My husband and I are planning a 7 day trip to Switzerland in December and will be there during Christmas. Need ideas for areas to focus on and was thinking about starting in Basel to check out the Christmas markets and then heading to Lausanne. Want to incorporate the Glacier Express into the trip and end up in Zurich since we are flying out of there to head home. Ideally, I think we would like to maybe have 3 different bases to stay and then do some shorter day trips (no more than 3 hours round trip) to check out other areas. We are mainly interested in casual exploring and of course, the cheese and chocolate scene in Switzerland. Would love any suggestions on areas to visit.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Where are you arriving from?
Depending how you get to Basel, it may be convenient to include Strasbourg Christmas market on the way.
The loop to get the glacier express is: Basel - Bern (also worth a stop) - Zermatt - Glacier Express - Chur (or t Moritz) and then back to Zürich airport.
I am assuming you are NOT interested in skiing.
Christmas markets run last weekend in November to 23rd or 24th December. Some run later, many including Basel end on the 24th
Posted by
Vancouver, BC
381 posts
Zurich has an excellent Christmas market right in the main train station. It's open until Dec 24th.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
I was in Lucerne for my daughter’s wedding 2 years ago at Christmas with the nice little Christmas Mkt right outside my window. We then boarded a train to Murren and had a blast in the snow sledding