Which city to visit in Switzerland?

Which city to visit in Switzerland?

Author
Discussion

Wynn432

Original Poster:

42 posts

76 months

Wednesday 26th March
quotequote all
We want to have a long weekend in Switzerland, never been before, which city would be best for a first time visit for newbies?

Wynn432

Original Poster:

42 posts

76 months

Wednesday 26th March
quotequote all
The initial message was deleted from this topic on 27 March 2025 at 19:11

Doofus

29,629 posts

184 months

Wednesday 26th March
quotequote all
Why do you want to go, if you don't know why you want to go?

moles

1,804 posts

255 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Dont go to a city go to interlaken. Close to the bond baddie lair, Eiger, amazing scenery train that takes you to the top of Europe.

Vasco

17,819 posts

116 months

Thursday
quotequote all
It's not a place for cities. The scenery and smaller towns are the big attractions.

Fast and Spurious

1,707 posts

99 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Vasco said:
It's not a place for cities. The scenery and smaller towns are the big attractions.
+1
Or Bruges.

Jonathan27

735 posts

175 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Vasco said:
It's not a place for cities. The scenery and smaller towns are the big attractions.
Agreed, but if you do want to do a city break there I'd pick Genève over Zurich. Both great cities but Genève is beautiful whereas Zurich would be better described as smart and efficient.

By the way its insanely expensive.

Sylvias_Father

54 posts

40 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Lucerne - beautiful medieval architecture and at the base of the Alps.

+1 for the expense - £140 for pizza for 4, and that was 10 years ago...

RayDonovan

5,295 posts

226 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Zurich for me..

Fast and Spurious

1,707 posts

99 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Innsbruck.

thepritch

1,444 posts

176 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Fast and Spurious said:
Innsbruck.
Think you need some caffeine! We forgive you, it’s early wink

TwigtheWonderkid

45,533 posts

161 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Lucerne is lovely.

But all those mentioned are nice too.

Guyr

2,397 posts

293 months

Thursday
quotequote all
We stayed in Lucerne last year and really enjoyed it, plus it is near-ish to the mountains (which is the best part of Switzerland IMHO).

Zurich is a long way away from the mountains and Geneva is just a very big city.

Obviously it depends on what you want to see (city vs mountains).

As said above it's very very expensive. We drove in from Germany and almost everything apart from beer and petrol doubled in price.

Edited by Guyr on Thursday 27th March 09:20

Guyr

2,397 posts

293 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Fast and Spurious said:
Innsbruck.
It is lovely, but is in Austria. smile

thepritch

1,444 posts

176 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Guyr said:
It is lovely, but is in Austria. smile
After I posted earlier, I had a look at their other posts. Should have clocked their username sooner. Spurious indeed.


Gladers01

1,029 posts

59 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Wynn432 said:
We want to have a long weekend in Switzerland, never been before, which city would be best for a first time visit for newbies?
We flew to Geneva and used the excellent trains as much as possible to visit Gstaad, Zermatt and Chamonix, the cable car ride up the Matterhorn is worth a trip as it travels through the clouds on an overcast day to bright sunshine and blue skies with the most amazing views.

More of a 5 day weekend for us and expensive for sure, however the flights are cheap as chips which offsets the overall costs. smile



some bloke

1,288 posts

78 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Tbh I find most of the cities in Switzerland, and the country as a whole dull and uninspiring.

The flag's a big plus, though.

eyebeebe

3,306 posts

244 months

Thursday
quotequote all
I‘ve lived in Switzerland for over 15 years. What time of year are you thinking and what do you want to achieve?

Fluffsri

3,264 posts

207 months

As above, go to interlaken area. We did a weekend in Zurich a few years ago and it was nice but its a city. We did Interlaken for 4 nights last year and managed to visit Thun, Grindlewold, Zermatt and some other random places in the mountains. Its a great area to visit.

CLK-GTR

1,383 posts

256 months

Lucerne, Lugano, Interlaken. If you really want a proper city Zurich is OK.