Many people have told us to visit Luzern instead of Zurich for the last leg of our Europe trip. We will be flying out of Zurich probably on a 10:25 am flight on a Monday in May. We would travel from Munich to Luzern via train on the previous Friday, arriving in the afternoon probably and then having that day, Saturday, and Sunday in Luzern. My question is - could we still stay in Luzern on Sunday night and then head to the airport on Monday morning to catch our flight? Or should we stay near the airport? Would it be too stressful? We are flying non-stop from Zurich home to Philly... What time would you all recommend arriving at the airport to get through customs, etc? Thanks
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9109 posts
There are direct trains from Luzern to Zurich airport. The first train of the day is at 5am arrives at the airport at 6:13am, after that the next direct train is at 7:10am arrives 8:13am;should be just enough time to make your flight. IMO staying in Luzern is very doable. Swiss trains are very reliable and will get you to the airport as advertised. You can check the complete schedules at the Swiss Rail site:
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17169 posts
Yes, you can do this.
Check the rail schedules at www.rail.ch You'll see that there are frequent trains from Luzern to the Zürich airport, a few with no changes at the main station. These take an hour or a little more, and start running at 4:55 am..
The best one would be the 7:10 train from Luzern which gets you to the airport at 8:13, a direct train with no changes. The station is right in the airport terminal and this would give you a good two hours before your flight. We have found that to be plenty at Zürich.
However, you could also transfer to Zurich on Sunday night, maybe even after dinner. There is a Radisson Blu hotel right at the airport---sort of on top of the terminal. The weekend rates are very good---hopefully that would apply to Sunday night.
That is actually what we are going to do for our trip in June, catching a 10:45 am flight from Zürich. I thought we would enjoy the leisurely morning before a long day of flying, rather than rushing in from Luzern.