I wife and I have planned a barge cruise with French country waterways beginning in Strasbourg in September 2018. We have been to the Alsace region before and loved it. We’ve been to France many times but, I have never been to Switzerland. We were thinking of flying into Zürich ( rather than flying to CDG and taking the TGV) and going somewhere in Switzerland for perhaps three days before making our way to Strasbourg for the barge tour. Any suggestions about where to spend our time? We love smaller towns and being with the locals like on our RS tours.
All suggestions are welcome.
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
Luzern is an easy short ride from Zurich airport and. Great place to over jet lag.
Mt Pilatus or Mt Rigi are a wonderful boat ferry ride to an from while staying in Luzern. Or if u wish more mtns then head straight for Lauterbrunnen valley by train to see the beauty of the alps. Both are tops for me when I am there.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Seconded Luzern.
Lots to see and do, only 70 minutes by train from Zürich airport. And easy to get from there to Strasbourg by train via Basel.
Beware Switzerland is more expensive than France.
Posted by
OP
32 posts
Appreciate the help. Any other Hotel suggestions to consider? Also, we will have 3 nights before we need to be in Strasbourg. We will fly in to Zurich, so should we spend any time in Zurich or spend all 3 nights in Luzern before taking train to Strasbourg to meet our barge for the canal cruise?
Thanks
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
I would not spend any time in Zürich. It is a nice city, but well down the list of "must see" in Switzerland.
For Luzern I would suggest the following:
- Look around Luzern (½-1 day)
- Boat trip on the lake (½-1 day)
- Trip up a local mountain (Pilatus, Rigi or Titlis). The first two can be combined with the boat trip. Titlis is bigger, and has a permanent snow cap so you can walk on a (small) glacier.
- Trip to Interlaken and back, via Scenic Brünig Railway.
For hotels in Luzern, see the official tourist site: http://www.luzern.com/en/index.cfm
If you want to cut 1 night from Luzern, I would suggest Basel or Colmar If you haven't visited them already. Both on your route to Strasbourg.
If you want to stay up in the Alps (Luzern is a town on a lake at the bottom of the mountains), choose somewhere in the Jungfrau region: Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen or Grindelwald. This will add 1-2 hours to both your journey from Zürich and to Strasbourg.