Zurich hotel location recommendations

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hoops777
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Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

We will be in Zurich for 5 nights in July and trying to figure out the best location.

It has to be a Marriott because of points.

The Zurich Marriott is a 10 minute walk from the main train station and walkable to old town.

We will be taking trains to see as much as we can of Switzerland in those 5 days but want it as stress free and simple as possible.

Totally unfamiliar with the train system but figured it would be easier to travel from the main station Zurich HB.

Going to Lucerne, possibly Bern or any other recommendations that are easy to take a train to and walk around for a day.

Thanks
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yankees1966
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by yankees1966 »

Just came back from Zurich this week.

We stayed at the Zurich Sheraton. Its a Marriott property. We got free breakfast and an upgrade room due to our Marriott status.

I used Google maps on my Android phone with fair ease. It will spell out which train/tram to take. How many stops to your destination. Which platform to be on for your train.

With the trains to the different tourist attractions you might be spending 2 - 3 hours to get to the tourist attraction; so you will want to keep this in mind. I also felt the tourist attractions are scattered across Switzerland so you will want to map your itiernary accordingly.

Look into the swiss travel pass and see how you can maximize its use.
martiansteeler
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by martiansteeler »

I lived in Luzern for 2.5 years and have been to Switzerland/Zuerich numerous times.

Trains are super easy. SBB has an app you can download. You can buy/pay for tickets right in it. Swiss Pass is a good suggestion, but usually only cost effective if doing numerous long distance trains. Luzern and Bern are only an hour away. Spartickets (tickets on sale) are usually cheaper, but you are locked to that train connection. They are available about 30 days before your journey...and once gone they are gone. you can look on sbb.ch too (there is an English page).

All of the trains you need to get around the country will go out of Zuerich HBf. Zuerich Marriott is in a good location (I've never been inside of it, but know where it is)

St Gallen is pretty (it's about an hour-ish, too). Basel isn't really worth it in my opinion. Gridelwald is beautiful. it's about 2.5 hours one-way from Zuerich, but you can be on an early train, spend the day, and ride back late (someone else is driving). Chur is nice too. Davos/St Moritiz, etc are all too far for a day trip.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

yankees1966 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 2:45 pm Just came back from Zurich this week.

We stayed at the Zurich Sheraton. Its a Marriott property. We got free breakfast and an upgrade room due to our Marriott status.

I used Google maps on my Android phone with fair ease. It will spell out which train/tram to take. How many stops to your destination. Which platform to be on for your train.

With the trains to the different tourist attractions you might be spending 2 - 3 hours to get to the tourist attraction; so you will want to keep this in mind. I also felt the tourist attractions are scattered across Switzerland so you will want to map your itiernary accordingly.

Look into the swiss travel pass and see how you can maximize its use.
Is the Sheraton close to Zurich HB train station?
We are only gold status so doubtful they would give us free breakfast.
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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hoops777
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

martiansteeler wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 3:25 pm I lived in Luzern for 2.5 years and have been to Switzerland/Zuerich numerous times.

Trains are super easy. SBB has an app you can download. You can buy/pay for tickets right in it. Swiss Pass is a good suggestion, but usually only cost effective if doing numerous long distance trains. Luzern and Bern are only an hour away. Spartickets (tickets on sale) are usually cheaper, but you are locked to that train connection. They are available about 30 days before your journey...and once gone they are gone. you can look on sbb.ch too (there is an English page).

All of the trains you need to get around the country will go out of Zuerich HBf. Zuerich Marriott is in a good location (I've never been inside of it, but know where it is)

St Gallen is pretty (it's about an hour-ish, too). Basel isn't really worth it in my opinion. Gridelwald is beautiful. it's about 2.5 hours one-way from Zuerich, but you can be on an early train, spend the day, and ride back late (someone else is driving). Chur is nice too. Davos/St Moritiz, etc are all too far for a day trip.
We are buying the eurail global pass because we will be in Germany for 8 days as well.
Do you think it would be better to use Lucerne as a base instead of Zurich?
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by bob60014 »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:30 pm .....
Is the Sheraton close to Zurich HB train station?
We are only gold status so doubtful they would give us free breakfast.
The Sheraton is about a 30 minute walk to the station, the Marriott about 5 minutes. Use Google maps to get the lay of the land.

If you like chocolate , drop into the Lindt museum, cafe and factory outlet store in Kilchberg.
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

Baur au Lac hands down.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:58 pm Baur au Lac hands down.
Wow.
I would have to go back to work after paying for 5 nights there😊
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 5:11 pm
AnnetteLouisan wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:58 pm Baur au Lac hands down.
Wow.
I would have to go back to work after paying for 5 nights there😊
I see the cost really went up! At least go for brunch or a drink there. Try one of the lake ferries. Walk down the Bahnhofstrasse. Read up on Zurich before you go. It’s an interesting place. For chocolate I recommend the champagne truffles at spruengli. Try to get to Vevey or Montreux if you can.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by neilpilot »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:31 pm
We are buying the eurail global pass because we will be in Germany for 8 days as well.
Do you think it would be better to use Lucerne as a base instead of Zurich?
Before you buy the eurail pass, check the price of individual tickets for the rail trips you actually expect to take. The pass may sound good but, in fact, can often cost much more than individual tickets.
bmr12
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by bmr12 »

If you just must stay in a Zurich Marriott property (points), go read the thread on Flyertalk. Just back from a couple of weeks in Switzerland last month. The Zurich Marriott was quite nice as a Platinum. That being said, I’d spend my time in Luzern/elsewhere. Zurich is nice but other places are great.
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yankees1966
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by yankees1966 »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:30 pm
yankees1966 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 2:45 pm Just came back from Zurich this week.

We stayed at the Zurich Sheraton. Its a Marriott property. We got free breakfast and an upgrade room due to our Marriott status.

I used Google maps on my Android phone with fair ease. It will spell out which train/tram to take. How many stops to your destination. Which platform to be on for your train.

With the trains to the different tourist attractions you might be spending 2 - 3 hours to get to the tourist attraction; so you will want to keep this in mind. I also felt the tourist attractions are scattered across Switzerland so you will want to map your itiernary accordingly.

Look into the swiss travel pass and see how you can maximize its use.
Is the Sheraton close to Zurich HB train station?
We are only gold status so doubtful they would give us free breakfast.
From the Sheraton 3 - 5 minute walk to the number 4 tram to Zurich HB. 10 minutes on the tram. 5 minute walk to platform at Zurich HB.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by bberris »

Another alternative to the Swiss multiday pass is the Saver day pass. These are great for a hiking holiday, when the only trains I use is to and from Zurich airport. The advantage over an advance ticket is that it is good on any train (except some mountain rails), so if the flight is delayed I don't lose it. The price increases as you get closer to the date, so buy in advance. You may have noticed that train tickets in Switzerland are among the worlds most expensive. On the other hand, they are clean, frequent, and on time.

The price you see at the SBB app or website is for holders of a 1/2 price pass, so you will pay twice that. It's unlikely that a 1/2 price pass will work out for you on a short visit.

It's not a big deal to use any other Zurich train station; you might change at HB depending where you are going. And I think the passes are good on trams in Zurich, too.

One more tip: have a meal at Hiltl. It's vegetarian but the food is great even if you eat meat.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by JustSomeGuy155 »

I recently stayed at the Zurich Marriott for work. If your requirements are a Marriott close to the central station, you're not going to find a better match than that!

The hotel is a pleasant 5 minute walk across the river and through a small park to the station. The walk to the city center is 15-20 minutes, also a relatively nice walk by the river. The hotel is not directly in the center, but there's a bunch of restaurants within 5 minutes walk. For some reason, breakfast was included with my hotels.com booking, and it turned out to be excellent, even for a 1 week stay (fresh pastries, omelette station, cereals etc). It was open early so I could easily grab breakfast before meetings.

If you are staying in Zurich for 1-2 days going to be taking the trains outside the city several times, I think it'd be the perfect choice.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by MH2 »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 2:05 pm We will be in Zurich for 5 nights in July and trying to figure out the best location.

It has to be a Marriott because of points.

The Zurich Marriott is a 10 minute walk from the main train station and walkable to old town.

We will be taking trains to see as much as we can of Switzerland in those 5 days but want it as stress free and simple as possible.

Totally unfamiliar with the train system but figured it would be easier to travel from the main station Zurich HB.

Going to Lucerne, possibly Bern or any other recommendations that are easy to take a train to and walk around for a day.

Thanks
The Marriott on Neumühlequai is in something of an odd location.You're looking at a 10-15 minute walk from HB to there, and another 10-15 minute walk from the Marriott to the better restaurants on, e.g., Limmatquai or Niederdorfstrasse.

Marriott also owns the Neues Schloss Privat Hotel east of Enge. It's more expensive, but it's also in a better location.

If price is a concern, the Courtyard by Marriott in Oerlikon is only three blocks away from Oerlikon HB, which has a direct connection to the city by train or tram.

The train and regional transit systems are easy to figure out. Download the SBB App and use it for ticket purchases.

I would personally do:
1. Zürich
2. Luzern & Mt. Rigi (take the ferry)
3. Konstanz (DE/Germany)

Consider spending more than one day in Luzern. Bern, Basel, Winterthur, and St. Gallen are great cities but they're hard to recommend for your first trip.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by MH2 »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:31 pm We are buying the eurail global pass because we will be in Germany for 8 days as well.
Do you think it would be better to use Lucerne as a base instead of Zurich?
It depends.

If you're flying out from ZRH, consider staying at least the night before in or around the city.

Luzern, however, is a better option in my opinion for a first time tourist.

You can't go wrong with either of them, though, and it will be slightly more convenient to and from Zürich if you have a hit-list of places you want to see.

I haven't seen it recommended, but a good alternative to either of them would be one of the cities in Ticino. It looks like Marriott owns the Giardino Lago. You can't go wrong with a nice hotel room on or near the water.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by martiansteeler »

MH2 wrote: Fri Jun 09, 2023 6:57 am
hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:31 pm We are buying the eurail global pass because we will be in Germany for 8 days as well.
Do you think it would be better to use Lucerne as a base instead of Zurich?
It depends.

If you're flying out from ZRH, consider staying at least the night before in or around the city.

Luzern, however, is a better option in my opinion for a first time tourist.

You can't go wrong with either of them, though, and it will be slightly more convenient to and from Zürich if you have a hit-list of places you want to see.

I haven't seen it recommended, but a good alternative to either of them would be one of the cities in Ticino. It looks like Marriott owns the Giardino Lago. You can't go wrong with a nice hotel room on or near the water.
I think it depends on where you want to go in Switzerland. St Gallen, Konstanz, etc are all a pain from Luzern. But, if you’re doing Interlaken/Grindewald, Bern, Zuerich, and Luzerne, then Luzerne is fine and doesn’t change things.

Saw in your post Germany is part of the trip too. Check out their website, Bahn.de. They have an English version. Buying spar tickets may be cheaper too than the eurail pass. The benefit to Eurail or SwissPass is high speed intercity trips at a distance. For example Berlin to München and your departure times are up in the air. Frankfurt to Köln probably cheaper with a good spar ticket. But, you are stuck taking the exact train you booked (I lived outside of Frankfurt for 2.5 years as well).
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by db79 »

I always stayed at 25 Hour or Novotel for work as it was an easy walk to the office and HB (and we had corp. discount). Can't specifically comment on the Marriott. The ride to Bern and Frankfurt are straight forward which I frequently made.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

We are going to Zurich from Munich and then back to Frankfurt.

3 nights Munich, 5 Zurich, 5 Frankfurt.

We are currently booked at the Zurich Courtyard North but easy to cancel and switch.

Sounds like the Zurich Marriott is a better location and also a lot more points, but probably worth it.

My wife wants to end the trip in Frankfurt for various reasons and we are flying in and out of Frankfurt.

The first night we get in pretty late so are staying at an airport hotel and going to Munich in the a.m.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

When we first planned this we were staying at about 10 different hotels and it was nuts so we decided on 3 base cities,3 hotels.

She is happy taking a train for an hour,or two if needed, and spending the day walking around whatever city.

Trying to keep it easy going and relaxed.

The rail pass eliminates the time stress that buying a ticket in advance creates.
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bmr12
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by bmr12 »

Where are you going to go for five nights in Frankfurt? I’d rate Zurich >> Frankfurt…
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

bmr12 wrote: Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:53 pm Where are you going to go for five nights in Frankfurt? I’d rate Zurich >> Frankfurt…
Heidelberg, Wuppertal, Frankfurt itself, and still working on it. There are some day trips that looked worthwhile.

Wuppertal because my wife worked there almost 50 years ago and wants to see it again. She has not been back for about 45 years😊

With the Marriott system the 5th night is free so a lot of times an extra night can happen.
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by martiansteeler »

Depending on if you have a free day left on the Eurail pass, Würzburg or Köln are both nice. Mainz is nice too. I used to live in Aschaffenburg. It’s worth a stroll if you go to Würzburg, but it isn’t a whole day. If you want to get off the beaten path, Miltenberg and Aschaffenburg could be a good day. You’d take the train from Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg, go to Miltenberg, then back. Both are Northern Bavaria towns (Franconia region, so different than Múnchen) Würzburg got. Bamberg is Great if you like beer, but a bit of a haul.

Wuppertal isn’t much…but I understand the desire. I worked for Bayer for awhile, so I’ve been there. You can add on Köln and make the day better drinking some Kölsch :sharebeer :sharebeer

Feel free to ask anything about the Frankfurt area. There are some nice towns around. I loved living in the area.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

The lovely spa town of Wiesbaden (and the charming Nasssuer Hof hotel) is closer to the Frankfurt airport than Frankfurt. It allows you to skip Frankfurt in July entirely if you don’t have business there. Can free up some days for more Bavaria and Switzerland. Five days in Frankfurt if you don’t need to can be skipped - although there are ways to make Frankfurt pleasant if you need to (Villa Kennedy, Apfelwein).

My suggestion given your time constraints is fly into Frankfurt, stay a night in Wiesbaden and head to Wuppertal from there, then Heidelberg, Munich, Zurich. Fly out of Zurich after exploring Switzerland. Have fun!
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 5:01 am The lovely spa town of Wiesbaden (and the charming Nasssuer Hof hotel) is closer to the Frankfurt airport than Frankfurt. It allows you to skip Frankfurt in July entirely if you don’t have business there. Can free up some days for more Bavaria and Switzerland. Five days in Frankfurt if you don’t need to can be skipped - although there are ways to make Frankfurt pleasant if you need to (Villa Kennedy, Apfelwein).

My suggestion given your time constraints is fly into Frankfurt, stay a night in Wiesbaden and head to Wuppertal from there, then Heidelberg, Munich, Zurich. Fly out of Zurich after exploring Switzerland. Have fun!
Thanks.
I will look at it.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

martiansteeler wrote: Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:03 pm Depending on if you have a free day left on the Eurail pass, Würzburg or Köln are both nice. Mainz is nice too. I used to live in Aschaffenburg. It’s worth a stroll if you go to Würzburg, but it isn’t a whole day. If you want to get off the beaten path, Miltenberg and Aschaffenburg could be a good day. You’d take the train from Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg, go to Miltenberg, then back. Both are Northern Bavaria towns (Franconia region, so different than Múnchen) Würzburg got. Bamberg is Great if you like beer, but a bit of a haul.

Wuppertal isn’t much…but I understand the desire. I worked for Bayer for awhile, so I’ve been there. You can add on Köln and make the day better drinking some Kölsch :sharebeer :sharebeer

Feel free to ask anything about the Frankfurt area. There are some nice towns around. I loved living in the area.
I really appreciate it.
I was looking at day trips and it looked like there were some good options from Frankfurt.
We are leaving in about 4 weeks so I will very likely have a few questions for you.
Thanks.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by Polar_Ice »

I have stayed at many of the Marriott properties in Zurich. The Zurich Marriott downtown is always very expensive and a lot of points but it is a good location but depending on how far you want to walk it is not so central in the city and about 10-15 minutes from the Zurich Hbf main station. I prefer to stay at the Courtyard Marriott North as it is just a very quick train ride from Zurich Oerlikon station to the main station. It is a short walk (5min) to the hotel from the Oerlikon station and has a big Coop grocery store across the street between the hotel and station. I was just there the other week and they opened up a big outdoor restaurant by the station right near the hotel. The hotel is very quiet, ask for an inside courtyard room.

https://zumfrischenmax.ch

I have the SBB app and train system there are some of the best in Europe.

Beautiful city to walk around especially near the lake in the old town area. Let me know if you have any questions or can recommend more.

https://www.aqua-spa-resorts.ch/de/huer ... pa-zuerich

I would suggest spending less time in Frankfurt and stop in some of the smaller towns in between Munich and Zurich.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by hoops777 »

Polar_Ice wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 1:03 pm I have stayed at many of the Marriott properties in Zurich. The Zurich Marriott downtown is always very expensive and a lot of points but it is a good location but depending on how far you want to walk it is not so central in the city and about 10-15 minutes from the Zurich Hbf main station. I prefer to stay at the Courtyard Marriott North as it is just a very quick train ride from Zurich Oerlikon station to the main station. It is a short walk (5min) to the hotel from the Oerlikon station and has a big Coop grocery store across the street between the hotel and station. I was just there the other week and they opened up a big outdoor restaurant by the station right near the hotel. The hotel is very quiet, ask for an inside courtyard room.

https://zumfrischenmax.ch

I have the SBB app and train system there are some of the best in Europe.

Beautiful city to walk around especially near the lake in the old town area. Let me know if you have any questions or can recommend more.

https://www.aqua-spa-resorts.ch/de/huer ... pa-zuerich

I would suggest spending less time in Frankfurt and stop in some of the smaller towns in between Munich and Zurich.
Thanks
We are currently booked for 5 nights in the Courtyard North.
Am I correct that it is just a location to sleep at and to see Zurich we will need to take a train from there?
So it is like a 10 minute train ride to see old town and the other sites ?
We were considering switching to the Zurich Marriott just for convenience.
K.I.S.S........so easy to say so difficult to do.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by 02nz »

hoops777 wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:31 pm
martiansteeler wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 3:25 pm I lived in Luzern for 2.5 years and have been to Switzerland/Zuerich numerous times.

Trains are super easy. SBB has an app you can download. You can buy/pay for tickets right in it. Swiss Pass is a good suggestion, but usually only cost effective if doing numerous long distance trains. Luzern and Bern are only an hour away. Spartickets (tickets on sale) are usually cheaper, but you are locked to that train connection. They are available about 30 days before your journey...and once gone they are gone. you can look on sbb.ch too (there is an English page).

All of the trains you need to get around the country will go out of Zuerich HBf. Zuerich Marriott is in a good location (I've never been inside of it, but know where it is)

St Gallen is pretty (it's about an hour-ish, too). Basel isn't really worth it in my opinion. Gridelwald is beautiful. it's about 2.5 hours one-way from Zuerich, but you can be on an early train, spend the day, and ride back late (someone else is driving). Chur is nice too. Davos/St Moritiz, etc are all too far for a day trip.
We are buying the eurail global pass because we will be in Germany for 8 days as well.
Do you think it would be better to use Lucerne as a base instead of Zurich?
Lucerne is beautiful. I used it as my base for about a week of travel and would highly recommend it. Definitely do a boat tour of the lake. As for Zurich, I only arrived at the airport and then took a train to Lucerne, but based on everything I know Lucerne makes for a much better base than Zurich.

I already said in the earlier thread why it may not make sense to buy the rail pass.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by Labmom »

We are currently just south of Zurich visiting our son. It is very warm here , we are from Florida, and getting busy though we haven’t had issues with getting train seats or waits at attractions. We have stayed at both the Marriott and the CY north. If points are no concern stay at the Marriot but the CY was very nice when we stayed a few years ago and easy to get to the train. As others have suggested download the SBB mobile app for train schedules, very easy to use. A trip to Pilitus or Rigi from Lucerne is a fun day. You take a boat ride, a funicular and with Rigi a chair lift ( can’t remember with Pilitus). Try to get to the south - Grindelwald, Wengen area as it’s so beautiful.
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by ellsbebc »

Wife and I are spending four days in Switzerland at end of June with Bern as our “base”. I’ve read Lucerne might serve as better “base”; however, we were late to plan everything and Lucerne hotels were nearly triple the price of what we could get in Bern.

Not claiming our itinerary to be optimal but this is our current plan:

Day 1: land in Zurich, train to Bern to drop bags at hotel, and then head to Lutterbrunnen to see the 72 waterfalls

Day 2: Jungfrau (top of Europe)

Day 3: Matterhorn

Day 4: train back to Zurich to drop bags at hotel near airport. Then head to some combination of Mt Rigi and/or Rhine Falls before navigating back to Zurich for our one-night hotel stay.

Day 5: catch flight from Zurich to London at 7:00am local time
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Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by martiansteeler »

ellsbebc wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:41 pm Wife and I are spending four days in Switzerland at end of June with Bern as our “base”. I’ve read Lucerne might serve as better “base”; however, we were late to plan everything and Lucerne hotels were nearly triple the price of what we could get in Bern.

Not claiming our itinerary to be optimal but this is our current plan:

Day 1: land in Zurich, train to Bern to drop bags at hotel, and then head to Lutterbrunnen to see the 72 waterfalls

Day 2: Jungfrau (top of Europe)

Day 3: Matterhorn

Day 4: train back to Zurich to drop bags at hotel near airport. Then head to some combination of Mt Rigi and/or Rhine Falls before navigating back to Zurich for our one-night hotel stay.

Day 5: catch flight from Zurich to London at 7:00am local time
Be aware that Lauterbrunnen and Jungfrau will cause you to backtrack both days. Staying in Interlachen May be better

Rigi and the Rhine Falls are in totally opposite directions and is near impossible to do both on the same day. Especially if you re going Bern>Zürich first. Suggestion would be train Bern>Lüzern. There are luggage lockers at the Lüzern Train station. Store your bags there. Do Rigi and Lüzern. Pickup your bags, train to Zürich. You may also be able to send your bags on SBB from Bern to Zürich and pickup there (depends on times…you could probably even send to your hotel in Zürich, but that’s probably an overnight thing…talk to your hotel/the SBB counter in Bern)
ellsbebc
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:45 am

Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by ellsbebc »

martiansteeler wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:59 pm
ellsbebc wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:41 pm Wife and I are spending four days in Switzerland at end of June with Bern as our “base”. I’ve read Lucerne might serve as better “base”; however, we were late to plan everything and Lucerne hotels were nearly triple the price of what we could get in Bern.

Not claiming our itinerary to be optimal but this is our current plan:

Day 1: land in Zurich, train to Bern to drop bags at hotel, and then head to Lutterbrunnen to see the 72 waterfalls

Day 2: Jungfrau (top of Europe)

Day 3: Matterhorn

Day 4: train back to Zurich to drop bags at hotel near airport. Then head to some combination of Mt Rigi and/or Rhine Falls before navigating back to Zurich for our one-night hotel stay.

Day 5: catch flight from Zurich to London at 7:00am local time
Be aware that Lauterbrunnen and Jungfrau will cause you to backtrack both days. Staying in Interlachen May be better

Rigi and the Rhine Falls are in totally opposite directions and is near impossible to do both on the same day. Especially if you re going Bern>Zürich first. Suggestion would be train Bern>Lüzern. There are luggage lockers at the Lüzern Train station. Store your bags there. Do Rigi and Lüzern. Pickup your bags, train to Zürich. You may also be able to send your bags on SBB from Bern to Zürich and pickup there (depends on times…you could probably even send to your hotel in Zürich, but that’s probably an overnight thing…talk to your hotel/the SBB counter in Bern)
Appreciate the heads up. As you can probably tell, I’m not the organized type so this is antithesis of my normal vacation of relaxing on the beach.

Not to derail from the OP but anywhere/anything you recommend as must-have for the Swiss travelers?
Globetrttr
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:25 pm
Location: Braves Country

Re: Zurich hotel location recommendations

Post by Globetrttr »

Mrs. Globetrottr and I spent a week in Switzerland a couple summers back, before Covid. It was fantastic. Flew in and out of ZRH, spent one night at Zurich Marriott on the front and back end of the trip, using points. The rest of the time we split between the Berner Oberland/Lauterbrunnen Valley and a couple nights in Luzern.

The Zurich Marriott downtown is directly located on the Limmat River, walkable to Hauptbahnhof rail station and lakefront as others have said. I've also stayed at the Renaissance which is a little less convenient for walking to Hauptbahnhof but still nice, modern.

If I can offer one piece of advice on your itinerary, please don't spend 5 nights in Zurich. You'll quickly realize it's just another city, albeit a very clean and extremely expensive one. In the end, you'll spend too much time going to and from daytrip destinations and that will wear you out. It's worth a day of your time to get your bearings, explore the old town and lakefront, and then move on.

Check out the Rick Steves guide for info on the Berner Oberland (Gimmelwald, Mürren, Wengen, all high above the Lauterbrunnen valley). Lauterbrunnen is about 2.5hr by trains from Zurich. Spend 2-3 nights here or in one of the villages above the valley. Alpine scenery, waterfalls, fresh air, and hiking are breaktaking and fantastic. Prices of eating out & accommodation in basic B&B or small hotels much less expensive and more memorable than Zurich or any other larger Swiss city. All very easy to figure out on the sbb.ch website, also good info on Jungfraubahn (cog railway to Jungfrau summit) at jungfrau.ch & mountain lifts to to the Schilthorn summit at schilthorn.ch.
Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked. - W. Buffett
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