travelworldbug

Hi All -
Some help would be greatly appreciated! I have a friend that is temporarily working in Zurich and I'm planning a visit there in November. I'm planning on spending about 10 days total there. I've never been to Switzerland and am looking for suggestions as to places to go while there as well as other countries that are must-see's that are nearby. I've been to Paris, Italy (Florence, Milan, Rome, Venice, Southern Italy), and Munich. I'm definitely open to traveling outside of Switzerland and taking different modes of transportation. I haven't booked a flight and am willing to fly in and out of different countries but would like to take advantage of my friend living in Zurich. I will be traveling with my sister and we typically like scenic places as well as cultural places with art and good food! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Jean

How many days were you planning to spend in Zurich?

pore

Hi travelworldbug
Zurich is not very close to the Alps, but there are great excursions you can do from there:
- visit of the rhinefall - www.rhinefall.ch - near Dachsen and Schaffhausen.
- visit of Rapperswil (cruise on lake Zurich, maybe back by train)
- Lucerne, make a roundtrip over Mt. Rigi - www.rigi.ch -. Train to Arth-Goldau, cogwheeltrain to Rigi-Kulm, walk up to the summit and enjoy the great sights over nearly half the country from there), if you like walk down to Rigi-Kaltbad or take the red cogwheel tran from Rigi-Kulm to Vitznau via Rigi-Kaltbad, from Vitznau you can take the boat to Lucerne and visit Lucerne (the old town with nearly all the attractions is just across the bridge in front of the boat landings), and from there train back to Zurich.
- Zoo Zurich
- Nature and Animal Park Arth-Goldau
- Maestrani choclate factory at Flawil
etc etc
Have a great time
pore

ira

Hi t,

In addition, Interlaken and the Alps region are worth a couple of nights, as are the German and Austran sides of the Bodensee.

travelworldbug

Hi Jean - I'm not quite sure how long I want to stay in Zurich but I do know that I want to get to Lucerne and Interlaken. What do you think is a good amount of time there?

Thanks Pore and ira for your suggestions. Do you have recommendations as to other places to go in Germany or Austria? Is it worth going north and checking out Beligum, Austria, Prague, etc given the November weather or should we travel south to Southern France and Northern Italy?

pore

In my opinion it is not worth to go more Nord as there is so much to see in Switzerland.
I could add much more places to visit from Zurich or in Switzerland. For exemple the Grisons, a wunderfull area, the Bernese Oberland (expecialy the Jungfrau area). Both are not so great in November (sorry, I did not realize this before).
November can be a rainy and fogy time everywhere in Europe. Maybe the South would be a bit better (but not sure). I would recommend you follow the weather forcasts on Swiss TV or on http://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/web/en.html once you are here and decide from day to day what to do.
Bad weather options:
- museums
- Basel
- Berne
- Zurich (of course)
etc
pore