We visited three Swiss cities over 5 days – Zurich, Basel and Lucerne – for a sightseeing road trip and to check out the Christmas Markets. There was a marked difference between the three cities and the Christmas Markets too and we learned a lot of do’s and dont’s which we may remember for our next visit!
- Recommended days 5
- Budget £££
- Difficulty Easy
Driving in Switzerland
Switzerland, in the cities at least, was one of the most difficult places I have ever had to drive. The roads were fabulous quality and I don’t think we encountered a single pot hole during our road trip. The signage however was diabolical and the road design was different to anything I have experienced.
Signs often didn’t have destinations, just a motorway symbol even though their are multiple motorways ahead or all three lanes go in different directions, all signposted to the same place with no road numbers. In the cities there seemed to be very few roundabouts or exits so the roads were constantly splitting off and if you were in the wrong land you were stuck. Tram lanes were often poorly marked – just writing on the road which you couldn’t see if there were cars in front.
Once out of the cities driving was a pleasure with fabulous scenery and an excellent road surface. The tunnels, there are a lot of them, were well lit and well maintained.
For reference, at the time we visited 1 CHF was about 1.07 EUR or £0.89.
Our Accommodation
We stayed in three different hotels during this trip and these were chosen largely for location and parking availability with budget also a factor.
The Moxy in Rapperswil is a budget hotel from the Marriott chain. We found this a fantastic base with an underground car park (35 CHF a night) that was about 5 minutes walk from the historic town centre. The room was clean, modern and basic but had everything we needed other than a kettle. The staff were engaging and there was a nice lounge too.
Hotel Aldstadt in Zurich was, as its name suggests, in Zurich old town. Parking wasn’t actually on site but in a public car park nearby and cost 37 CHF overnight with the hotel discount. The room was small and basic but perfectly adequate and the included breakfast certainly helped with budgeting.
Our final two nights were in the Hilton Garden Inn at Spreitenbach, west of Zurich. This was chosen as a base, being near several motorways and a lot easier to navigate than having to drive out of Zurich. Parking was 17 CHF per night and the room was excellent, a good size and well equipped. Being a Hilton Honors Diamond member meant that breakfast was included too. There was also a decent fitness room that we made use of a few times.
Day 1 – Zurich Airport to Rapperswil
The drive to Rapperswil was a wonderful introduction to Switzerland. The sky was a crisp blue, the roads were wonderful and we had lovely views. We parked at the Moxy hotel, checked in and then walked into the old town. Unfortunately the Christmas Market on the lakeside didn’t start until the 5th but we walked along the promenade before taking the wooden bridge.
Rapperswil Holzbrucke
The Holzbrucke is a modern replacement (2001) of a 14th century construction that was constantly destroyed by war or the weather. It is the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland (almost 1km) and is part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. We walked most of the length of the bridge before turning round as the sun, and temperature dropped. We watched the sunset, enjoying the clear skies and wonderful views.
After the sunset we sat and had a gluhwein by the lakeside before dinner. We then returned to the hotel and had a very mellow evening playing chess in the lounge. Wonderful.
Day 2 – Rapperswil to Liechtenstein and Zurich
We walked into the old town for breakfast, at Starbucks as we couldn’t see anything else open. The weather was overcast and drizzling a little but we climbed the hill to the castle (not open to the public) and walked around the grounds. The overcast weather made the town looked totally different from last night and we didn’t linger too long.
We returned to the hotel to collect the car and then drove to Liechtenstein, with some impressive tunnels on the way. Arriving in Vaduz we were not impressed. The town was very flat with the mountains climbing steeply to either side. What we saw did not appear either old or pretty and was rather soulless. We didn’t see a Christmas market, or any preparations for one.
I was expecting a quaint medieval core with modern business structures around the edges but we parked up, walked past the art museum and a few other modern buildings, got our passport stamped at the Tourist Office and then got back in the car.
The castle at Vaduz, home to the princely family of Liechtenstein, sits on the hillside overlooking the town. We drove up the hill and parked above the castle to walk down and view it. It’s a shame that none of the grounds are open as you can only view it from the road but I would probably be the same if I lived there! It was an impressive castle with a 13th century core and was heavily rebuilt in the early 20th century.
I missed an opportunity for photos on the return drive, along the Wallensee. The sun was shining and it was a spectacular view but I didn’t see the sign for the parking area and viewpoint until it was too late. We continued on into Zurich, nestled in rain clouds and drizzle by now and after about 30 minutes of horrible navigation and road design we reached our hotel in the old city.
Zurich
We checked in to the hotel and then went on our Christmas markets walk, the first open Swiss market we visited on this road trip. The weather was chilly and a bit drizzly but not too bad so we walked around 4 or 5 of the markets in the city. They were all fairly close, maybe 5 minutes apart and seemed to focus on food offerings.
We didn’t feel there was anything unique in these Christmas markets or even particularly Swiss (other than one raclette chalet) and prices were high. We bought some halva which was delicious but worked out at £25 and a portion of Kaiserschmarrn (Austrian plum pancakes) which were £13. It was nice walking around the city and seeing the lakeside walks and planting. Each market had bollards in place to stop vehicle access after the recent van attacks on pedestrians, a sad indictment of our society now.
The city itself was rather uninspiring with some wonderful old buildings but not enough to give it any character and very little public art. It felt like somewhere that you walk through between venues rather than somewhere to amble. We spent a couple of hours wandering and then returned to the hotel to plan tomorrow’s activities.
Day 3 Zurich to Basel
We both woke late but after a wonderful breakfast we headed back outside to see more of Zurich. There was a bit less grey than the day before and we didn’t really see anything new but we did see it in a better light. It is still not an attractive city though although I did find some murals inside Fraumunster church cloister which were fantastic, modern I think but quite wonderful. I’m not sure whether the Calvinist influence is the cause of the relative lack of attractive buildings or perhaps I just wasn’t observant but it felt quite a soulless city.
Our Swiss Christmas Market road trip continued with a drive to Basel and had more drama getting out of Zurich as the road signage was just so poor and the traffic was heavy. On the way we stopped at Schloss Habsburg, a small fortified house but it was closed Tuesdays! It was nice to be out of a city though and there were blue skies and a nice vinyard so it was good to stretch our legs for 15 minutes.
We continued on to Basel, which took a while due to lane closures and congestion, but we parked up and walked into the old town. Immediately the architecture was more interesting with some beautiful buildings, both modern and older. We didn’t get to see the striking modern exhibition centre but the red Town Hall was impressive and the Minster was deserving of more time than we had. I think, with hindsight, that we should have stayed a night here to explore more.
The Christmas Markets here – again there were three that we visited but each was quite small and they were a few minutes walk apart – were varied feeling less generic and more Swiss with a far greater variety of products than Zurich. I bought some decorations for Deb, or for Christmas that Deb would like, rather than to decorate Deb.
We spent a couple of hours wandering around the old town and then crossed a bridge but the east side of the city seemed very dodgy, with lots of single men just hanging around in doorways so we had a cuppa on the riverbank while chatting to Sofia and then crossed back to the west. We wandered through the markets again, stopped for a snack and then back to the car.
The drive out of the city was as expected, horrible with heavy traffic and constantly splitting roads with limited signage and getting dark too. It took around an hour to get to the Hilton in Zurich Spreitenbach and check in. We then walked to a nearby mall to have a look around and have dinner before an early night.
Day 4 Altdorf and Lucerne
After a very filling breakfast we decided to head south into the Alps as the weather looked pretty dismal for everywhere within a hundred miles. To be expected for December but also if we could avoid it we would. I wanted to see Altdorf, purely because it is a key city in Warhammer! We drove south, along Lake Lucerne, and the scenery was beautiful but the low cloud and constant rain put us off stopping anywhere.
We reached Altdorf , at the head of an alpine valley but sadly the reality didn’t match up to my expectation with no soaring city walls and towers, just a little town nestled by the lakeside.
We did stop off at Seedorf Castle, closed Wednesdays, and I had a quick wander round while Natalya waited in the car. The castle is more of a fortified manor house but the setting was beautiful. It is now used as a restaurant and has a mineral museum too.
We chose to continue our road trip with a visit to the beautiful Swiss city of Lucerne and hopefully see the Christmas markets there. The mountain passes were all blocked due to snow and we didn’t have the right car for those sort of conditions anyway so we couldn’t continue south.
We parked near the train station in Lucerne and crossed the main road to the historic centre. The Kapellbrücke (chapel bridge) was in front of us and was a beautiful landmark. Although it is largely rebuilt after a fire in 1993 the bridge is iconic and parts date back to the 17th century. The weather had brightened up so we took our time walking down the riverside before crossing the bridge to have a drink in Starbucks.
The old city of Lucerne was beautiful and had some fabulously decorated buildings, certainly somewhere else to revisit. We meandered through the back streets and through some very pretty squares before returning to the car. The only Christmas market we had seen was near the train station but it didn’t look like it would be opening for a few days.
It was a relatively quick drive back to the hotel and we managed to do a couple of exercise classes before going out to dinner. Lucerne really raised my spirits and justified the visit to Switzerland, despite not having an open Christmas market yet, on its own.
The next morning was relaxed as we had a lunchtime flight so we were able to fit another gym session in after breakfast and then the short drive to the airport.
What would I do differently
Next time I think I’d skip Zurich entirely. I would like to revisit Basel and Lucerne and I’d like to see Montreux too. I should have planned this visit better to allow for a trip on the Glacier Express or Belle Epoch trains over the Alps but it wasn’t really practical with the time we had and having a hire car too so next time I would probably just use the trains and maybe fly into Basel/Mulhouse airport and fly back from Geneva. I should have researched the Christmas markets better too as some weren’t open when we visited.