dauber2

My brother and I, and spouses, Canadians, are booked for a river cruise beginning in Basel November 29, 2013. It's still too early to book the flights, but in the meantime I want to figure out a plan. At first, I assumed we'd fly into Zurich, but then noticed it'll probably be the same price to fly into Basel instead. The cruise begins on a Friday, and we can fly in to arrive on the previous Saturday at the earliest. We'll be jet-lagged to begin with, but after a day to recover, interested in seeing something of Switzerland, as it'll be our first visit. I'm looking for ideas and suggestions for where to fly into (Zurich or Basel), and where to go from there, given the time of year. We aren't really interested in museums, unless the weather is bad. We all like walking, scenery, food, drink, taking in the atmosphere of the place. Also, we'd like to see Christmas lights and markets, though we'll be doing this on the cruise as well, and I know many don't start until December. I don't think Zurich is high on my list, but Lucerne is, and Basel itself looks lovely. Do we see anything interesting on the train journey between Zurich airport and Lucerne, that would argue for a Zurich flight? If we fly into Basel, and just base ourselves there until the cruise begins, can we do day trips to interesting places, including Lucerne, or is that too pricey (we'll be using the train) and time-consuming? Thanks.

swandav2000

Hi dauber2,

Are you certain that it would be the same price to fly into Basel? Will you be flying in from somewhere else in Europe?

Basel's airport doesn't handle transatlantic flights, so if you wanted to fly into Basel from Canada, you would have to stop somewhere else first -- UK probably. I think it would be quicker and easier to fly direct from Canada to Zürich then continue from there.

The mountain resorts aren't at their best in November -- that's after the wonderful fall season but too early for snow. So, yes, I think Luzern is a good choice. You can spend your days cruising the lakes, visiting the lakeside villages, ascending the mountains on a clear day, or just poking around the sweet old town.

If you have more time, you might want to spend time in Spiez in the Oberland. Spiez is a very sweet town right on Lake Thun, and you can see and ascend the high peaks of the Jungfrau region from there. You can also visit Thun and its castle and even Zweisimmen and Gstaad.

Have fun as you plan!

s

dauber2

Thank you. We will be ending our cruise in Amsterdam, so I was thinking of flying with KLM to get a direct return flight home from Amsterdam. The flight from Toronto to Switzerland would go via Amsterdam, and then onwards to Zurich or Basel, for about the same price. Would it be asier to get to Luzern from Zurich airport or Basel airport?

swandav2000

Hi again,

It's easier from Zürich. Luzern is just an hour by direct (0 changes) train from the airport. So, you would leave the terminal, hop onto the train, then emerge in Luzern.

In Basel, you have to take a bus or a tram from the airport into town, then get on a train from there. The trip from Basel to Luzern is either 1h or 1h13 with 0 changes or 1h24 with 1 change (depending on when you depart).

You can see all the train schedules at the Swiss rail site

www.rail.ch

I would certainly look into an open-jaw flight, to fly into Zürich directly and then fly out of Amsterdam. I'm sure that KLM has partner airlines that would make this simple. An open-jaw is usually about the same price as a simple round-trip.

Have fun as you plan!

s

nytraveler

There is no need to do a roundtrip flight. Open jaws flights don;t cost any more and save backtracking at the end of the trip (search under multi-destination flights - not two one-ways.)

After considerable experience with Basel, I can say that getting there is NOT fun - much better to fly directly from Canada to Zurich than go through the nonsense of changing flights and airlines in LHR - or wherever). And, IMHO, Basel is one of the most boring places I have ever been - the sidewalks roll up at about 9 pm. Lucern is a much more charming city.

However, in November - you should check out the options for activities. The lake steamers may not be running that late and many of the cable cars etc are shut down in November - as are many hotels and restaurants up in the mountains - in preparation for the very busy ski season starting in mid December.

Things will be open in Lucern and other larger towns - but for exploring other places you will need to research in advance.