We are attending a wedding in early September in Ascona. We will be landing in Zurich at 6:00 A.M. and planning on taking the
Treno Gottardo. Can we get through customs, take the train from the airport to Zurich HB in time to catch the 10:05 train or should we plan for a later one?
On the way back we are going to staying Lucerne for a few days. Thinking about staying close the the train station there. How close is that area to the Alstadt area walking wise?
Thank you!
The train station in Lucerne to old town is about a 5 minute walk.
a short stroll in Luzern. It is all right there.
Your arrival could be changed by the airline, you could be delayed. There could be queues. Otherwise 4 hours should be fine.
There is no need to plan for a particular train. But with a landing at 6:00 you should be able to be on the 8:05 Treno Gottardo.
What you should do is buy a Saver Day Pass as soon as you are committed to travel (ie, when you have your plane tickets). The Saver Day Pass gives you unlimited travel on all public transit in Switzerland, and thus will allow you to get to Ascona by whatever route and trains you fancy.
For such a distance the SDP will be the cheapest option.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/kontingent/kontingent.xhtml
So then it will just be a matter of getting your luggage, walking to the station, and getting on the next train.
In Luzern the station is basically just across the river from the Old Town. Depending on what else you plan to do in Switzerland you may want to look in to getting maybe the HFC.
