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Switzerland in February

My husband and I are planning a trip to Switzerland at the end of February 2020. About eight days. Geneva sounds very expensive and we really prefer smaller, more walkable cities with good museums, nearby castles or palaces, reasonable priced restaurants and good day trips nearby. Lucerne, Basel or Zurich?

Posted by
7731 posts

Switzerland as a whole is very expensive. The mountains and scenic train rides are the highlight of any trip to Switzerland not so much museum and palaces.
I would stay in Lausanne or Montreux over Geneva. I would stay in Interlaken or around Lauterbrunnen if you want to take daytrips to other cities. And you can skip Zurich

Posted by
8377 posts

Of those three, Luzern is the right choice. Note that February is ski season.

Posted by
1 posts

There are many beautiful places to visit in Switzerland. Switzerland is an expensive place. Zurich is one of the finest Swiss towns to visit in Switzerland. Lake Zurich is among the top travel destination. You can enjoy the lake through cruises.

Posted by
11247 posts

I would land in Zurich and go immediately to Luzern for 2 nights. Take the Golden Pass scenic train to Interlaken then hop an easy connection to to Lauterbrunnen if you want to enjoy some winter wandern on snowy paths with some of the most beautiful mountain scenery anywhere. Spend 3 nights, then get back on the Golden Pass to Montreux for the rest of the scenic ride but when you get to Montreux, hop on another easy connection to Lausanne for 3 nights. Fly out of Geneva, which is only an hour by train from Lausanne. This will give you a couple of smaller cities (Luzern, Lausanne) to explore as well as mountains (Luzern, Lauterbrunnen area) and some fabulous train segments. While in Luzern you can visit a couple of the scenic mountains as well as the amazing Swiss Transportation Museum. In Lausanne there are museums and a lovely lake plus Chillon Castle a short train ride away in Montreux.

Nothing in Switzerland reasonably priced, sorry to say. Do you have the Rick Steves’ guidebook so you can look activities in the various areas I’ve mentioned.

Posted by
6 posts

I will get Rick Steves' book. We need to fly into and out of the same city and would prefer to stay in one spot but take several day trips. Thanks for the tips! Popular opinion seems to lean towards Lucerne.

Posted by
5835 posts

We were in Lucerne the last days of February 2017 arriving the day before the big Carnival parade day, awaking the next day to bands playing the the hotels breakfast room. Lucerne is a very walkable but hour hotel gave us a complimentary Lucerne Visitors Card that included free local transit (i.e. buses). We took the bus from across the railroad station for a short ride to the Lions on the other side of old town. We walked back threading our way between Carnival bands marching every which way on the pedestrian only streets of old town. Carnival parade was that afternoon. For some reason a number of Swiss floats featured the American president.

Next year's Carnival: https://www.carnifest.com/lucerne-carnival-lozarner-fasnacht-2020/

When: Friday, February 21, 2020 - Wednesday, February 26, 2020

The Lucerne Carnival’s events (Lozärner Fasnacht) are focused on
parades. The events preserve tradition from the 15th century which is
based on the religious customs of the days before Lent. During the
carnival days, Lucerne residents who are usually self-controlled, turn
the city to a center of happiness and joy.

Due to the numerous visitors during the carnival days and the high
demand for accommodations it is recommended to check hotel rates and
book rooms well in advance.

BTW Lucerne is a low (elevation) city and was snow free during our visit. Additional benefit of Lucern is that it is only a one hour train ride from the Zurich Airport. Our Lucern Hotel was a block of two from the railroad station so our airport gate to hotel was easy.