I'm trying to plan the last three days of my three week trip for July. The first part of the trip is in Sicily, then we fly north and spend 4 days in the Interlaken region and have three final days in Switzerland before flying home from Zurich. I was thinking one day/night each in Bern, Lucerne and Zurich but the more I read the less interesting Zurich sounds compared to the other two cities. And going to Zurich means an three one nighters in a row at the end of the trip. On the other hand, we'll be right there and I wonder if I'll regret not having seen it.

SO - opinions needed on Zurich.

Isabel,

I just flew home from ZRH two days ago, on Thursday. I travel quite a bit around Switzerland, Italy and Germany, and find my BEST shopping places in ZRH. The Bahnhofstrasse and old town area have lots and lots of great stores. ZRH is a nice city for walking in this area, window shopping, riding the trams, dining outside, etc.

I'm always glad to spend at least the last full day in ZRH before flying home. I prefer a hotel near the Bahnhofstrasse. I do my last minute shopping, unhurried packing, getting my hair shampooed, etc. before hopping on a plane home to a more hectic pace once again.

By the way, ZRH airport is very modern and filled with nice shops, just past the passport control checkpoint. There are two floors of new shops that you will want to check out. Once you clear security and go out to your gate area, you might not find much, as there are only basically duty free and candy shops there.

You might consider two nights in Lucerne and then Zurich for your last night. You can stay near the airport, if you need to, for an early flight out. Bern is nice, but I wouldn't spend a night (just my opinion).

I always enjoy the Interlaken area. It is very scenic! We just stayed at the Beau Rivage about a week ago. You can easily travel to Gstaad, Gruyere, Zermatt, and any number of other scenic places from there.

Have a nice trip.

Carol

Spend the time in Luzern. You can even train to the Zurich airport in 1:30 from Luzern. I hate one niters.

Don’t know what you have been reading, but I would pick Zurich over Bern by a mile. Besides the old town, museums, a huge number of restaurants and shopping, there is the big lake with ferries or you can rent a boat or swim. You can also get to Rapperswil for the castle and rose gardens, or take the little train up to Utlieberg for great views. You could go to the stunning and virtually untouristed Walensee in about an hour by train (there are Swiss tourists of course) for great views and walks. Bern does not offer as much, IMO. I am not a fan of Lucerne for anything other than a day visit to see the old town bits and maybe take a ferry ride. If you want to stay in the Lucerne area, go to Weggis or Vitznau and go into Lucerne for the afternoon. Much more charming, much less congested, better views. Zug is also a good choice, and you can get to the airport in about 20 minutes from Zug. There is also lovely country around Zug. Not sure I would spend 3 nights there, but one night is fine, could spend the other two in Weggis or Vitznau.

You could also just spend the 3 days in the Lake Geneva area and take a train to Zurich for your flight. Take the Golden Pass train from Interlaken into the Lausanne area, spend 2 nights there, or 3 depending on when your flight out of Zurich departs.

I agree that 1 night stays suck. I also fly out of Zurich this summer, and I have penciled in Luzern for my last 2 nights since my flight leaves at 10:30am. I should be able to catch a 7am train from Luzern and make it to the airport by 9.

Zurich is a great city, very civilized, good living. Until you've stayed at Baur Au Lac hotel you really don't know what service is, the best bedding and bathrooms. walking the old town is great and good restaurants are everywhere, we stopped in Zurich once on the way from paris to florence, but we just keep going back and feeling very at home there.

want to third the Luzern suggestion; we took the train the morning of our flight--it is fast, efficient and you get off right inside the airport terminal. Luzern is a fun, walkable city with history, shopping and nice restaurants.

Have fun,

Mary

I agree with other posters, avoid one night in different places...you spend more time checking in and out of hotels and transit than enjoying anything. From Interlaken region you have several choices, as others have recommended Luzern is a good one. You could also spend time in Fribourg or Murten vs. Bern or try Solothurn. I don't know what time your flight leaves from Zurich but you may want to do 2 nights somewhere and last night near the airport. You can spend the last night in Zurich or near the airport....and given the airport is NE of town another possibility is the last night in Winterthur or even Schaffhausen. I don't know your means of transportation but if by car its easy, again depends on time of your flight...by train you'd have to of course check trains schedules.

Thanks for your opinions. I normally don't mind one nighters - as long as they are broken up by longer stays, and I will have 4 nights in Interlaken. But since it's at the end of the trip we might be getting tired. That's why I was thinking of dropping Zurich from my plans. I picked Bern and Lucerne because they seem to have wonderful old town sections and that is my main interest (as oppossed to nightlife, shopping, etc). Now I am considering having those last two nights in Lucerne but possibly going to Zurich just for part of the day (the full day between the two nights that I have in Lucerne). It looks to be less than an hour on the train. Does this sound feasible/worthwhile. It would just be to look around and get a feel for the city, not to do any serious museums, shopping,etc. I see the benefit of this is that it wouldn't involve changing hotels or lugging bags.

Personally, I too hate one nighters and was not enamored with Zurich. I'm not a shopper and prefer smaller cities, with nice Altstadts. I also like the combination of mountains and lakes, which Luzern offers. I found Zurich to be another bustling, big city and not what I was looking for in Europe. Being approached aggressively by multiple panhandlers while walking through Zurich admittedly clouded my perceptions, but I'd think you might find Luzern and Bern more appealing. Since you can day trip to Bern from Luzern easily, I'd suggest that you stay all three nights in Luzern, enjoy it's sights on your arrival and one other day and day trip to Bern on one of your days. Hope this helps.

I like all three! But since you're flying home from Zurich, I'd probably skip Bern and just do 2 nights in Lucerne and and 1 in Zurich. Zurich has a wonderful old part of town where you can easily spend a day.

The suggestion to do Bern as a day trip is a good one. And actually it looks easier to do it from Interlaken than from Luzern. So I am considering adding a 5th night to Interlaken and doing Bern as a day trip, then the last two nights in Luzern.

I do like to see places in the evening which is why I do a lot of one nighters. But perhaps Bern wouldn't be all that much better in the evening than seeing it in the day time?

I agree with the day-trip to Bern idea. I love Bern, but we didn't find the nights there terribly exciting. It might have been the time of year (Oct.) -- summer nights are probably more lively. But do go, Bern has a lot to see.