Best things to do in and from Zurich on 22 and 23

Hello,

Would be lovely if someone can advice me what is worth seeing in Zurich or from Zurich. We arrive early afternoon on 21st December. We have 2 days in Zurich then on 24 ,not fixed time , we will be traveling to Grindewald and we will be staying there for a week. I have been reading some of the post but still don t know what is worth seeing. Should we visit Zurich for a day? then either go to Mount Tillis,Mount Rigi or Mount Pilatus as a day trip with" Viator". Just to mention that we want to take a trip to Jungraujoch from Grindelwald so if any of the mountain tops I mention above is similar, please let me know.

Thank you

Hi Angelica95-

Welcome to My Swiss Alps!

Sounds like a nice time to be in the Berner Oberland. Christmas brings a full house and a lot of celebration. By the way, the name is Grindelwald.

I hope that you have your hotel reservations.

Much as I love Zürich, my favorite city in Switzerland, I don't recommend it for first time visitors unless they have very strong and specific interests that match Zürich's strengths. Do you have such a focus?

<<"Would be lovely if someone can advice me what is worth seeing in Zurich or from Zurich.">>

"worth seeing" is worthwhile only in the eyes of the beholder. I like to visit the Friedhof at the end of tram route 6, and commune ( in the definition of communicate/rapport) with James Joyce, for example. Your thoughts? Museums?

www.myswissalps.com/zu rich

If you do not know Zürich well, or do not have specific goals for Zürich, I suggest that you go directly to Luzern and spend your first days there or near there. That will be lovely. It will make trips to the local mountains easier and faster. And, the old town is quite nice.

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne.

It is not clear whether you are arriving at the airport or the main station of Zürich.....? Either one has good access to Luzern.

This may be of interest:

www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

and,

www.myswissalps.com/gr indelwald

Do you have any specific interest or plans/desires while you are in Grindelwald, other than visiting the Jungfraujoch?

Slowpoke

This summer we found the Swiss Museum next to the main train station very interesting.

Hello, and thank you for your reply. We do have a reservation in Grindelwald , is the first time for ski holiday , having two children 12 and 15 and they never ski before so we wanted to try. .In Zurich we are staying in Hotel Adler from the evening of 21st until noon on 24th December. Thank you for all the website ideas. We were thinking to visit Zurich for a day, so no museum, as it takes a lot of time , I don't know if is a good idea to do the city ourself or to take a city day trip( just to see the iconi places) , the plan is to do that on the 22nd . On 23th we would love to see the Lucerne and one of the 3 Mountains that I mention before, also as a day trip, but we could not decide which one.I read through some conversations on the forum and someone said that The cable car on the Mount Tilis is rotating continuously so she got really dizzy. So please do advice me which one will be a good choice. just to mention that my 15 years old is passionate about photography , so maybe you know which one will have the best opportunity for that, taking in consideration the time of the year we are traveling.Please do advice me on Zurich and which of the mountains.I really appreciate your help, being the first time for Christmas in a very cold place will be a challenge itself. We live in London so we never had temperatures lower then -3. Thank you again!!!

angelica

For photography, unless he likes cityscapes, Luzern stands head and shoulders above Zürich. The combination of the old town and the lake offers lots of good photo opportunities.

Not that Zürich has no good photo opportunities, it is just that Luzern is better.

There is one item worth considering that is special to Zürich. At night, the Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich is lit with magical strings of pendant lights. It is right by the station; to get the best shot, you need a camera with very high ISO capability, and a fast lens, so you can experiment with aperture to get the best trade off between shutter speed and DOF.

It gets dark at about 1630.

On balance, for a first visit, I repeat my advice-

Skip Zürich. Go straight to Luzern. (maybe, get of the train at Zürich main station and explore the Christmas Market inside the station, before proceeding to Luzern.)

The pictures attached were taken at warmer times of the year.

Middle European winter can be grey, cold, and disagreeable... Did I mention grey? If grey, the light is flat and less desirable for photography. If the day is sunny, the air can be crystal clear, with good contrasts.

Slowpoke