<<"Hi slowpoke. We will be flying directly from Australia 24hrs and felt we would want to stay put to adjust.. what do you recommend?">>
G'day Robyn -
That makes excellent sense. I do that even when I come from the States with a 6 hour time difference and only an 8 or 9 hour flight.
Certainly, if you stay reasonably close to the main station in Zürich, you can walk around and also easily take some kind of short day trip if you wish. I can add a few more ideas of my own if that remains your plan.
www.myswissalps.com/zu rich
I posted some ideas for walking around Zürich for a few hours for JaneQ, well along in this thread:
www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/swiss-itinerary-for-december-2015/page/2
See also:
www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/traveling-with-kids4-6-yrs-whats-for-them
for a couple of comments about Zürich, part way down.
I note your comment about going to Interlaken Luzern ( German spelling) .
www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
You could consider going to Luzern directly upon arrival. In October, the hordes of tourists will have become mere crowds, and hotels will be more available. Luzern is usually the first place recommended fora first trip to Switzerland. A great variety of things to see and things to do easily; more scenic than Zürich.
If the idea appeals, I can post a few images to help persuade you when I have my other computer running.
Here's your chance to practice with the timetable:
www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
Start at Zürich Airport or Flughafen (German for airport) and terminate at Luzern. Put in your date and start about 30 minutes after your arrival time. You will see that there are two trains every hour to Luzern.
One is direct (at xx47), the other requires a change at Zürich. That change is a bit tight with some connections, but not impossible, or, you can catch the next one if you miss that one. ( Considerably more detail is available on using Zürich Main Station - Zürich Hauptbahnhof, "Hbf" if you want it.)
www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/shopville-zuerich-main-station.html
After a 24 hour flight to a country with a time change of 7 to 9 hours, depending on where you depart from Australia, itr could be a good idea to grab abite and cup of tea in the food court in the train station and wait for the direct.
In the time table, click on the "+" to the left of a journey to get details, and access footnotes which include a map of the journey.
See attached screen grab
The ones at xx47 are direct.
You can then use that tool to check your other plans for time and options about the latter part of your trip.
A map will be useful:
map.search.ch/?x=26840m&y=36816m&z=4
If you use the menu under "Points of interest," you can make icons appear for all the various public transport options.
Slowpoke