Itinerary ideas Zurich & Lucerne late December

Hi Everybody,

We are planning to make a trip to Switzerland during late December. I have come up with a rough idea of how the itinerary should look like. can I get some help in validating this. Please do let me know if there is anything we would need to change. I will be travelling with my family (wife and kid). And we are also planning to buy the Swiss Travel Pass.

Day 1: Reach Zurich from London, in the evening and check in to a Zurich Airport Hotel at night.

Day 2: From Zurich travel to Rhine falls, spend half a day, come back in the evening and explore Zurich on our own.

Day 3: Travel from Zurich to Lucerne and visit Mout Titlis on the same day.

day 4: Travel to Jungfrau in the morning. spend the whole da there. (Need some guidance here.) Do we book anything in advance. What are the things we can do there? Come back to Lucern.

Day 5: Explore Lucerne and come back to Zurich for flight back to London.

any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sauvik

Hi Sauvik, and welcome!

December isn't the best season for the Rhine Falls, and the boats there won't be running. Of course you can watch the fall from the river bank. With the limited number of days you have available, I would skip Zurich and go straight to Lucerne. Or, you could spend a few hours in the town center during the morning of day 2 and then go to Lucerne. Lucerne is closer to the mountains and there is a lot to do. Jungfraujoch is not a good day trip when based in Lucerne though. It's a very long trip (see the timetable), and there are not many hours of daylight in December. It will be dark around 5 PM.

The below links provide more information:

• myswissalps.com/ lucerne/activities
• myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/price (from the UK, you can buy a 4-day pass through www.swisstravelsystem. co.uk)
• myswissalps.com/ zurichairporthotels

Did this help you out?

Hi Sauvik-

Welcome to the forum.

You have done a good job planning , and you can do all those things.

A few comments -

If you go direct from the airport, you should save time going to the Rhein falls. At least, you are closer than you would be if you went into Zürich. You can leave your luggage at the hotel, in lockers at the train station, or at the left luggage office, if you wish to return via the airport.

There are two trains per hour from the airport to Luzern. One stops at Zürich main station, the other requires a change at Zürich.

I'd not plan on a lot of time at the falls.

Ooops I see that Annika answered while I was writing.

She's right about the trip to the Jungfrau, but, if you like long train rides, you could do it. The issue will be weather. There is not a lot to do there other than ride the cograil - great views if no clouds, and, take the cog rail up to Jungfraujoch. Same comment.

When in late December? The alpine resort regions come alive on approx. December 15th. Before that, many services and hotels are closed. After that, they are very busy for Christmas.

Slowpoke

This will help you with timing and routing:

www.myswissalps.com/rh inefalls

and:

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

and:

map.search.ch/

The latter map is useful for travel. If you check "Traffic" under points of interest, and zoom in enough, icons will appear for train, bus, boat stops. Mouse over them for some schedule information.

A half day may be a bit much, but sunset is at around 1630, so you will have only a short afternoon.I like to walk around the old town in Zürich and definitely think it is worth spending a few hours. You'll have a day in Luzern at the end of your trip.....

Be sure to walk the Bahnhofstrasse. The lights are striking. There is a Christmas Market in Zürich main station.