Hello: We are planning a trip from U.S. to Switzerland in mid-August for 10-12 days. My RS guide book hasn't arrived and I need to get our tickets locked down. I've read the forums and agree with the advice to find the cheapest ticket into Geneva or Zurich and immediately continue on by train to a base outside of those cities. I agree with the advice to not have more than 2 bases for the duration. But I still don't know what is better: round-trip in and out of Geneva -or- multi-city into Geneva and out of Zurich. Concerned about wasted time back-tracking with the round-trip option. Once we know our in/out we can plan the itinerary. Thank you!
Posted by
824 posts
While it may seem unintuitive to do so, I would come up with a fairly detailed itinerary BEFORE booking airfare. Once you decide what you want to see, the one-two or three bases for sightseeing and the transportation needs, both in the country as well as arrival/departure, will become clear.
Also, remember, airfare isn't the biggest cost of the trip and finding the "cheapest" doesn't always mean you've made the wisest choice.
I would follow Rick's advise and sit down with a sheet of paper and list all the sights you really want to see. From this list (which you may need to re-order), you can determine how many days to spend and where to spend them. Once this is done, the method of traveling to and from Switzerland will become clear.
Posted by
Franklin, TN, USA
920 posts
Hope this helps......my husband and I wanted to do Switzerland 2 summers ago in the 8 days we allotted. We flew into Zurich from Atlanta.....best prices were to there......and we traveled a diagonal from Zurich down to Geneva. We did Luzern (loved it), Pilatus, 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen and hiking in the Alps, Bern, the chocolate factory tour near Lausanne, Lausanne and then flew out of Geneva. We thought we got to see the best parts of the country and now can go back to the Alps where we want more time to hike and enjoy the mountains again. We almost used trains for our travel but found the price of 2 tickets was more than renting a car.....and we love to rent a car and come and go as we want.
Have a great trip!
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thank you both for your reply. Very good advice and much appreciated.