Zurich Plane and Train Connectipns

Mike,

If you take the train from Lucerne to Zürich in the morning, that will provide a day for sightseeing in the Zürich area. If you decide to do that, you might want to get a hotel close to the Zürich Hbf, and I would highly recommend Hotel Walhalla which is only about a three minute walk from the station. In fact there's an entrance to the underground shopping mall at the station only a few steps from the hotel door. The train trip from the Zürich main station to the airport is only about 10 minutes, so you won't have any trouble connecting with your flight.

Many of the city tours depart from a parking lot right across the street from Hotel Walhalla. On my last visit, the hotel desk clerk walked across with me to translate in case I had any difficulty buying the ticket. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Its important to know that there is a train station right inside the Zurich airport (Zurich Flughafen). That train station can be reached by regular direct trains from Luzern, as well as multiple trains from Luzern with a connection at Zurich Hauptbahnhof. About 1 hour 15 minutes either way. When we had a similar schedule, we just stayed in Luzern the night before our flight and took the first train in the morning, to the airport. Normal time pre-flight 2-3 hours apply. Its an efficient airport although a long (indoor) walk from the rail station to departure area.

Anyone know how many hours we need to be at airport pre-flight time?

Ask your airline, or look at their website.

Not sure what station the train stops in Zurich from our Lucerne trip?

• Zürich HB is the main station in the centre of Zürich, which all trains stop at.
• Zürich Flughafen is the station at the airport.

There are 20-odd stations in Zürich, you could get to any of them by train.

There is one hotel at Zürich airport, the Radison Blu at the terminal, all other "airport hotels" require a bus or taxi.
Many hotels within walking distance of Zürich HB.
You do not have to stay in Zürich, there are early trains from Luzern to Zürich airport which should get you there early enough:

Luzern dep 04:55, Zürich Flughafen arr 06:11
Luzern dep 05:35, Zürich Flughafen arr 06:42
Luzern dep 05:35, Zürich Flughafen arr 06:44
Luzern dep 05:51, Zürich Flughafen arr 07:12
Luzern dep 05:51, Zürich Flughafen arr 07:12

I was surprised last summer to find an extra passport/ security line after I had already gone through security at Zurich Airport. I would have moved toward the gate much earlier than I did if I had known to expect this. It worked out fine, just a moment or two of panic.

Yes I’ve experienced that 2nd passport check at Zurich Airport several times.

Its an efficient airport although a long (indoor) walk from the rail
station to departure area.

For someone who is neither a speed walker nor a slow walker, how long would you estimate is that walk from the airport rail station to the terminal for Delta Airlines?