Hi! I'm planning to be in Switzerland for 10 days and all I know for sure is that I'll begin in Zurich and end in Geneva. Since Zurich has direct flights to DC, would you take a train back to Zurich to fly home or just take a two-leg flight home from Geneva?

Thanks for your help!!

Hi abbydog,

I think I would take the train back to Zurich.

Spending that time on a train will prolong the European feeling of your trip -- spending time in airports in transit is pretty bland and boring.

Good luck!

s

A couple of years ago we flew home from Geneva via EWR to Washington National.

Leaving from Geneva was very convenient but I've also flown out of Zurich and that airport, while larger than the airport in Geneva, is easy to reach, etc.

If you haven't taken the train ride from Geneva to Zurich, why not? I would do it as much as anything just to see even more of Switzerland.

Thanks! Makes sense to me. . .

Given that you can take a train from Geneva directly to the Zürich airport with no changes, I think that would be the way to go.

The route is via Bern. Part of the trip is scenic but between Bern and Zürich, the tracks are often in a depression or hemmed in by buildings.

At any rate, you will get a view of Switzerland that you would not get from an airplane.

I took the train this summer from Interlaken to the Geneva airport. It was a relaxed way to do it. Let the train find the airport!!

The rail station is in what I would call the basement of the airport with the tracks and platforms in what I would call a sub basement.

Regardless of nomenclature, you are an elevator ride and an escalator ride away from the check-in counters. The airline you are flying will determine where you go to check-in.

Allow adequate time because security for US bound flights is strict, and at times a bit wacko. Why do I say that? A year ago we flew home from Zürich. At the security check station the officers removed ALL of our prescription medicine container caps. For the pills they stuffed paper in place of the cap. I asked why. The officer confiscating all my container caps said that it was possible to use the containers to make a bomb. I thought it was nonsense as did a Ph. D. chemist friend of mine.
No matter what I thought, I got a reminder just yesterday of that episode. I was checking for expired prescriptions and there was an old container that still had the paper stuffed inside of it.

UA's ZRH-IAD departs 11:50a right now. To connect same day, you need to take the 6:14a train which arrives ZRH at 9:20a.

Do you want to get up that early to ride the train?

But of course, your flight out of GVA can be pretty early too. Actually, you may have to be at the airport earlier than 6:14 with some connections.