Pass would suit you beginning March 26. You can pick your seats rom the carriage diagram hen you buy your reservations beginning 3 months ahead of your date. With 1st class, one side of the aisle has one row of seats across a table, so pick those.

Milan is the most convenient city to stop in, as it is the end of the line of the train from Tirano. From there, there are frequent direct high speed trains to Rome.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks so much Sam, I appreciate that information.

Posted by
4 posts

Sam, do you know anything about the half fare card?

Posted by
21142 posts

The Half Fare Card costs 120 CHF and gives 50% off train tickets. So you really need 240 CHF worth of full fare tickets per person for it to pay off.