Switzerland: Geneva, Bern, or Zurich?

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Petra_au

I have been to Switzerland twice and much prefer to travel outside of the larger cities.
You will probably be arriving in either Zurich or Geneva
...and from there you can easily travel towards the Alps.

If arriving in Zurich (the train station is under the airport), I would suggest a stay in the very popular city of Lucerne (Luzern), which is less than an hour away by train. It's a lovely little medieval city built on the edge of a huge lake, surrounded by mountains. From there you can choose from a number of boat trips on the lake and fantastic trips up into the mountains, such as Mt Pilatus and Mt. Rigi.

From Lucerne, you can take a wonderful, scenic train journey up to the lovely ski resort town of Zermatt...with a stunning view of the Matterhorn as a backdrop. A cog railway trip up to Gornergrat for closer views of the Matterhorn is a must.

I have only been to Geneva once, and from what I saw, it's also a lovely city. From there, you can travel by train along Lake Geneva and head towards Montreaux & Vevey to visit the 13th century fortress, Chateau de Chillon...and then head up into the alps to Zermatt.

There are a number of fantastic scenic train journeys available around Switzerland...and I suggest you try at least one.

Train travel can be quite expensive in Switzerland, so I suggest you get a travel pass of some kind. It's best to plan your preferred route first and then buy a pass which suits you the most.

Also, I recommend you get a good travel book on Switzerland (Lonely Planet is excellent)...so you can get an idea of which places and what scenery you would most like to experience.

Good luck...you will absolutely adore breathtakingly, beautiful Switzerland.

Viv

Zurich is nice but not so close to the mountains. I would say it is not worth the detour. Geneva is said to look exactly like Zurich. I really found Bern very beautiful, but it is also farther from the mountains. If you really want to see mountains go to Interlaken and from there you can do some serious hiking.

HILARIE BURTON

GENEVA

READ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva

http://www.10best.com/Geneva/Sights_&_Activities/Sightseeing/index.html

http://www.letsgo.com/destinations/europe/all/discover/itineraries.php

http://www.unige.ch/aijjr/ische26/en/transportation.html

HAVE A GREAT TIME IN THE SWISS ALPS

langstrumpf

If you like mountains I recommend you bern. Bern is very close to some very famous mountains (like eiger mĆ¶nch and jungfrau) Bern is a very old city where napoleon used to live to. It has got a very beautiful old city, where they even have a circle with real bears in it.

zĆ¼rich is also very nice, but its not as close to the big mountains as bern is.

huguenot85

Like someone else said, neither of these cities are in the Alps and from personal experience I would try to avoid the cities as they are crowded and the people tend to be a little cold. The countryside is beautiful and I would recommend staying in the Geneva area, but far enough away from the city to just enjoy the scenery.

pblcbox

Geneva, sitting as it does on the lake of the same name and surrounded by mountains, is an area of staggering beauty. From there, you'll be able to head just about anywhere you wish in Switzerland, so I'd recommend starting there and taking day-trips to other locales.

Goddess of Grammar

Bern is prettiest, Zurich has the most to do, but none of them are close enough to the Alps to count as visiting the Alps.

Go to Mount Titlis or Davos.

ERICCHANEY

I have to say you are very lucky in going to Switzerland. I was raised ther in Berne for 4 years before going to the United States. My father was a diplomat. I have been back often to visit friends and just reexplore with my son and wife. I have to say that of all the cities mentioned the least favorite would be Zurich. While it is a nice city it is not really what people think of Switzerland. I am biased toward Berne since I lived there, but I must say that it is a great city to explore. It is truly a beautiful city if you like old buildings, good food and excellent beer. On the down side though, in the past several years Berne has become more of a city with its increase in trash and graffiti.
Last time we went ot switzerland we ventured out to a place called Kandersteg. It was wonderful and we hiked and walked everywhere. It was very old fashioned small town Switzerland. (the best) Food was excellent and the train runs in and out almost every hour. We stayed ata chalet called the Chalet Favorita which had 3 bedrooms, fully equiped kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a dining/ living room. What a wonderful place. I found it on www.myswitzerland.com . Another great site would be www.kandersteg.ch . Many Swiss cities and towns have there own web sites to help you through. If you go for any length of time consider renting a house or chalet. It is much cheaper and more enjoyable. Chalet Favorita was about 900.00 dollars for 10 days. Geneva is also a beautiful city although different that the German side of Switzerland. There are many wonderful site there to see not the least is the fountain. If oyu do not speak much french the people of Geneva certainly speak english well. A word of advice. Try to learn at least the basic Please, thank you and good day in the language. It will get you a much bigger smile and probably more help. I really hope you enjoy.

Cleareyes

Neither of those cities are actually in the Alps but only a little over an hour away by train. I lived in Switzerland for 5 years and know a thing about it. They are not very big cities and only about 3 hours apart by train. So you can see both cities if you like. The view from the train, traveling from Zurich to Geneva is very nice. Personally I love Zurich, it's a party town with lots of shopping and interesting people. Geneva is beautiful too though, especially the lake and the views from the north side of the lake looking into the French Alps. You can take the train into the Alps from either city for a day or 2 side trip. It depends on what you want to do, how long you will stay and how much money you want to spend and how adventurous you are, skiing, hiking, partying, shopping, walking through the old parts of town...Spend a couple days in Zermatt and see the Matterhorn...it's so beautiful, clean and quiet. No cars are allowed in the town, it can only be reached by train...enjoy, I wish I could come too, email me if you have any questions.

kiwi

I'd go yo Geneva or Bern (I live in Bern) The beauty of Geneva is that it sits on a lake. I wouldn't go to Zurich though.

xocourtneyox412

I think you should go to Zurich. It is beatiful there. The alps are gorgeous and it is a very nice city. Have fun!

theizzardking

well you'd want to gte out of the cities and just do the drive i flew in to genva rented a motorcycle and drove the loop around the country i really think this is the best way of doing it if you pick one city then you missed the whole country and you'll find out most big cities are the same so if you must only choose one city choose the smallest
smallest=less tourist=more locals=more of a real experiance
i mean when you got to paris the louve is surrounded by mickyd's and satrbucks totally killing the air of europe....im starting to get on a rant here about america screwing up other countries...but anyways i've been around the world 3 times now and have always found the best places are most often the smallest also the drive from the swiss alps to mont blanc in france in amazing and the motor bike only cost like 150 bucks for a week truely an amzing way to see the mountians

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