Hi everyone,

I've just foundthis site and need some urgent advice (moving to bern in 3-4 weeks!) we are flying over with our cat (in the cabin) and dog (in the hold as XS baggage). Really keen to hear from anyone who has taken pets over recently as I need advice on paperwork needed (other than pet passport). Also, advice on if I can take them both on the train from zurich airport to Bern and then on the trams.

I guess you have already booked Dog and Fat Cat's transport....? If not, i think you need to call the airline / movers urgently - as far as I know, pets are no allowed in the cabin from London. The transport company should be able to tell you the paperwork needed.

We moved first to Luxembourg before ending up in CH. Lux doesn't have an animal reception unit, so we had to either send Large Cat and our edition of Fat Cat to Frankfurt, or by road. Road worked out more practical.

As for the train/trams on arrival...Fat Cat in carrier should be no problem normally, but I'm guessing you'll already have lots of baggag and either excited or stressed kids. Not sure about dogs. However given that both pets will have already gone through a lot of new experiences and noises that day, I really think it would be kinder to go by car (maybe book a large hire car for a couple of days to get everyone to Bern, then yo can return it to the airport and go home (bern! Not uk) by train after th hectic arrival day is over.

thanks for replying (4.40am in uk and I can't sleep!). We are booking flights with swiss air and have confirmed that cat can go in cabin with us and dog can go in hold as excess.

Think you may be right about driving. My husband is already out there and if we fly on the fri then he will be in our new home with removal firm, so I'm on my own getting from the airport. (Desparetly trying to get key the night beofre so we can fly on that day and although we'll be sleeping on air beds at least we'll be there, and hubby can help collect us!)

do you know what paperwork I need (other than the passport for them?) I'm not using a shipping company for the pets but doing it myself.

From memory....but for road transport...pet passport showing up to date vaccinations including rabies was all I needed to get them into Switzerland. Air travel is different though.

Now...go make a cup of tea, eat a chocolate hobnob and i hope you sleep better tonight!

Hi Jube, welcome to the forum.

Pets are fine on public transport, as long as you have a ticket for dog, but I would second heckenhocker on the "drive if you can" front - I've seen plenty of stressed dogs cowering under the seats on the trams to think that it's the last thing they need after a flight from the UK.

Where in Bern will you be living?

Defin. agree about driving - just shows neither myself or hubby are thinking straight at the mo! Hubby is entitled to a car from the point that the family move over, so I think I will have him arrange for me to be able to collect it from Zurich Airport. Do you know if the collection point for hire cars is near to arrivals? Are there any hire firms that have nearer collection points than the others?

(We're moving to the outskirts of Worb as the boys are going to go to the Intern. School in Gumligen.)

Just in case you have not seen this in other posts, everything you need to know re: the legalities of importing a dog, cat, or ferret can be found in this app from the BVet website:

http://bvet.bytix.com/plus/dbr/default.aspx?lang=en

Gute Reise!

I've looked on the zürich airport website and can't find anything useful there (http://www.zurich-airport.com/), and can't advise you re hire car collection points since we haven't needed a car since arriving here, although I would imagine they would be fairly close to the exit.

Is there any chance that your husband could get the car beforehand and pick you up from the airport (I'm assuming that he's already in Switzerland), after all you'll be juggling all your luggage and pets and there's only so much your boys will be able to help with...

...and Worb is a lovely village. My son goes to ice hockey at the Worb Eishalle, so we spend quite a bit of time there.

Best of luck with the move!

When we came here in 2007 from the US, we flew in the day before, stayed in a hotel near the airport, and the dog came a day later. She had better connections.

After you arrive and grab your luggage, you walk across to the parking/shopping/train area and car rentals are there as well. You can then drive to the "fracht" (freight) area to get your pup. It's a short distance, and I'd hope that someone can direct you there.That would be the easiest.

Worb is really lovely, I used to live in Belp, on the other side of the A6, and would sometimes shop in Worb. It's a really pretty area, great views.

The ideal would be that my husband picks us up but at the mo, unless I can persuade the landlord to give us access the day before, we will be flying in the same day that the removal lorry will be arriving so he will be busy there with them. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I've having kittens about it! I'm just about to email our relocation person to see if there is any way we can stay in the house the day before, so at least hubby can collect us and I know the whole family is there before the removals people.

The car rental at Zurich airport is walking distance-it is in the shopping area in the airport and there is no shuttle bus required (it's a small airport). The rental companies are listed here:

http://www.zurich-airport.com/deskto...spx/tabid-301/

I don't know if you've looked into a hotel, but here is a list of pet-friendly hotels:
http://www.dogfriendly.com/server/tr...tzerland.shtml

Also, for your pet needs, you can get supplies from: www.qualipet.ch