My family-4 adults in their sixties are planning to take the RS Germany, Switzerland and Austria tour next May or September. We would like to spend a few days prior to the tour to explore areas of Switzerland not traveled by the tour. We especially would like to travel to Le Locle area near the French border where my wife's family (Schultz) immigrated from in 1884. The family home apparently still exists. Here is the first draft of our itinerary.
From Columbus, Ohio fly to Zurich and take the train to Luzern-1st night.
From Luzern take trains including the Golden Pass route to Lausanne-2nd night.
Rent a car in Lausanne and drive to Le Locle to find the homeplace-3d night.
Drive to Basel and return the car -4th night.
Travel to the first stop of the tour Trier, Germany by train in time for the tour orientation. 5th night.
We have no experience with train travel or car rental in Europe. All Europe travel via RS buses :)
I am studying the Swiss train and Europe care rental web sites and I think I get the basics.
I would appreciate any advice.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
You are picking up and returning your car in the same country - good, international drop of charges are painful.
A Swiss car will already have a Swiss Autobahn Vignette (toll payment sticker) - so that is no issue.
You don't say where you are from; if your Driving Licence(s) are from outside the EU, AND you plan to drive in France (Le Locle is on the border), you need to get them certified by getting an IDP (International Driving Permit) before leaving home.
Always check if hotels have parking if you need it; it is not a given, especially in cities like Lausanne and Basel.
For Swiss trains see the SBB (Swiss Railways) website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
You will be going from Zürich Flughafen (the station at the airport) to Luzern.
For trains in Germany (Basel to Trier) see the DB (German railways) website: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml
This is a long trip, over 5 hours, and requires at least one change of trains.
Basel has two stations, "Basel SBB" and "Basel Badischer Bahnhof". Long distance trains to Germany stop at both, so pick whichever is more convenient.
Now to the bad point.
This is all one-night stops. Never do one night stops, minimum two nights, better three.
In both Luzern and Lausanne you will just have a few hours, not time to see anything.
In Le Locle you will again only have ½ day, not enough time for real research.
In Basel will you arrive in the evening and depart in the morning? No time to see Basel.
I strongly advise you to add some nights to this trip.
Posted by
11569 posts
You will be exhausted by the time the RS tour begins. Rethink those one night stays. You have not a counted for jet lag. You really will not enjoy Lucerne unless you stay an extra night or two. You will arrive in a jet lagged state, go to bed, get up and leave. Lucerne deserves more than that, a beautiful place.
Look at AutoEurope dot com , based in Portland, ME, to book your car rentals. They will stand behind you in case there are any problems. Always pick up and drop off cars in the same country to avoid large drop off fees.
Add some days to your pre tour itinerary or drop some locations or the trip will be off to a bad start.
Posted by
OP
16 posts
Thanks for the reality check. I needed that.
We will add nights in Luzern and Lausanne and Le Locle area for a less hectic trip.
Alternatively, we could fly into Geneva, rent a car and then go to Lausanne and Le Locle area for a more compact journey.
We will only be driving in Switzerland.
But visiting Luzern and taking the train through the Switzerland mountains is very enticing.
Thanks for your advice. The trip will be a kind of pilgrimage so we want to do it right. I enjoy researching for trips so I'll continue to study the options.
Posted by
OP
16 posts
Due to the very useful information from this forum about our initial itinerary we have revised our trip to
Switzerland next year.
Instead of the RS Germany Switzerland Austria tour we now hope to do the RS Switzerland only tour-flying into Zurich and taking the train to Luzern a day before the start of the tour for an extra day to recover from jet lag. We will travel to Germany and Austria on another RS trip.
We will crisscross Switzerland on the 12 day RS tour and end up in Bern for the last day.
We will rent a car in Bern and travel to Le Locle area (about 1 hour?) to search for Schutz home place -family ancestors. We hope to stay 2 nights in Le Locle and then drive to Basel-spend 1-2 nights there and fly home to Ohio USA from Basel or Zurich if that is a better departure airport.
Any feed back on the RS Switzerland only tour and our Switzerland itinerary in general?
What is the area like around Le Locle-it seems to be in the mountains. Any problem driving there?. Any recommendations for accommodations?
Is late May/June or September the better time to visit Switzerland.
Thanks for the feedback.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Imshep, I like your new plan a lot better.
For routes use the ViaMichelin website. Bern to Le Locle the calculate 1h17 for 75 Km. Click here for route .That is assumung no stops, and finding your way out of Bern without problems.
"What is the area like around Le Locle-it seems to be in the mountains." - its officially the Jura Hills, Switzerland has a high (pun!) standard for mountains! No driving problems.
"Is late May/June or September the better time" - either. May/June has longer days.
"We hope to stay 2 nights in Le Locle and then drive to Basel-spend 1-2 nights there" - Dump your car when you arrive in Basel. A car is useless here. If you stay in a hotel you will get free public transport for the duration of your stay.
"fly home to Ohio USA from Basel or Zurich if that is a better departure airport." - No direct flights from Basel to the USA, one weekly filght to Montréal only. Otherwise European, North Africa and Middle East destinations only. Probably best to get the train to Zürich airport. Direct trains from Basel to Zürich airport.
And, enjoy your trip!
Posted by
OP
16 posts
Thanks so much for the helpful advice on this forum for our trip to Switzerland next summer.
We had a family tour summit meeting yesterday and here is our latest pre and post tour itinerary.
From Columbus Ohio USA fly into Zurich arriving in morning and take train to Chur (one night)
Try to recover from jet lag somewhat.
From Chur take the Glacier Express train to Birg and then to Lauterbrunnen (two nights)
From Lauterbrunnen take the train to join the RS tour that evening.
(The tour spends two nights in Murren one week later so we will be back to that area for more Alps time).
The 12 day RS tour ends in Bern.
We will rent a car and drive to Le Locle area (two nights)-check out ancestry connections.
We then could drive to Montreaux (1-2 nights) and drop off the car.
So far I haven't been able to find a car rental company which provides pick up in Basel and return in Montreaux however. We could return the car to Bern and take the train to Montreaux.
From Montreaux we could take the Golden Pass train to Lucern (or on to Zurich) (one night)
Next day fly out of Zurich to USA.
19-20 days in Switzerland-trains, tour bus, local transportation, boat, bike and car. And hiking boots.
We have an option to reduce the post tour days by retuning the car to Bern after trip to Le Locle and travel to Zurich (or stay in Bern one night) and travel to airport and fly out the next day. We would eliminate Montreaux and the Golden Pass train trip.
Any suggestions on the itinerary?
Should we get Swiss Travel pass (3, 4 or 15 day) or the Half Fare travel cards for the pre and post tour train travel?
There will be some days we will not be using trains at all like when we are driving and on the tour bus. Is the pass for consecutive days or counts only on the day you use it.
The pass is likely not very helpful during the tour unless we want to go to museums or take transportation not included in the tour.
Is it possible to pick up a car in Bern and return to Montreaux?
Thanks for your help.