Lucerne and Zurich

[jan]

We will be ending our 6-week-long vacation with 4 nights in Switzerland--flying home from Zurich on July 4th.

Right now I have planned 2 nights each in Lucerne and Zurich--taking the train to Lucerne from Como.
Do you all think this is about right? Would it be better to do 3 nights in Lucerne and just the last night in Zurich? We will be staying in Marriots with points for 3 of the 4 nights.

An, of course, restaurant suggestions very welcome.

 

[Pauline]

We used to fly into Zurich for our long Switzerland and Italy trips, so have stayed in Zurich several times. We have only done day trips to Lucerne. I think 2 days in each is a good idea. Lucerne is more beautiful but I always enjoyed Zurich.

Zurich has a very good vegetarian restaurant, Hiltl. And lovely cafés. I will look up my notes about the cafés.

 

[jan]

Pauline--Thanks. This reminds me of when I post my first question on ST in 2004 and you answered. I was so thrilled that "THE Pauline" actually answered my question.
big hugs...

 

[Kathy]

Hi Jan,

I've never been to Zurich so I can't compare the two, but I can talk a little about Lucerne. I've been there three times over the years, each time for 2 or 3 nights. It's a beautiful place and very striking there on the lake, surrounded by mountains. I think it depends on what you're interested in doing. If you just want to "see" Lucerne, stay two nights. But it's also a great base for day trips up into the mountains. I've done trips to Rigi (twice) and Pilatus and would recommend both. You take some combination of ferry, cogwheel railroad, cablecar and you're up high above the clouds... beautiful scenery. You can eat on top of the mountain too. The second time we visited Rigi was in the summer, and we walked part-way down and caught a cable car down. I think these would both be 4/5 hour trips.

A longer day trip would be to Mt. Titlis, where you're up above the glaciers. I haven't done that trip, but we stayed a night in nearby Engelberg as the start of our 100 mile/14 day hike in the Swiss Alps, and we saw the rotating cable car up over the glaciers.

So I think if you wanted to experience the Swiss Alps, I would stay longer in Lucerne. We once stayed in Lucerne and drove in the morning to the Zurich airport to begin our trip home. It's less than an hour.

Kathy