7 days Zurich or 3 days Lausanne and 4 days Zurich

I have booked a 6 day rail tour starting in Geneva and ending in Zurich covering Bernima Express etc. in November. I have an extra 7 days which I want to spend some time in Zurich. I am a solo senior traveller, interested in museums, train travel, easy walking.

Do I spend all time in Zurich and take day trips to Lausanne, Basel or do I spend 3 days in Lausanne and 4 days in Zurich? Do I get a rail pass to cover this time?

Hi Bmpermie, welcome to MySwissAlps!

I would certainly not spend seven days in Zurich. Two or three at the most, if there are specific museums there you'd like to see. Zurich is very nice but not the highlight of Switzerland in my opinion. Lucerne is an hour from Zurich and much closer to the mountains. So you would be able to easily choose from mountain trips, city trips and museums based on the weather of the day. Basel has quite some museums but it can be reached from Lucerne just as easy as from Zurich. The below pages will be useful I think:

• Zurich
• Lucerne
• Lausanne

Many thanks Arno. For an experienced traveler I have organised this trip all wrong. I wish I had discovered your site sooner. I have only ever been in Switzerland to change trains. I am over moving towns every 2 days so sounds as if Lucerne would be good base to stay. Rather than 3 nights in Zurich and nights in Lucerne. Any further suggestions welcome.

Hi BMPermie-

You have time for two bases.

Train travel within Switzerland is fast and convenient, allowing for many easy day trips.

Zürich per se is not all that great for the average "quick hit " tourist.

However, the cultural wealth rewards some time spent there.

For example, you will rarely find a museum as stellar as the Museum Rietberg. And, Reinhart's "Am Römerholz" has a privately collected and curated collection of masterpieces (in Winterthur.)

Zürich is only an hour from Luzern by train. Winterthur is a bit further east.

In Luzern, the Rosengart collection close the main station has a spectacular collection of Picasso's and about 100 Klee's , arranged in chronological order. Also, another neat Picasso museum in the old town.

Basel, in the Beyeler (in suburb near Germany), has one of the most overwhelming museums in Europe, not to mention the Kunsthalle in central Basel. Don't miss the Tinguely water sculpture, 10 minutes from the main station..

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Museums_in_Basel

Take a lake boat ride on Lake Lucerne...In addition to the link provided by Arno, and further links within the Lucern link,

some of the pictures in the latter part of this thread may be helpful:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne

Slowpoke