Greetings all,

Need some help fom yol. A cousin of mine is visiting me from Canada for 2 nights / 3 days while on his Europe trip with his new wife. They are about 27 yrs old. They will be arriving tomorrow Tuesday lunchtime and leaving on Thursday evening. I will be with them showing them around. We are very close and I really looking forward to having them over.

The question is, what should I show them? What should we do? If you only had 3 days in Zürich, what would you do? What would you like to see? Where would you like to eat? Trips? Excursions? Please recommend!

What I've come up with is the following:

Day 1 lunchtime: Take the train to Rapperswil, visit the town, see the old Church / Castle and have a meal by the lake. Then take the boat from Rapperswil to Bürkliplatz, Zürich enjoying the scenery from the water. Have a couple of drinks at the lake. Dinner at a Swiss restaurant, Zeughauskeller perhaps?

Day 2: Morning, take the train to Luzern and spend the day there enjoying all the sights. I've never been to Luzern so would really appreciate any hints or tips that you can give me. Where to eat lunch? What to see? I'll try and get some info online. Return to Zürich in the evening and enjoy a couple of drinks at the lake. Dinner ... don't know where! Any cuisine!

Day 3: Morning, shop for some Swiss souveniers and buy Swiss chocolates. Where is the best place to get chocolates? Then go to Greifensee, relax in the peaceful greenery, swim a little and do a small lunch BBQ. Return to the house, pack and off to the airport.

I would really appreciate if you could respond with a few recommendations of what to see, where to go and what to do.

Many Many Thanks

In case you can go out of Zurich and set aside one day, make a reservation for:

Get them a Tageskarte and take them on the Glacier Express ( Zurich HB to St. Moritz to Zermatt [ 7.5hrs ] and back to Zurich HB ) which goes over 291 bridges and 91 tunnels 2033m altitude - the world's slowest fast train.

I would change day 2 as Luzern is not as interesting as Zurich and will give a 'more of the same' feeling. I would take the train to Chur and from there the 'zahnrad'train to Arosa. Here you can go on a small hike, especially in combination with a cablecar you can go up really high and get a good mountain feeling

I'd stick with Luzern and go up Pilatus. It's fantastic up there.

You could plan Interlaken for a day, thats my favorite place, on your way back you could hop by Luzern. I have been to Interlaken around 4 times and still never had enough of it. In Zurich I like the lakeside from Wollishofen I find it less crowed than the Bellevue side.

Luzern is nice but a bit quiet and same-ish; a whole day of it may be too much. Why not go to Rigi in the morning, then spend the afternoon/evening in Luzern? If you come down the far side of Rigi (to Vitznau instead of back to Arth-Goldau), you can get the boat from Vitznau to Luzern.

On Thursday morning, I'd consider showing them around town a bit instead of going to the Greifensee. You know them best, of course, and maybe they're not keen on cities - but it sounds like you're only going to be in Zürich for souvenir shopping and drinks on the lake.

Rigi's brilliant: It involves almost no walking at all (there's a cog wheel railway), you get a wonderful view over the Alps, the Zugersee and Lake Luzern, and, best of all, you can buy a sausage and a cup of hot chocolate at the top!

Of the restaurants in Luzern, I can recommend the Fritschi on Sternenplatz: An old, wood panelled restaurant, serving the usual Swiss staples (cheese, pork and potatoes in various combinations), with Fastnacht themed decorations. It's very cosy, and, in my opinion, at the better end of the 'swiss food for tourists' spectrum.

In Zurich, you can't miss the Odeon cafe at Bellevue: A splendid art nouveau cafe, formerly frequented by the likes of James Joyce, Mussolini and Lenin, now frequented by gentlemen with small dogs, wannabe-European backpackers wearing berets and reading Camus, off-duty musicians from the Opera House and fat yam yams.

Just opposite, if chiccy-miccy is your thing, there is also the Cafe Felix, a camp paradise of roses, chocolate, gilt edged mirrors and elderly Grafins smelling of urine and talcum powder. It's magnificent! I'd recommend the cioccolata densa.

I would stick with Luzern. Go up to Pilatus during the day.
It offers spectacular views. In the afternoon, take a trip
down to the Ratshausbrauerei. The brewery. It is just
to the left of the old bridge.

Good grief, the stuff I was going to recommend has been already mentioned by 3 different posters!!

So I would concur that the trip up to Rigi is lovely, the cafe at the top do an excellent Bratwurst, and the Rathaus Brauerei is a very nice spot for some lunch in luzern (they do a very nice Bretzel with a pastrami, mustard and pickle filling - ideal with a cool, refreshing beer)

Excellent suggestions everyone ! More than enough to plan the next 3 days!

Thanks a lot. Much appreciated.

For Chocolates I would strongly recommend to visit the chocolate factory at Schooren. I think you have some plan to Bürkliplatz. if you have some time, you can take bus no 165 from Bürkliplatz to Kilchberg, Schooren
Not a bad deal for travelling for just 13 minutes ( single way)
Also, you have beautiful sea/lake views besides factory. you can have good quality and a variety of Lindtz choclates. I guess rates are lower too compared to same stuff in local markets or shops in HB or some where else.
If you dont have time, I would lend up in denner and take whatever suits.

Just my 2 cents too

http://citytours.googlelabs.com/search

Input Zurich, Switzerland.

The Lindt factory is only open on certain days, I have a good feeling about Thursdays, but just be careful and check it out first. It does have relatively cheap chocolate and really pretty ones that you don't often see in the shops, worth a trip for tourists and as said before its right on the lake and the view is beautiful!

Like many have said, I say stick with Luzern and go to Pilatus, it has the steepest cog train in the world and the views are magnificent. You can even opt to hike part way down (we took the cable car for some, and hiked for other bits), it's really easy walking.

This isn't really a practical round trip from Zurich in one day. You would be looking at over 14 hours on trains without any connection times or sightseeing in St. Moritz or Zermatt.

I have taken the Glacier Express from St. Moritz to Zermatt. Whilst it is a great experience, I don't consider it to be the best train journey in Switzerland. Personally, I found the Bernina Express to be a better journey. The variety of scenery is far greater. This would still be a long day from Zurich. Around 11 hours on the trains.

Compare the different scenic routes with Panoramic videos: Details

Some of the other suggestions such as Rigi or Pilatus seem to be more practical for a day trip.

Amazing suggestions. When I open my Travel Agency online, I will be certain to come here for help!

On the way to the airport to pick'em up now. Hope the blooming weather clears up!

For the chocolates, I would suggest to have a look at www.yanickfee.com; they do have amazing chocolates and on top of that they only sell organic products!!

All the visits I have had wanted something that they couldn't find back at home (globalisation!!) and Yanick & Fée did the trick. Best place to find them is at Marinello (Hauptbahnhof and others)!!

BTW Any typical Swiss towns that you might recommend at a max. a couple of hours drive/train from Zurich?

Enjoy!!

Depends really, I like Chur but that may a bit too big for a typical Swiss town.

Although it get's overrun with tourists I think Altdorf retains a certain Swiss feel, it is very much a working town but with lots to do. You could easily fill a day out here and it's only about 90mins via train and bus from Zurich. Typical Itinerary for Altdorf and surrounds, get the bus to Burglen, another 15 mins past Altdorf. Get off at the Tell Museum (I mean depart the bus not enjoy it in an excessive way). You could easily spend an hour there, then walk back to Altdorf through the country paths that have around 10 stopping points en-route that tell the story of Willian Tell and Swiss folklore in nice bitesize chunks. Then go for lunch at one of the many restaurants (though my fave is Nussbaumli on the mountainside). Have a nice relaxing walk around the town for an hour or so. With the space you left after lunch enjoy a lovely afternoon tea/coffee and a cake at Danioths, have a look at Telldenkmal. Bus back to Fluelen (or walk the mountain path behind the town takes about 30 mins to Fluelen) have a couple of hours in Fluelen by the quayside, see the Gotthard crystals in the church, if the exhibition is still on, then catch a paddle steamer to Brunnen. Walk through Brunnen to the station and hey presto you are back on your way to Zurich!

As an alternative there are some lovely walks from the top of the Eggberge cable car station between Altdorf and Fluelen if the William Tell trail aint your thing.

(I should work for the bloody tourist board!)

Hi, I'm not sure if your visitors have arrived yet, but I would take them on the boat (Burkiplatz to Rapperswil), look around Rapperswil, then get train back to Zurich HB, from there go up the Uetliberg (I think its an S10 Train - I think!).

Luzern - I found it a bit boring but its ok for a look around, but Mt. Pilatus is great, excellent views of countryside on one side and a 'sea' of Alps on the other! Gorgeous! Take the Cogwheel up and the Cable Car down.

Have fun!

Great advice from Mathnut. I take all my guests on that route. It's a fantastic day that any even remotely-conscious ;-) soul would love. Check the weather of course first and have a plan b in case of rain. Cheers.

actually I'd make one slight change with the greatest of respect for Mathnut: take the gondola down to weggis instead of the train to weggis's neighboring village of vitnau. it's more scenic, quicker and you can take the boat straight to lucerne. In the end though, it's a great day out either way.