Zürich is not only an impressive and entertaining Swiss city, but also a great base from which to unlock the rest of the country. Once you’ve spent few days exploring Zürich itself, consider taking day trips to some of the other best places to visit in Switzerland. With so many train connections and tour options, you only need to travel a couple of hours from Zürich to arrive at some fantastic and diverse destinations, including the Swiss Alps, various lakes, and some other world-class cities. No matter which ones you choose, the best day trips from Zürich won’t disappoint.
How to Get Around
Although you can make many of these day trips with public transport, consider renting a car for the day to give yourself more flexibility and independence. With your own four wheels, you control your time and schedule. Depending on how many people are in your group, renting a car might even work out to be cheaper than other forms of transportation. You can compare car rental deals and find the lowest prices at Rentalcars.com, an aggregation site that searches and displays prices and availability from hundreds of car rental companies, helping you find the best possible car for your budget.
Don’t want to drive or deal with the hassle of public transport? No worries! We’ve listed the best tour for each day trip (where available).
Lucerne
Lucerne is undoubtedly one of the best places to visit from Zürich. A visit to this lakeside city in central Switzerland is a must for first-time visitors to the country. With Lake Lucerne sitting right by the city center and the epic Alps looming in the distance, there’s no denying the delightful scenery of this city.
Lucerne’s best-known sights are in the Old Town, which runs alongside the Reuss River. There you’ll find the iconic wooden Chapel Bridge, decorated with flower boxes and historic paintings. Farther into the Old Town, you’ll spot traditional Swiss buildings adorned with frescoes. Even farther out are the old Musegg Wall, which offers stellar views, and the lifelike Lion Monument. Lucerne is also a convenient place from which to explore the Alps, with Mount Pilatus nearby. As you can see, there’s plenty to enjoy on this great day trip.
Getting there: Regular trains connect Zürich to Lucerne, taking 50 minutes each way. To make the most of your trip, though, it’s best to take a day tour – both for timing and ease of transport.
Bern
As the Swiss capital, Bern is another major city with plenty to entertain visitors – and one of the many easy train trips from Zürich. Start your visit with a walk through the UNESCO-listed Old Town, taking in the Zytglogge, the city’s medieval clock tower. Not far away, you’ll catch the impressive sight of the Federal Palace – the Swiss Parliament’s headquarters – and its terraces overlooking the Aare River.
Cross the river to reach a cluster of museums, including the Bern Historical Museum and its integrated Einstein Museum. If you follow the river, you can get one of the best views of the city from the point just above the Bear Pit. This park is home to three bears, which are the symbol of the city. For both culture and city scenery, Bern is the place to go.
Getting there: This guided tour of Bern is a great way to add something more to your visit, as it includes cookie and cheese tastings outside the city. As for public transport, regular trains from Zürich to Bern take about an hour each way.
Mount Titlis
Whether you want to spend some time on the slopes or experience spectacular mountaintop views, Mount Titlis is one of the best day tours from Zürich. Rising up over 3,000 meters, Titlis is one of Switzerland’s most impressive mountains.
If you’re looking for an active visit to Titlis, you can go skiing and snowboarding in winter or hiking and mountain biking in summer. But there’s plenty of sightseeing here too – such as the Titlis Cliff Walk, which suspends you 500 meters above the ground, and the Glacier Cave, where you can walk through a 5,000-year-old glacier.
Even getting to the top of Mount Titlis is a special experience, with the Titlis Rotair cable car actually revolving as it takes you to the summit. Don’t forget the views out over the Alps and the nearby glaciers, which are best enjoyed from the Titlis Panorama Restaurant.
Getting there: A tour to Mount Titlis takes the stress out of getting there from Zürich and from one place to the next on the mountain. To get there on your own, though, you can take the train through Lucerne, which brings you to Engelberg at the foot of the mountain. The train journey takes two hours and 10 minutes.
Stein Am Rhein
Switzerland is known for its many gorgeous Alpine towns, but it has other towns worth visiting, including Stein am Rhein. Sitting flush against the German border, right along the Rhine River, this small town tucked away from the mountains is full of medieval charm. As you walk under guild symbols hanging in the streets, it’s easy to imagine what Stein am Rhein was like centuries ago, because it’s barely changed.
In this pretty riverside town, you’ll come across quaint half-timbered houses with beautiful bay windows and others with frescoes painted on their facades. Aside from the riverfront and each of the town gates, seek out the Renaissance murals in museums throughout the town, such as St. George’s Abbey.
Getting there: The train ride from Zürich to Stein am Rhein is only an hour and 30 minutes, with frequent connections. However, if you want to understand the town better or visit other nearby destinations as well, a guided day tour is the way to go.
Appenzell
It may not be one of the best-known Zürich day trips, but the village of Appenzell introduces you to the delights of rural Alpine life. You’ll find it way out in eastern Switzerland, among green rolling hills and the mighty Alps – the scenery many people picture when they think of Switzerland.
You’ll see gorgeous traditional Swiss houses as you pass under flags and banners draped everywhere in the village. To learn a little about the local culture and customs, head to Museum Appenzell or sample baked goods and cheeses. You should also take a cable car up to the Ebenalp, the northern summit of the Appenzell Alps. You’ll probably recognize its cliffside restaurant at the former Aescher Guesthouse from countless spellbinding photos.
Getting there: The best way to appreciate the customs and character of Appenzell is with a guided tour that shows you the best spots around the village. Getting there on public transport means taking the regular train from Gossau, which takes a little over two hours.
Rhine Falls
The Rhine is one of Europe’s most adored rivers, and it plays an important role in Switzerland, forming much of the northern border and running along several destinations on this list. Just outside the city of Schaffhausen is the Rhine Falls, officially the largest waterfall in Europe.
If you don’t mind getting wet, you can take a boat out to the rocks in the middle of the falls. Otherwise, you can admire the falls from both sides of the river, either looking up at them or across them to Laufen Castle above. After visiting the falls, continue just up the river to Schaffhausen and visit the large Munot Fortress.
Getting there: Getting to the Rhine Falls from Zürich couldn’t be easier, with regular trains making the journey in under an hour. To combine the Rhine Falls with other destinations in a single day, though, a guided tour is a more straightforward way to go.
Grindelwald and Interlaken
You don’t have to visit just one place for your day trip. A great pairing of things to see in Switzerland outside of Zürich is the duo of Grindelwald and Interlaken. Despite being close together, these two towns in the Bernese Oberland are remarkably different, which is definitely part of the appeal.
Grindelwald is a charming Alpine village below Mount Eiger. It’s incredibly popular for its gorgeous mountain scenery and outdoor activities, such as skiing in winter and hiking or climbing in summer.
Down from the mountains, right between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, lies the resort town of Interlaken. Although it bears quite a traditional look, Interlaken is best known for its shopping promenade (Höheweg) and various adventure activities, such as canyoning and paragliding.
Getting there: The best way to combine these destinations into one day trip is to take a guided tour. To get to both towns on your own, you’ll have to take a train to Interlaken from Bern and then the special train up to Grindelwald.
Book Tour to Grindelwald & Interlaken
Basel
It’s surprising that the northern Swiss city of Basel doesn’t get much love, because there’s plenty to do on a day trip there. A great place to start is the strikingly red Basel Town Hall in the middle of the medieval Old Town. From there, walk out to the majestic Gate of Spalen, one of the remaining tower gates from Basel’s ancient city walls. You should also go and admire the city’s riverfront, ideally from out on the Middle Bridge.
As a city of culture, Basel is home to many museums, with the Fine Arts Museum and Natural History Museum being some of the best. A stop at the Basel Minster, a former Catholic cathedral converted into a large Protestant church, is also worthwhile.
Getting there: Frequent trains connect Zürich to Basel, only taking an hour to make the journey. If you want to combine Basel with a venture into neighboring France or Germany, however, your best bet is to take a private tour.
Rapperswil-Jona
It’s hard to miss Lake Zürich, but you might not know about the other destinations on its shores, such as Rapperswil-Jona. Dubbed the “Town of Roses,” Rapperswil is a picturesque community at the end of the single bridge across the lake. Its narrow pedestrian streets are lined with traditional houses, each with a window box full of roses.
As you pass sights like the Curti-House and main town square, you’ll find your way up to Rapperswil Castle, which overlooks the lake from its hilltop perch. Along with lake views and regal scenery, the castle has a small park full of fallow deer, adding to the grounds’ welcoming atmosphere. Head back down to the waterfront to follow the boardwalks out along the lake, looking toward the Alps in the distance.
Getting there: While it takes only 30 minutes to make this short trip from Zürich by train or car, the slower ferry to Rapperswil-Jona is the most popular approach, as it lets you enjoy all the lakeside scenery on a gentle journey across the water.
Liechtenstein
It’s not every day that you get to take a day trip to another country, but visiting Liechtenstein from Zürich is definitely possible. A visit to Switzerland’s small neighboring nation can be a fun novelty, letting you check another country off your list.
Liechtenstein has a few nice sights in the capital (which is more town than city), Vaduz. Walking through the town center, you’ll see several intriguing statues on the pedestrian street that runs from Vaduz Town Hall to the stately Liechtenstein National Archives. The nearby Vaduz Cathedral makes quite an impression with its neo-Gothic architecture.
The last and best major sight you’ll encounter is Vaduz Castle on the hillside above the town. As it’s still the residence of the royal family, you can’t enter the castle, but it’s nice to admire up close.
Getting there: Driving is your best option for reaching Liechtenstein, as it only takes a little over an hour to get from Zürich to Vaduz by car. There are regular train connections, but the train journey takes up to an hour longer.
As you can clearly see, the best side trips from Zürich take you across quite a bit of Switzerland. Each also manages to show you a different side of the country, which is especially nice if you have time for more than one trip.
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