Hi all,

Been living in Geneva for 5 weeks now and we are looking to make our first little trip to see a little bit of Switzerland. We plan to take a couple of days in september and do a 4 day trip up to Zurich with a stop in Bern along the way, 2 days in each.

Old cities and cable car trips are fairly obvious options but are there any other suggestions of things to see or do in either of these cities? Personal favs, must sees? We will be travelling reasonably light with no hiking gear or anything like that, probably just relaxing around the cities themselves and seeing the sights is more where this trip is headed.

Any hotel or restaurant tips also greatly appreciated, 'authentic' or genuine swiss stuff especially, I can stay at the Hilton back in Australia if I wanted...

Thanks in advance for the plethora of responses

Sam.

The Kornhaus Keller in Bern is a great place for dinner. After dinner you can have a drink on the "bar floor". It's in the middle of Bern. Also, if you've not visited Luzerne yet, it's defiantly a place to visit.

Bern for a day
things to do in and around Bern
Any one got any good restaurant recommendations in Bern?
Restaurants in Bern
Things to do/see in Zurich
Restaurant tips - general for Zurich

Personally, I don't think there's much to see in Zurich that are extremely interesting.
Luzern, Stein am Rhein, Schloss Kyburg are few places I enjoyed though.

Not knowing your taste and interests it is difficult reccommending anything. With 4 days you should definitely explore the old towns of Berne and Lucerne and give Zurich a miss. Go to the tourist offices on these main railway stations and you will get all the information matched to your needs and tastes.

Many Swiss towns will sell you day tickets for the train, they cost about 35 to 40 Francs. You can probably buy them at the building where you first registered. On another trip maybe take the train to Lugano to see the Italian side of Switzerland. Or to Zermatt for the day, it's about 3 hours 45 minutes single trip.

O.k, so the general vibe I'm getting from reading around is that there is not an awful amount to do in both places but most ppl tend to use them as a base for exploring out into the mountains and nearby towns etc.

We still want to see the actual cities though but maybe we will spend a night in Bern, then one in Luzern then one in Zurich, dividing the time between all 3...

That's what I would do. But don't be undersold on them. All three are very nice cities. If the weather is nice and you can stay outside you'll have plenty to do and see. The train ride from Geneva to Bern via Fribourg is nice too. Much better than from the autoroute. Not so interesting from Bern to Zurich.

You can spend a day strolling around in Zurich - it's well worth it. Go on Uetliberg for example, great view of the city and lake. And has a nice restaurant on the top

Hi, I am quite surprised some say Zurich isn't interesting or that they isn't much to do in those cities... Well it depends on what you are interested in! In Bern there is nice shopping to do (or maybe just walking around the shops) down the arcades to the cathedral which is also very nice. If the weather is nice, you can walk along the Aar river or even have a swim (hum, maybe a little cold now...) They are also museums, if you like contemporary art I would recommend "Kunsthaus" and "Kunstmuseum". In Zurich, the old-city is really nice, you can also take advantage of the water spots (near the Limmat river there is a lot of places to take some sun or to have a drink). You can have a walk to Üetliberg as someone else said or even "Züriberg" (those are nice places to walk or even grill some sausages and the view on Zurich is very pretty). For museums they are loads of them (check the tourist office). If you enjoy nightlife you will also find good parties, at least at the end of the week or on weekends. Have a nice trip!

yes it really comes down to interest.

I once went on vacation to Zürich for a week and didn't have the time to do everything that was planned. The girlfriend was a bit miffed that she had to leave a day earlier than me.

Most days were super busy visiting museums, going around town, seeing the different neighbourhoods etc. Little to no actual shopping either!