Where to stay for 3 nights before River Cruise starts in Basal - June 2025

Public transportation in Switzerland is wonderful. Its a great idea to arrive a few days prior to a cruise to acclimate and get over any jet lag and sleep deprivation. You could go to BO for 3 nights. If you could add a 4th night, I think it be worthwhile. You would have a couple train transfers, but it would be easy. I thought Grindelwald was too busy and lacked charm. We stayed in Lauterbrunnen and enjoyed it. Many (Most?) on the forum would recommend Wengen or Murren, which would be lovely, too. You'd have at least one more transportation transfer.

I love Luzern/Lucerne. I believe you would have to take a train from Zurich airport to city center and board a second train to Luzern, but its been a few years. It would be quite easy to get to Luzern and there is plenty to do from there. The city is gorgeous.

We really enjoyed Basel. Its a colorful city on the river with enough to do for two days. Its not in the mountains, though. There are plenty of walks you can do in the city and along the river. There is a very attractive square by the Rathuis, there was a morning market the day we were there. The Minster is worth a visit, too. There is an art museum that is well respected, though we didn't have time for it. Basel has an excellent TI with a website

Switzerland is expensive. Basel is likely the least expensive place for accommodations. However, I think your budget would allow for all three of your choices.

Any of those would be feasible, but if its me I would stay in Bern. I just love Bern.

I love Murren too, but personally I would be stressed with all the transport connections to get to Basel. I mean, it can be done, but Murren > cable car to Stechelberg > bus to Lauterbrunnen > train to Interlaken Ost > train to Basel would stress me out (and that is the best case scenario, there could be even more connections depending on your schedule).

Both Bern and Zurich are less than an hour on direct trains to Basel. I like Zurich and there is arguably more to do there. I just love Bern for its medieval old town, the Zytglogge, the bears. And from Bern you could easily go to Murren as a daytrip.

We're doing the opposite path and ending in Basel. We decided that with just a few days some of those area you suggested were a bit too out of the way and we'll spend our few days in Lucerne before a flight home from Zurich. If it helps We're staying at https://beausejourlucerne.ch/. I can't vouch for the hotel or Lucerne being worthy but I haven't heard one person regret a few days in Lucerne.

I like Bern, too. I do like Luzern, more. We did Bern as a day trip from Luzern, so that would be an option. Bern's medieval town center is so interesting. You can see Einstein's house, and go to the Einstein museum within the larger history museum. If you like art, there is the Paul Klee museum. There is a lot to do in Bern, however, Luzern is drop dead gorgeous.

To me, Zurich, is a big city, while Basel, Luzern, Bern and the BO villages are so much more charming.

I would suggest watching Youtube videos of each of your choices.

We also did the Viking cruise Basel to Amsterdam. We enjoyed it very much. The boat pilot told my husband that going with the current makes timing and schedules more predictable.

Thank you all for your suggestions and insight. As I’ve been looking at securing accommodations over the past couple of days, I am realizing how fast things are booking up. At the moment I have a refundable room booked in Lucerne (Art Deco Montana) to ensure that I have something. I was trying to find a place that had views and a balcony. After looking at the train transfers to get to different locations, it does seem that Lucerne makes more sense and will give us more time at our destination. We really want to enjoy some hiking so we’ll be looking to enjoy Mt Rigi, Mt Pilatus and some lake exploring during our stay (3 nights) before heading to Basel for our cruise. This just means that I will need to plan another trip in the future to explore Switzerland with more time. Any further suggestions for our 3 nights stay in Lucerne is greatly appreciated :-)

Well, I still have my heart set on seeing more natural beauty vs city before our cruise starts in Basel. I secured a hotel (Bergwelt Grindewald Alpine Design Resort) in Grindewald for our 3 nights. I still have a Lucerne hotel booked for the same 3 nights. Just need to decide now. I know Lucerne is a shorter, direct train from Zurich and then direct to Basel so that is easy but I looked at the train commute from Zurich to Grindewald and it looks like we can do that with 1 or 2 connections in just over 3 hours. Getting to Basel on the 4th day would be 1 or 2 connections depending on the time we leave and approx 2.5 hours. It would look like this: Flight arrives in Zurich at 6:30 am, make our way to Grindewald for 3 nights, then make our way to Basel for the cruise (have all day to get to the boat). I guess I’m looking for confirmation that this seems reasonable? Once in Grindewald, is it easy to explore the area? We’d like to do some easy hiking, see some waterfalls, cows, villages etc. Is it possible to do a day trip to either Wengen or Murren? Also, with the short time we have in Switzerland, does it make sense to buy the half off card for travel? Thank you again for your help with this :-)

Everything you want to do is very easy. Airport to Grindelwald, travel in the Berner Oberland, Grindelwald to Basel.
Either a Half Fare Card or a 4-day Swiss Travel Pass.
You might want to consider going to Grindelwald via Luzern to take the scenic train between Luzern and Interlaken. It takes a little longer than the route via Bern, but with the Half Fare Card it is also a little bit cheaper.

You might ask other folks for their impression of Grindelwald. As I said in my original comment, it was my least favorite of the towns in the area. I bring it up again because if you are wanting to day trip to Wengen or Murren, you need to go thru Lauterbrunnen. Maybe Sam knows of other routes from Grindelwald, but my recollection is that Grindelwald, unless hiking, is kind of a "deadend". (I'm also looking at a map). The waterfalls in BO that I know of are in the Lauterbrunnen valley. Maybe you want to play around with google maps to calculate distances/routes between your areas of interest.

There is more "inclement" weather activities in Luzern if you were to hit a stretch of rain/fog. Both BO and Luzern are lovely, both have hiking options.

As Sam says, getting to any of these places is quite easy. Additionally, English is widely spoken, including train station staff, so help is easily obtained.

I will agree with Jules that I was't a massive fan of Grindelwald. I also wasn't terribly thrilled with Lauterbrunnen, there were just too many cars and worse, tour buses, in both places.

We originally booked Grindelwald, and due to our hotel undergoing unplanned renovations we had to change to Wengen, and I am so glad we did.

Wengen is a 12 minute easy ride from Lauterbrunnen with stunning scenery along the way so it is hardly a hardship.

From Wengen visiting Grindelwald, Murren or other places is simple.

I've stayed in Lucerne too, which was lovely. I particularly liked Mt Titlis, because we prefer the snow views to hiking.

We are also doing a river cruise in June 2025. We are transferring to Lucerne for 1 night upon arrival in Zurich, then will take the Panoramic Train to Interlaken and transfer to Wengen for the remaining two nights. There was not much in Basel that interested us, so we are not heading there until the morning the cruise departs (we do not have to be on the ship until 3pm). All of this was very easy to book via train without any private transfers.

All of your input is so helpful. Thank you. I really like Sams suggestion of taking the Panormaic Express from Lucerne. To recap, we arrive at Zurich Airport at 6:30am after a night flight. We have plenty of time to make our way to either Wengen or Grindewald. I have accommodations booked in both locations (still undecided). Will cancel the Lucerne hotel. This type of journey will force us to stay awake and fight the day 1 jet lag. QUESTION: does it make sense to go from Zurich to Lucerne, leave our luggage in storage for 2-3 hours and explore a bit Lucerne (fresh air, caffeine, walking around) and then get on the Panoramic Express (at a booked time) to Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen depending on our final destination (Grindewald or Wengen). OR is this too ambitious? I just want to be sure that we can get on a PE train from Lucerne and it looks like I need to book a time which is tricky to coordinate in the even that our flight gets delayed. Again, THANK YOU ALL!

The only thing you need to do if you want a guaranteed seat on the Luzern-Interlaken Express is purchase a seat reservation. A ticket is good on any train, and if you are not fussy about where you sit, you do not need a seat reservation.
If you do spring for seat resevations, sit on the right hand side of the train leaving Luzern. Seat reservations cost 16 CHF per seat. https://www.zentralbahn.ch/en/experience/leisure/luzern-interlaken-express#Sitzplatz

I'll suggest a bit different tact. Both Colmar (France) and Freiburg im Breisgau would be options, and a bit more affordable than Switzerland. (Think maybe 1000 to 1500 CDN for the three nights, spending well) Colmar is a fascinating smallish town, as is Freiburg, with Freiburg offering some easy hiking as well.

If a Viking cruise, they have a stop labeled Breisach, which is a launching point for both, but on the cruise, you really will not see much of either, and not both. Both would give you about 40-60 minutes into or from Basel, so easy travel the day of embarkation.

Final plan after considering all of your amazing input: Day 1- arrive Zurich airport at 6:30 am, train to Lucerne, then Panoramic Express to Interlaken, en route to WENGEN. Stay 3 nights in Wengen while exploring the area. Day 4-Wengen to Basal (arrive at cruise by 3pm). I’d like to reserve a seat on PE to ensure right side views, however it’s hard to determine the timing based on how long it will take to get bags and clear customs. Does it make sense to plan a short stop in Lucerne? Maybe leave our bags at a locker and walk around before getting on the PE? Or, is Lucerne station a place where we could grab a coffee/bite to eat while waiting for our booked PE train? I’d appreciate recommendations for our 3 days in Wengen. Should we get a BO pass, half off card or 4 day STP? We definitely want to explore the BO region while in Wengen. We are (active/fit) novice hikers and want to enjoy the trails, views, see some falls and get a good taste of the area. We don’t want to be overly ambitious as we will be fighting some jet lag. Thank you again!

Luzern is a big station with a lot of services, including restaurants, even an excellent vegetarian restaurant. It is located on the lake and by the river, and the famous wooden covered bridge. There are lockers of many sizes to store your bags and they take tap-enabled credit cards. It is worth a stop of a few hours.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/stations/find-station/luzern-station.html