Switzerland in 12 Days group tour - Flight help

Haven’t taken the tour, but looks like Rick Steves might need to edit their time estimates to and from the airport.

Zurich airport to Luzern can be done in 1 hour, 3 mins. Bern to Zurich airport can be done in 1 hour, 10 mins. The train station is right in the airport, so it’s super easy getting to and from. And the Swiss trains are super reliable and almost always on time.

The tour ends in Bern, not Berlin!

I haven’t taken this tour but I did fly in/out of Zurich airport last year and the train station is right at the airport and very easy to use. There are machines to purchase tickets and plenty of helpful attendants to assist you if need be (just tell them where you are going and they will help you buy the correct ticket and which track to get on). I would think most people will book RT Zurich tickets and use the train, just make sure not to book your return airline ticket too early to allow time to travel from Bern and check-in for your flight etc. After 10am would probably be safest. The trains are very punctual and run frequently so no need to worry much about that. Enjoy your trip, Switzerland is beautiful!

Thank you all. And I corrected the typo (Bern, not Berlin!)
Cheers,
RM

I took this tour last May. It was fabulous! When you get closer to the tour date, RS will provide specific directions about getting to the first hotel. You’ll find this in your tour account.

I flew RT Zurich. The trains are easy to take in Switzerland. There is a train station right at the Zurich airport with helpful attendants if you need assistance buying a ticket. The Bern train station was just a few blocks from our hotel. Our tour guide answered questions about catching a train there. I traveled solo, but it turned out that two other people in our tour group needed to go to the airport at the same time as me, so I had company. This could happen to you as well.

I recommend you arrive at Lucerne a day or two early. The hotel was very close to the train station and the hotel staff was very helpful with information about local sites and transportation.

If you want to see Zurich, you could add a day at either end of the tour. This might be a good idea at the end if you need to take a very early plane home - take the train from Bern, spend a day in Zurich and a night at a hotel in Zurich, fly home the next day.

Have a wonderful time!

I took this tour pre-Covid. I flew RT to Zurich. I went straight from the airport train station to Luzern upon landing . On return, I took the train from Bern to Zurich airport and then had an afternoon flight out.

Swiss International is the only flight out of Zurich to Boston non-stop.

Bern Airport is tiny and only flights are to places I've scarcely heard of.

Geneva is the #2 airport in Switzerland, and there are no non-stops going close to Boston.

Great intel. Many thanks - Cheers, RM

It is honestly surprising that they even mention Bern airport. I thought it was general aviation only, looks like there are a few leisure/charter flights too, but anyway, irrelevant to most travellers.

However, do have a look at flights to Basel as well. There are fewer flights than for Zürich and Geneva, but who knows, you could score a deal there and you would be very close to Luzern still. In any case, from Boston, besides that Boston-Zürich flight mentioned above, you are likely to find it cheaper to fly to a larger European hub and connect to Switzerland from there.

We did this tour in June of 2019 and did a roundtrip flight from Boston to Zurich. We wanted to spend time in Zurich and after arriving mid-day we took a short train ride to Zurich and stayed in the old city center. The following afternoon we took the train to Lucerne. From Bern we took the train to Zurich Airport, arriving at 11:00am and returning to Boston from there. Taking the train from the airport to any location you wish before or after the tour is very easy and you will have no problems. We picked up all of our train tickets at the Zurich Airport SBB ticket counter before leaving for downtown Zurich.

You are all AWESOME. Thank you!
Cheers from Boston, RM

You can actually book with SWISS To/From Luzern and Bern. So you could book an itinerary to Luzern, and back from Bern for this trip. In both cases the trip will involve a leg on a train service.
But it has some advantages.
- You will already have your train ticket as part of your booking. And it will probably cost less than buying your train ticket here.
- Your train to plane connection is protected. If for some reason your train has a mishap on the way to the airport (rare, but it does happen) and you miss your plane you will be taken care off by SWISS.
https://www.swiss.com/ch/en/book-and-manage/partner-offers/swiss-airrail