We will be spending 20 days in Switzerland this summer, and our base will be Zurich (we are staying with friends who recently moved there). We would like to take a number of day trips within a couple of hours of Zurich. Besides the Berner Oberland (we most likely will spend a couple of nights there--as we have before) what other back door places can you suggest? We will have a Swiss train pass but would also welcome ideas that may lead us to places in Germany.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
The town of Gruyere is a nice day trip. In addition to it's famous cheese factory, there is a small castle and Sci-Fi artist HR Giger's museum and coffeehouse. In addition to Rick's guidebook, get a copy of the Lonely Planet Switzerland, there are a lot of good recommendations. You really can't go wrong anywhere in Switzerland :)
Posted by
Zurich, Switzerland
61 posts
We are recently moved to Zurich and have been able to do a little exploring so far. The towns of Schaffhausen, Stein-am-Rhein, Lucern, and Murren are all nice. Freiburg, Germany is about 1-1.5 hours away. Colmar, France is 1.5 hours away. We have Rick's Switzerland book, which is good for covering the highlights of Switzerland. We also have a book called Day Trips Switzerland by Norman Renouf. It covers a lot of smaller towns in the country and has trips organized by region.
Here are some websites that have been helpful to us.
http://www.zuerich.com
http://www.myswitzerland.com
Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions.
Posted by
OP
Oakland, CA
73 posts
Thank you both for your trips! I will begin researching all the places mentioned!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17427 posts
A nice day trip from Zürich would be a loop from Luzern up and over Rigi by train, boat and cablecar. Go on a nice day when the views will be terrific. Like this: train to Luzern and onward to Arth-Goldau. Change there for the mountain train to the top of Rigi (called Rigi Kulm). This is 1:38 from Zurich if you make the right train connections (there is one every hour from Zürich) Maybe it is time for lunch? There is a restaurant there. Or if is is still early, walk or take a different train down to Rigi Kaltbad, halfway down the mountain, and have lunch there. Take a walk and enjoy the views. Then ride a cablecar down to the lake at Weggis, and ride a lake boat back to Luzern. The train back to Zürich from Luzern leaves frequently and takes about 50 minutes. Everything is covered on your train pass, either fully or 50%.