Train Travel - time to destination
 

Have read lots about Swiss train travel; wondering how long it might take to get from certain cities/locations to other cities/locations. Ones I am most interested in are:

Zurich airport to Lucern
Lucern to Interlaken;
Interlaken to Zermatt;
Interlaken to Lausanne
Interlaken to Zurich
Lausanne to Zurich
Zurich to airport

Also; another silly question; but someone who was recently in Switzerland indicated that wearing jeans and wearing shorts were frowned on in Switzerland. I've never heard anything like that. Can anyone comment?

It depends on which trains you book with how many connections. You can look them on the Swiss train site.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Hello Skip01

Your first question has been answered already, there is nothing else I can add on to that.

With regards to your second question, you can relax: this is the first time I've heard this. Swiss people love wearing jeans and shorts in everyday life. The only exception I can think of are fine dining restaurants, fancy night clubs and theaters/operas. It is recommended to wear smart casual attire in these types of settings.

All the best for your trip to Switzerland!

Having been in Switzerland last September I echo love-ch the Swiss seem to me to dress informally most of the time and Jeans and shorts were very popular. Personally i have little time for this "Dress Code" rubbish, if you are clean and at least neat in appearance that will get you into most places. Teeshirts without logos and blouses or shirts and a clean pair of shorts, jeans or a dress or skirt have taken me everywhere in Switzerland including the Swiss Parliament building and the United Nations building

With all that train travel you should strongly investigate either a Swiss Pass or a Half-Fare Card - a Swiss Pass should be a good deal as it would cover all those trains as well as lake boats, like on Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Lake Lucerne in Lucerne (to me the most awesomely scenic of all Swiss lakes and in Interlaken, on either Lake Brienz or Lake Thun, the two lakes bookending Interlaken ("between the lakes") - I always have a pass and end up doing much more than I plan to - like on a nice sunny day just on a whim taking a float on one of the Alp-girlded lakes - passes also cover postal buses and city buses and trams and give 50% off nearly all cable ways and trains to mountain tops - if you know exactly what you will be doing then at www.sbb.ch find the fares and compare to the Half-Fare Card - which costs I believe about $150 to start then gives you 50% off everything once there - you do have to queue and buy tickets each time however so if about the same as the pass the pass lets you just hop on any train, bus, boat covered. In any case one or the other should be significantly cheaper than ordinary tickets.

For oodles of great stuff on Swiss trains, scenic train lines like the Golden Pass you could take to or from Interlaken, cable ways, etc - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Definitely go on the http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html site to look up the live timetable for journey times etc.

I recently purchased a Swiss Pass which gave me 2 border to destination journeys plus 50% off for most other train travels. A one-month pass for 1st class is CHF275.

I can also advise the trip from Zurich to airport (Zurich Flughafen) is less than 10 minutes; Zurich to Zermatt is approx 3.5hrs with a change in Visp.

Safe travels!

s

In Switzerland, as anywhere else, you should dress appropriately for the activity. Jeans are fine for touring around and chic jeans with matching top and nice shoes are fine for most restaurants. Shorts are fine for outdoor activities (except that for much of the year you could have really cold legs).

If you are going to an upscale restaurant or cultural venue you should dress appropriately - as an adult - for whatever the specific activity is.

Hi all,

swagman, it seems to be that you are confusing the Swiss Pass with the Swiss Card.

s

I recently purchased a Swiss Pass which gave me 2 border to destination journeys plus 50% off for most other train travels. A one-month pass for 1st class is CHF275.>

Yes the Swiss Card which offers everything the Half-Fare Card does but also two journeys from any border station or airport to any place in Switzerland then out to any border or airport and gets 50% for a one-month period on everything that moves in Switzerland it seems, except cows - if you two journeys are long and covered 100% that could tip the Swiss Card being a better deal than the Half-Fare Card but they would have to be fairly long perhaps. But another option. The Swiss Transfer ticket simply gives two journeys to and from one place in Switzerland I believe and nothing else and is not available in Switzerland - good for folks only going to one point or compact region.