LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION
Itinerary: Geneva to Zürich
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TWO WEEKS / GENEVA TO ZÜRICH
In order to give a little time to all the destinations on this route you will want at least two weeks, leaving two days apiece for places like Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne and Zürich. The changes in scenery and culture on this 385km route are extraordinary.
Forget your skis and hang up your hiking boots. This is a trip for the urbanites among us who want to mix up some metropolitan fire with some small-town charm. With the possibility now available to fly in to one hub and back home from another, this tour is eminently doable by either private car or public transport. And should you need to fly out from the same place, Geneva and Zürich are only separated by 2¾ hours by fast train. This trip can be done in either direction and plenty of variations suggest themselves en route.
Landing in Geneva, immerse yourself in the most cosmopolitan of Switzerland’s big cities. From Geneva, it’s about 45 minutes by train northeast around the lake to bustling Lausanne, the hilly lakeside city and seat of the International Olympic Committee. Follow the same glorious route through the Lavaux wine terraces to Montreux, from where you head north to the medieval fortress town of Gruyères known especially for its fine cheese. Further north still, you arrive at Fribourg, on the French-German language frontier, which you cross to make for the pretty national capital, Bern, to the northeast. From here you drop down in the depths of Bern’s cantons and the lakeside towns around Interlaken.
Nearby there is plenty of great skiing, hiking and other outdoor options. Our route swings north to another bewitching lady of the lake, the town of Lucerne, before we change atmosphere completely by rolling onwards via Zug to Switzerland’s most happening city, the once-stuffy banking town of Zürich.
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