Zurich Pre Cruise ?

[honumaui]

Am planing Zurich to Amsterdam on Avalon next year. Has anyone done pre nights in Zurich ? The hotel they use is inexpensive but is near the airport. What is there to do in Zurich ? Is it worth a two night pre or post cruise extension ?

[mathladyca]

pre or post stays organized by the cruise company are notoriously more expensive than doing it yourself. We are staying 3 nights in Lucerne before our Basel to Amsterdam cruise and are saving at least $300 a person by doing the organization ourselves. Consider Lucerne- you will get a better Swiss experience than Zurich. Your cruise will leave from Basel too.

[WatchHill]

We spent a few days post crusie in Zurich and vey much enjoyed the city and surrounding area. We booked the Renaissance, located outside the city, not far from the airport, but on a tram route - transportation to and from the city was far beyond what we have ever experience in the US. It's a wonderful walking city, lots of stores along Bahnhofstrasse, major banking center, and great dining options. For fun, we went to Liechtenstein.

 

We also spent two nights in Luzern, another great adventure.

 

Given the cost of the package through AMA or any river cruise company, it was much less doing the land portion on our own. Food prices were high, but it's a vacation.

 

Darcy

[happy77]

We spent a few days post crusie in Zurich and vey much enjoyed the city and surrounding area. We booked the Renaissance, located outside the city, not far from the airport, but on a tram route - transportation to and from the city was far beyond what we have ever experience in the US. It's a wonderful walking city, lots of stores along Bahnhofstrasse, major banking center, and great dining options. For fun, we went to Liechtenstein.

 

We also spent two nights in Luzern, another great adventure.

 

Given the cost of the package through AMA or any river cruise company, it was much less doing the land portion on our own. Food prices were high, but it's a vacation.

 

Darcy

How did you get from Zurich to Lucern. We are thinking of the same thing in Sept. only in reverse, Basel to Lucern to Zurich. Did you take a train and if so, about how much was it?

Nan

[WatchHill]

Nan, we took the train between cities. Since we did the reverse of your plans, we took a cab from the boat to the Basel train station and picked up our train to Luzern where we spent a few days. It was an easy stroll from the Luzern station to the Renaissance hotel, even with luggage. For the next leg of our trip, we took a noon train to the Zurich train station. In Zurich we purchased tram tickets for 3 days of travel.The trams were located ouside the station. Very easy to follow the route maps. Our hotel, the Renaissance Zurich, was outside the city, yet very conveniently located on the tram line and close to the airport for our return trip to the states.

 

Check Swiss rail online for pre purchase of tickets - they seem to have specials and it's cheaper than buying a la carte. Can't remember the exact fare, but it was a lot cheaper than Amtrak for a similar distance.

 

Oops, I just found the folder.....one ticket is marked 18CHF, and the other is 23CHF. The trams ran us about 10CHF's for 3 days and nobody asked for

 

the tickets.

 

Darcy

[mathladyca]

Nan - the swiss rail site is at http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html . You can see the times routes and prices. It takes awhile to get the hang of using it but it is very efficient. It only allows to ck times 30 days in advance but times will not change much.

No need to buy advance tickets.

For example there are usually at least 2 trains per hr from Lucerne to Zurich, One to airport, others to downtown station.

[happy77]

Thanks to both of you. We know that trains are the best way to travel. What did you do while in Lucern? Sounds like an awesome place to visit.

Nan

[WatchHill]

Nan - our hotel gave us Luzern passes to use for discounted prices at many locations - not enough time to do it all. We first walked over to the Chapel Bridge and checked out restaurants and shops. Other tourist things we did included a trip to Mt Pilatus, a boat ride on the lake, saw the lion monument and attended a folklore show.

 

There are guide city walks, too. Ask at your hotel for current times and meeting place - some include tram or yacht trip.

 

Oh, we did pre-purchase the rail tickets for 35% off the going rate - even today, there are discounts on the SBB site.

 

Darcy

[mathladyca]

Go to the Lucerne site on trip advisor and there is lots of good info on what to do. For sure you will want to do the Mt Pilatus or Mt Rigi trip or both.

Be careful buying tickets online in advance. Most of them are non-refundable or non-transferable if you do not make the time you book.