We are travelling to Zurich in a few days. On our first day, we are on our own, and we are going to take an organized tour. One option is Mt. Titlis, and the second option is "Heidiland", with visits to Rappersil and Lichtenstein. (We will be touring many other location after meeting up with friends; so these are our 2 options for this day.) Please advise as to pros/cons of each tour. Thanks!

Oh I'd go with Titlis rather than Dicklis any time.

Chels, <BR>I would do the Titlis tour only with clear and nice weather.<BR> <BR>Check weather conditions in Switzerland before you leave on<BR>www.meteoschweiz.ch<BR>Right now, very variable, also temperature wise.<BR>One day sunny, one day foggy.<BR><BR>I suppose you are going to book a tour with Zurich Tourism. I've just read the description of both tours. They sound good to me.<BR>Depends, what you're planning to see afterwards. <BR>That would also help me decide.<BR><BR>Enjoy your trip!<BR>

I live in Zurich. I second the trip to Mt Pilatus (I assume you mean this name) The weather in the Alps can be very different from that of Zurich, so you won't really be able to tell if it will be clear or not when you are starting out from Zurich for the day. However, I think the ride up and the cable car ride would be interesting even if it is not clear.<BR><BR>As for the other tour, you should know that Raperswil is not in Heidiland, it is on the banks of Lake Zurich about 20 minutes train ride from Zurich. It is a well-preserved medieval town and very interesting, but there are no beautiful alpine meadows or even views of the Alps unless it is very clear. The area in Raperswil is quite flat. This tour sounds to me like a lot of driving and stopping and very little actual time spent in the mountain regions. You might do Raperswil with your friends as a morning or afternoon trip from Zurich.<BR><BR>If you want to see Alps and Heidiland, you can take a train from Zurich to Maienfeld where the story is set. The train takes about 1 1/2 hours. You can tour the village on your own or get the Fodors book and use it as a guide. Train schedules and fares can be found on SBB.ch. If you are already buying a Swiss Rail card, then this journey would cost you much less than the day tour. The train ride itself would be very pretty. I know that the tour you are considering includes Maienfeld, but you would probably get more from doing this yourself than seeing it quickly as part of a long day which includes Raperswil and Liechtenstein. <BR>

Thank you for the reply. We are leaning towards the Engelberg/Mt. Titlis tour, but we are keeping an open mind. I'll post next week upon our return.<BR><BR>Best regards,<BR><BR>Chels

Just returned from Zurich, and as promised, I'm posting. Thanks to Ursula (you helped me last year with a trip to Geneva/Zermatt) and Nancy for your thoughts.<BR><BR>We went ahead amd did the Mt. Titlis tour. Mt. Titlis is lovely, but if you have been up to a ski resort in the Alps before this is nothing new. Additionally, unlike Zermatt, the &quot;town&quot; area of the resort, Engelberg, is a shuttle bus ride away from the lifts. So, it is a little inconvenient if you are touring and not skiing. However, the views are breathtaking, and the revolving Rotair car (about 3 minute ride) was wonderful.<BR><BR>The best part of the tour was Lucerne (I am in love). What a beautiful place! You only visit Lucerne for about 1 hour, but that was enough time for me to understand why most people base in Lucerne while travelling in that region.<BR><BR>We purchased through the tourist office at Zurich HB, the main train station. We were able to store our luggage at the train station, and change at their &quot;WC Clean&quot; facilities. I am by no means fond of public restrooms/chane areas, but this place was spotless, and well-heated. (I shouldn't have been surprised; after all, this was Switzerland...)<BR><BR>Everything we did on the tour could easily have been done on our own. However, after coming straight from a transatlantic flight, the convenience of the bus tour was unbeatable. Additionally, the tour guide was exceptional, and we learned a lot of information regarding the region during the trip.<BR><BR>Enough already! Thank you again for the assistance.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Chels

Hello Chels,<BR><BR>So great to see another lover of Luzern -- it's an easy place to feel at home, eh?<BR><BR>I'm wondering if you ever decided to check your bags through with fly/rail baggage? If not, what turned you against it? <BR><BR>I'm asking because a poster a few weeks ago was asking about the service, and I'm wondering if it's still reliable.<BR><BR>Anyway, great to hear from you!<BR><BR>s

S,<BR><BR>We didn't use fly/rail baggage because our final destination was Zurich. (We stored our bags until our friends could collect us after working hours.) <BR><BR>However, last year, we flew to Geneva from NY via Paris. We continued on to Zermatt the next morning for a 2 day visit, and then on to Venice. Swiss Rail recommended that we not use the fly/rail check because of our various connections and the heavy ski traffic during the Christmas holiday season. <BR><BR>However, with that said, Air France lost my luggage (I got it back the night before I returned to the US - 2 weeks later. As I wasted away in Geneva's airport hoping to find my luggage as a succession of AF flights arrived from Paris, I noticed that all the Fly/rail luggage was tagged with green tags, and there seemed to be personnel who dealt only with that category of luggage. (They wouldn't help me!) They were aggressive in their luggage search, very thorough, and seemed to be extremely efficent. They had mounds of luggage to deal with, and somehow it seemed to be sorted before passangers with regular checked luggage sorted their own bags. <BR><BR>If you have a few days in your destination to which you wish to check your luggage, I would feel quite comfortable doing so. But, if you are moving on after a day or two, I probably would not risk it in the event of delays.<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Chels