Stay in Switzerland for this weekend :)
 

talk about off the seat travel - I had a vague plan which is almost final, assuming I do get my visa in a few hours, I am leaving for Europe tomorrow afternoon. Flying through Frankfurt, and day train to Zurich. Plan is currently open for the weekend - rough ideas have been Friday night in Zurich and Saturday night in Montreux/Vevey?

Need some help with hotel.
1. I am torn between using points in Arabella Sheraton Zurich and paying for Adler/similar. Arabella is worth $100 for a night (10,000 points). Arabella seems to have an average review with a boring location(financial district), but I'm trying to decide if the reviews are because people paid ~$250 and did not find the value or is the place really average.

2. For a night, which would be a better place - Montreux or Vevey and any suggestions? I am using montreux.ch and vevey.ch... but still there seems no clear winner :)

3. Does anybody have other suggestions apart from Montreux/Vevey?

thanks guys...

Hi mc_ite,

I'm a frequent visitor to Montreux, so maybe I can give you some help --

Montreux is pretty much a resort town, with a long (11km) flowered lakeside promenade and lots of hotels, restaurants, & souvenir shops. The old town is uphill (and is charming). But between the lake and the old town, Montreux is a busy city with traffic & noise.

Vevey is less touristy, with more folks just going about their business and their daily lives. The old town is next to the lake, and it's full of antiques stores, small grocers, & shops. The harbor area is pretty, and there is a tree-lined promenade that goes to a suburb, but it's neither as pretty nor as long.

I would say if you would be charmed by the lakeside promenade, go to Montreux; if you would be charmed by an interesting & vibrant old town, go to Vevey.

Have fun!

s

This is confusing: Do you only have the weekend? When and where are you flying out of to return home.

If you only have the weekend, do you really want to fly all night, take a four hour train to Zurich, stay one night in Zurich, train 2.5 hours to Vevey then train back the next day to catch a plain home?

Why not just stay in Zurich or a nearby place for both nights? Or, if you are flying in and out of Frankfurt, why not save the long train ride and stay near/on the Rhein?

2. I love 'em both.
3. No other suggestions because those two towns are wonderful.

I agree completely with Swandav's descriptions. Vevey feels a little more traditional and "Swiss" while Montreux a bit more "international". They are both lovely. You can get between the two quickly, easily, cheap enough, by either train or bus.

Having stayed in each several times, I'd probably pick Vevey for your situation. More shops to poke around in and wider variety of local restaurants to choose from. But it's really a tough call. If you can afford the hotels that actually front Lac Leman they would be fantastic to stay in.

One thing I absolutely recommend (lucky timing for you) is the Saturday early morning open air farmers market in the town square off the lake near-ish the train station. It is a vibrant, colorful, fun, authentic local resource, not to mention you could get a nice breakfast or lunch from the various food stands or vendors. The sit for a glass of wine in a nearby cafe.

No clear winner because they are both good... Now how about hotels?

thanks for the reply guys.

JN: The Swiss part of the trip is a side-trip of a stopover. I am flying from the US to Asia via Germany(Netherlands-official, Swiss-personal). So I do not mind spending a few extra hours on a train.

Hotels:
1. Have confirmed the Arabella Sheraton Zurich using points. It works out to ~$100, which is pretty reasonable considering all the limitations imposed on points usage these days and the really expensive places in Zurich.

2. Leaning towards Helvetie@Montreux for Saturday night. Works out to $152.48 including taxes @ cheaptickets.

So as of now, plan stands at -
1. Arrival @ FRA 10:40 am on Friday.
2. FRA-ZURICH train leaving @ 12 pm, arrival @ 4 pm
3. Friday night @ Arabella Sheraton.
4. Friday evening/Saturday morning @ Zurich.
5. Leave 12ish to Montreux.
6. Check-in @ Helvetie.
7. Activities @ Montreux - Chillon, Vevey, boat ride-http://www.cgn.ch, wine tour. Spread over Saturday afternoon/evening, Sunday all day until 5 pm. Unfortunately, will not make it to the Vevey Saturday market coz of timing.

How does this sound gurus of Switzerland :)

I like Zurich more than most people, but for a visit of about less than 24 hours, and which involves some longish train rides, I am not sure it is worth it. The good news is that it will be light until late so you can walk around a lot, albeit no shops or museums will be open on Friday night. The bad news is that it is likely to be quite cold and/or rainy, the ferries are not running yet (too early) and by leaving on Saturday you are going to miss one of the best holidays there, Sechseläuten. If you stay for Saturday night, you would get a chance to see some of the rehearsals and celebrations which take place that night, as well as the children's' parade on Sunday. On Saturday night the guildhalls have dinners and you can usually see people parading around in costume and there are often marching bands going around as well. It is a celebration unique to Zurich and a lot of fun. On Monday the Böögg is burned to see how long and how hot the summer will be.

Given all that if you can't stay in Zurich, you might just want to instead just get on a train at Frankfurt airport and be in Montruex in under 6 hours.

You might also consider seeing if you can get on any standby flights at Frankfurt to Geneva, Swiss Air has flights like every hour non-stop. The flight takes an hour. If you go standby you might get a very cheap flight. You might even get a cheap ticket at this late date on Swiss, take a look at Worth a shot if you can cancel your Zurich hotel reservation.

You might try other discount airlines, not a whole lot fly into Geneva, but take a look at http://www.discountairfares.com/lcosteur.htm
and http://www.thissen.net/lowcost.html

Make sure the ferries are running on Lake Geneva, I know a few run from April to November, but I thought the majority did not start until May. Perhaps the hotel can confirm this. April can be tricky there weather wise as well, I was there last year and we had snow; although chances of it being warmer there are better than in Zurich and of course snow is quite rare.

If you decide to go to Zurich, for the Sheraton you might want to take the train to the Zurich Enge train station rather than the main train station (the Hautbahnhof). This is only a five minute ride further from the Hautbanhof. The Zurich Enge train station is only a few blocks from the Sheraton and would be easily walkable in about 5 minutes, even with luggage. Zurich Enge is one of the 4 train stations in Zurich. If you get off the train at the Hautbahnhof, then to get to the hotel you would have to take a taxi (expensive) or a tram (confusing if you have not done it before and it would drop you a few blocks from the hotel anyway.). It is not walkable to the hotel IMO as it is about 1.5 to 2 miles. To get to Zurich Enge, you would need to change trains at the main train station for the train to Zurich Enge. You will arrive onto Track 8 from Frankfurt, the train you would want departs at 4:10 pm from Track 53. Track 52 is also on the same ground level as Track 8, in the main station area, with the huge arrivals hall in front of you, turn right and walk to the end of the tracks here, turn right again and follow signs for Tracks 52 and 53, they are a little bit further out toward the left about 100 meters or so. For walking directions to the hotel, see below.

You can also take the train from Zurich Enge to go to Montreux, there is a 12:15 train that would take you to Zurich main station where you would change for the 12:32 train to Montruex (via a change in Lausanne).

If you have a lot of luggage, I would suggest you store it either in Frankfurt Airport (assuming you are going back to Frankfurt Airport for your onward flight to Asia), or in the Enge or Zurich main station. Don't lug it to the hotel. There are luggage lockers in both, there is also a manned luggage room in the Zurich main station.

To get to the hotel from Zurich Enge station, when you get off the train, head toward the exit. You will come out into a semi-circular parking lot. Go right and follow around to the end. There is a Chinese Restaurant here and a cross walk leading to an island with a tram stop and then further across to an open plaza. Cross all the way to the plaza here and keep going straight down this street keeping the Ascot hotel on your left (street is General Wille Strasse and will turn into General Guisan Quai at the lake). You will come to a light, cross here, continue strait across one street (Jenatsch Str) and you will come to another light, cross here. (The lake will now be here on your right) Continue for another two blocks, the second left is Stockerstrasse, the street on which the hotel is located. Turn left onto Stockerstrasse. The hotel is on the left about 2/3 of the way down the second or third block.

cicerone- you are making me think about my plan again :). kind of tempted to move things around and go to Montreux for friday, leave late Saturday and take a train to Zurich - so I can be in Zurich Saturday night and all day Sunday. what do you think of this plan? I still have cancellable reservations@Arabella and Helvetie has not been booked.
Also thanks for the AMAZINGLY detailed directions to get the hotel in Zurich!!!! Are you from around there? or are you on of the regulars to zurich.

Cicerone
I, too, enjoy Zurich more than most folks. I just flew home from there yesterday, as a matter of fact.

mc ite
It is much closer to Zurich to visit a place like Lucerne. It's only one hour by train, and trains run very often! I think you would enjoy the lake and also the old town area.

I can't comment about Zurich and didn't even pay attention to your overall itinerary, whether it makes sense or not.

Hotel Helvetie is an fine choice if you end up in Montreux. I've only visited the lobby and looked around, nice rooftop deck, because I stay with a friend (lucky me) who lives a couple blocks away.

Too bad you'll miss Vevey. Montreux has a similar but smaller Friday morning market under the pergola on the main street/lake if you get in early enough.

I would just go to Montreux really. Save Zurich for a better time of year and when you can devote more time to it. Or vice versa. Don't try to do both, you really won't get to relax or appreicate either, IMO. You will have some jet lag from the overnight flight from teh US, and then will have a long flight to Asia on the other end. If you are rushing around in Switertland I don't see how this can be enjoyable.

Is your continuation flight out of Geneva?

Oops, just saw the dates, mc_ite is already gone!

I am back :). just checked into Sheraton Arabella in Zurich. Pretty nice place but really small. will post pics when I get some more time next week when i'm rotting in Aachen ;).
Waiting on a friend, and when he gets in, plan to head out.
Cicerone - awesome directions. followed it to the T, and got here pretty early. Had to make a few changes though, coz the train from Frankfurt Main does not pass through Frankfurt Flughafen and so I had to take a connection through Bassel.

suze - had to come to Swiss coz of visa issues for a friend, he was unable to get Schengen in the short duration available.
I am leaving Sunday night to Aachen for a week long training. The training ends @ 1 pm on Friday, and am flying out on Saturday @ 11 am from Frankfurt. Plan to spend Friday evening in Koln or Dusseldorf.