Travelling to Switzerland for New Year 08

January 3, 2008 2:28 AM

We're planning a trip to Switzerland for New Year 2008, but have little clue about the country. Advice welcomed!

I'm British, by the way.

The party will include myself, my sister + brother-in-law, and my parents (65 and 70). I include ages because my parents have limited mobility and use walking sticks -- walking anything over around 100 metres is a long distance for them. They also haven't travelled outside the UK before.

I hear the best way of visiting expensive Switzerland is to stay on the German border and travel in by train when you want to, but I don't know where or how. We intend to travel by first-class Eurostar and then use various continental railways, which my sister + brother-in-law have done many times before. Flying is out of the question for various reasons.

So advice is welcomed on the best places to stay, plus things to do, and the best and most comfortable way to travel with two elderly people who have limited mobility, especially bearing in mind all this is taking place across New Year (for example, what are buses like over there? What about car hire?).

Note that it really is a trip for them more than us, so we wouldn't be adverse to spending time in places created and geared-around pensioners.

posted by long haired lover from liverpool to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Switzerland is quite expensive, but I'm not sure you'd save a whole lot by regularly taking the train into Switzerland with that many people. Deutsche Bahn is expensive - without a BahnCard, you're looking at anywhere between 70 and 150 EUR one way from Stuttgart to Zurich. But if you want to stay in a major German city, the Stuttgart->Zurich ICE takes about 3 hours and is super nice in first class, making it reasonable as a launching point for day trips. Going further south, like to Geneva, would probably require you to bite the expense and stay in Switzerland proper.
posted by cmonkey at 3:00 AM on January 3, 2008

Switzerland-born brit here :)

I second what cmonkey said wrt expensive train travel from Germany. My advice would be to go to somewhere in central Switzerland, like Lucerne. It's the town I grew up in, and has lots to offer in terms of touristy stuff to do, like hiking in the mountains (Pilatus and Rigi mountains), boating (everything from smaller boats to big paddle steamers on Lake Lucerne), ye olde rustical parte of towne, etc.
Also, because it's in central Switzerland, anywhere else you wanna go to (Zurich, Berne, Geneva) is 1-3 hours away by train, max.

what are buses like over there?
VERY good. Public transport in itself is really well done. Clean and comfortable.

What about car hire?
Best bet would be to go with Mobility.ch.
posted by slater at 3:11 AM on January 3, 2008

I really loved Lucerne. I haven't travelled extensively in Europe but it is definitely one of the favorites of the places I've seen.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:30 AM on January 3, 2008

Switzerland will host half of the Euro 2008 football competition. If you don't enjoi enthusiastic crowds avoid the swiss cities in June. On the other hand, if watching these games is the reason you're taking this trip...
posted by Baud at 4:45 AM on January 3, 2008

Deutsche Bahn is expensive - without a BahnCard, you're looking at anywhere between 70 and 150 EUR one way from Stuttgart to Zurich.

Where did you get that number? A first-class one-way ticket is always 74 Euros, but there's really no reason to buy that, even the second class section on ICE trains is a lot nicer than the first class on most other trains. A second class ticket is 45 Euros and if you book three days in advance and print out your own ticket, it's only 19 Euros.
posted by snownoid at 4:49 AM on January 3, 2008

Where did you get that number? A first-class one-way ticket is always 74 Euros

Oops, you're right, bahn.de was showing my last search, which was Nürnberg to Zurich, which costs upwards of 150 EUR if bahn.de hates your credit cards like it hates mine.
posted by cmonkey at 5:10 AM on January 3, 2008

Switzerland will host half of the Euro 2008 football competition. If you don't enjoi enthusiastic crowds avoid the swiss cities in June. On the other hand, if watching these games is the reason you're taking this trip...

The title of the thread is "Travelling to Switzerland for New Year 08".
posted by afx237vi at 7:42 AM on January 3, 2008

I'll just add that the public transportation is amazing, but walking is a way of life there. You can step out of your home in the suburbs, get a bus to the train station, and end up anywhere on the continent without walking a mile. But, once you get there, you're going to be walking. I'm just throwing this out there as an American - I was walking 3 or 4 miles every day I was there and it's a mountainous country. I enjoyed it, but your parents may find it difficult at times. Just something to consider when you plan your daily activities.
posted by Mr. Banana Grabber at 8:01 AM on January 3, 2008

I live near Basel, which is on the border to Germany and France, just on the edge of the Black Forest. It would be perfectly feasible to stay somewhere in Germany, like Freiberg or (closer but less attractive) Loerrach, and travel into Basel by train.

Basel is well worth visiting in its own right, there is plenty to see and like other Swiss cities Basel has an excellent public transport system (trains, trams and buses).

If you wanted to go further afield to see other cities or mountain scenery , the train network is ideal and would allow you to travel to Bern (1 hour), Zurich (1 hour) or Geneva. You could also easily travel to Colmar or Strasbourg in France.
posted by booksprite at 8:08 AM on January 3, 2008