Driving Zurich to Geneva via Lucerne and Bern?

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    12 March 2018 at 3:08:42 #814723

    I’m arriving in Zurich by train (from outside the country) around 8am one day in April and need to be in Geneva by late afternoon (~5pm). We’ll be traveling by rental car, and given the amount of time we have to make the ~3 hour drive, we were considering stopping briefly in Bern, Lucern or both. (We have another day in Geneva, and several more days in the mountains, but would love to see one/both of those cities; we’re taking the train for the later parts of the trip but need the rental car for this leg). How reasonable does it sound to drive Zurich HB –> Lucerne –> Bern –> Geneva, with approx two hour stops in Bern and Lucerne? I’ve found walking tour routes of each city that take ~1.5 hour, and it looks like both cities have paid parking near the main station. Will traffic and parking be manageable in mid-late morning on a Monday in mid-April? If doing both cities seems unreasonable, we might just do one, but I wanted to get some feedback on the two-stop plan. Thanks!

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    Removed user
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    12 March 2018 at 7:44:02 #878503

    Hi tanman,

    Lucerne is not on your way. Also you will hit the morning traffic and around 5 pm it’s getting busy around Geneva. You will spend more time in your car than you probably think you will. I would visit Bern.

    Monday is usually a very quiet day in Bern. Not all the shops are open. I always park in parking Casino. Right in the heart of Bern.

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