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Switzerland in October

Posted by on

Ok, trying this again. Another poster suggested I start a new topic rather than replying to another one, so here we go. Looking forward to hearing thoughts.

We are planning a first trip to Switzerland and looking for ideas and options. Specifically looking for any festival ideas and things that we absolutely must do. We plan to visit from Oct 19 to Oct 28. Fly into and out of Zurich. We also plan a couple days in London (plan to fly in and out of Zurich as well). Our intent is to make either Lucerne of Bern our "Home Base" again looking for suggestions.
Would we be better off to go to London over the weekend or sometime during the week?
Any lodging referrals in either Lucerne or Bern? We would be ok staying in either place for a couple of nights as well.
Also we have been looking at the RailEurope Pass and are wondering if this would be a better choice than buying point to point tickets for each trip.
We really want this to be a fairly laid back and relaxing trip. We do not like crammed full trips, but rather enjoy slowing the pace down.

Posted by
20113 posts

If you are in Switzerland for 10 days (OK, 8 days total with 2 days in London), why would you want a RailEurope Pass. I think you mean a Eurail Pass, which is sold by Rail Europe, but would not a Swiss Travel Pass work better?

And why not fly to London, spend 2 days there, then fly to Switzerland, or the other way around?

Posted by
2679 posts

For Switzerland, the best location to base is up in the mountains, either Wengen or Murren. Unfortunately, Oct. is the offseason so you might find many hotels closed at this time. The second best place to base would be Lucerne. There are many opportunities from Lucerne to head up into the mountains.

For a Lucerne hotel, check out hotel des alpes, a Rick Steves’ favorite. The location is great—right in the old town and easy to walk to from the train station.

https://www.desalpes-luzern.ch/en/

Instead of a Rail Europe Pass, you want to check out the different passes that are offered for Switzerland.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/inspiration/international-guests.html

Posted by
3 posts

This is all great information. Thank you all for being willing to share.

Posted by
72 posts

You are arriving too late in October. You should come here the first two weeks in October. From mid of October many cable cars, gondolas, and funiculars go on maintenance and mountain resorts are closing and only open mid of December. Also, the weather is rather unpleasant in the second half of October, so it is in November. Shift the dates, if possible.

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