dixiedee

My husband and I are planning to spend a couple of weeks in Switzerland during Christmas...which is the least congested airport to fly into? We are going to rent a car and possibly drive to Salzburg for a few days at the end of our trip. Is it possible to pick up a rental car in Switzerland and return it in Salzburg? Any suggestions for "must sees" will be appreciated.

greg

>>> Is it possible to pick up a rental car in Switzerland and return it in Salzburg?

Of course you can. You just pay for it. A LOT.
Do you know how to book a car online? Just feed your itinerary and it tells you how much it would cost For example, feed Zurich airport to Salzburg into www.hertz.com and see what you get.

>>> which is the least congested airport to fly into?

Does it really matter? Suppose you fly into the least congested airport and get out in 1 hour, but it takes 3 hours to the destination. Now look at another airport. It is congested and took 2 hours to get out, but took 30 minutes to the destination. Are you still insisting on landing at the least congested airport?

neckervd

airport: where will you come from? If you fly in from overseas, you can only choose between Zurich and Geneva. The air space above Zurich can get somewhat congested during rush hours, but operations on ground and immigration are usually rather fast all the day round.
At both airports, you can board direct trains to most places of Switzerland, most of them run about every 30 min.
Car rental operations at Swiss airports are usually fast too, but be prepared to find snow and black ice on the roads in December. Alpine passes will be closed, the Arlberg road tunnel between Zurich and Innsbruck will be open, however.

dixiedee

Thank you...all info is appreciated!

imaginaryjazz

If you want to drive around Switzerland for a few days, and then drive around Austria for a few more, it would probably be much more economical to rent a car in Switzerland for use there, then return it. Take the train to Salzburg, and rent a car in Austria. No cross-border return charges if you do that!

Depending on where you're going in Switzerland, you very well may not need a car at all there. Rail service can get you almost everywhere, and the postal bus can get you to 90+% of the rest of the country -- and the buses and trains run on schedule and are coordinated very well.

We've not been to Austria yet, but I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that public transport is nearly as good there.

neckervd

"We've not been to Austria yet, but I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that public transport is nearly as good there."
It is so, indeed.