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Help with Zurich/Zermatt Itinerary during December

Posted by on

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are taking our first vacation since 2019. There was a flight mistake fare so I booked a trip from LAX to Zurich roundtrip without thinking about how to spend all the days but now I'm having some trouble figuring out the itinerary. We've been to Switzerland twice during summer and spent 7 -10 days each time across different towns and cities, this would be our first winter trip.

Currently I have

November 28th - Dec 1st in Zurich. Plan to visit some of the Christmas markets, local day trips and a day trip to Liechtenstein.
Dec 1st - Dec 7th Zermatt
Dec 8th - Dec 9th - Relax and get ready to go home.

The issue is I think we have too many days booked for Zermatt, we've never skied or snowboarded and were planning to just spend 1-2 days learning with an instructor. I'm not sure what's open in winter and if it makes sense to take any day trips around Zermatt. Another option I am looking at is to split the time and goto St. Moritz or Lake Como.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Posted by
6889 posts

If your flight is from Zürich, I suggest you spend your Zürich days at the end. I personally think that Luzern is a better base, but Zürich isn't bad either. Not sure about Lichtenstein though.
As for skiing: the first week of Dec is early season, some resorts aren't even open yet. Zermatt will be open but is far from everywhere else, so day trips are not really an option. It is also "wasted" on beginners - the terrain is steep and there is nowhere to progress to after the learner slopes. Saint Moritz should also be open and might provide you with more varied options for sightseeing - but stay in Celerina rather than St Moritz, it is much cheaper, architecturally more pleasing, and still has direct access to the slopes.

This being said, you need more than 1-2 days of tuition to learn skiing/ boarding. 4 days or so is a more realistic timeframe to start enjoying yourselves... 6 days being ideal. And given the cost of tuition in Switzerland, you might want to have a look at Austria! Lech opens on 3rd December, for instance, and is easily reached by direct train from Zürich main station (plus a bus). It is not a cheap resort, but tuition will cost much less. It all depends on your priorities for the trip!

Posted by
16242 posts

My first time on skis was at the ski town of Engelberg, near Luzern, when I was a university student in Germany. I wonder if this might be a good choice? Apparently it has 25 % beginner terrain and more then 50% intermediate, not as much expert terrain as Zermatt. I think a place like this might be a better choice for first-time skiers than pricy and glitzy Zermatt. Plus it is closer to Zurich—-1 hour 43 minutes by train, with a single change at Luzern. Spend your last 2 days in Luzern itself

https://www.powderhounds.com/Europe/Switzerland/Engelberg.aspx

https://www.engelberg.ch/en/winter/ski-snowboard/

Posted by
20084 posts

Zermatt has lots of easy terrain on the glacier. Great views of the Matterhorn, which looks like you could reach out and touch it.

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