So, I'm going to europe for the first time. Wife and I have a business trip to switzerland, we have 3 days on the back end of the trip to do whatever we want.
Where should a europe novice go if they only have 3 days? Switzerland's pretty central, at least.
Financially we're pretty good, so we can burn some cash if we need to.
American?
They hate yanks over there. Take care, and do ask the hotel staff where it is safe to go. You do not want to be in the wrong neighbourhood after dark.
>>1122501
If the weather is nice, spend all your time in small villages around Lauterbrunnen and see both the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch
>>1122503
I guess I should have specified, yes American, speak english with a bit of german and spanish, but not enough to have much of a conversation.
>>1122501
Switzerland is a comfy paradise, you literally can't go anywhere wrong. Unfortunately, very expensive.
I suggest visiting Geneve and Lausanne with the Geneve lake region, Luzern and central Switzerland, southern Ticino. Hell, 3 days are so little.
>>1122501
OP, if the tickets aren't bought yet checkout Icelandair from your home city as a connection, I'd layover in Iceland via the Icelandair free layover thing. They typically beat the other airlines in price and so your layover is kind of paid for in itself. Stop in blue lagoon, and take a circle tour. One day can do it all, a good soak blows through that jetlag too.
If I wasn't doing a layover connection to wherever I wanted to be in Europe, I'd simply stay around Zurich otherwise. The rail is pretty nice.
Rick says Berner and oberland if only 3 days.
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/switzerland/itinerary
>>1122501
If it's only 3 days (just 2 nights or 3 days as in 3 full days to travel plus departure day?) and money ain't an issue spend the time in Switzerland.
If you can give me some context like where you start from and what you like to do I can help you with some ideas.
Zurich has top tier brothels and escorts, thanks to the banking sector which drives demand.
We're flying into Basel, finish meetings sunday afternoon.
We're off monday-tuesday-wed all day, thursday is a travel day back to the states.
Tickets already bought, flying through London, so iceland is out.
Traveling with my wife, so the brothel/escort thing is probably not going to work.
Debating staying in switzerland or hitting up paris/munich/heidelberg...
My wife has been to switzerland a few times already (Davos) but mostly for meetings so not a lot of travel around.
>>1122764
I don't know if you have already booked return flights and have to get back to Basel or Zurich for your flight to LHR so I just lay it out like you have to.
The beauty of Switzerland is it's small and you can shift around if needed. All three have a beautiful lake to take a cruise on and just relax.
If you're after the usual peaks
Interlaken, 2h from Basel
Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and awesome nature
donwside if the weather sucks well it sucks and you will hate yourself for spending a lot of money on watching clouds.
If you want city and some nice peaks
Lucern, 2h from Basel
Rigi, good nature and a comfy city with bad weather alternatives like mueseums worth seeing.
downside it's not as awesome as the Jungfrau view
If you want a larger city and shopping
Zurich, 1h from Basel
larger city so even if the weather sucks you find something to do, good for shopping, ok-good nature around it and pretty central
downside no peaks near it but you could always get to Lucern or Interlaken within 2.5h for a day trip.
Munich, worth it if you can spend the full 3 day there and fly out from there (5h from basel)
Paris, see above (3-4h from basel)
Heidelberg, it's a US meme city due to WW2 occupation of germany. good for a day but there isn't much to do/see.
>>1122501
For three days, you could try the "riviera", which is the different cities alongside the Leman Lake (Geneva Lake).
We speak french there.
Genève, Lausanne if you want, Vevey, Montreux (where the Montreux Jazz Festival happens).
These cities are very rich and comfy. Very expensive hotels - more like palaces. If you are doing a business trip, this could fit you.
>>1123672
>>1123672
>>1123674
not OP but I'll be in Fribourg visiting my family in a few months. I think they're taking me to their chalet somewhere in the alps but I want to see Lac Leman too, is is that easy to get to from Fribourg? Also, would it be worth doing a day trip to Genève or Lausanne? I want to visit a city while I'm there too.
>>1123746
should have mentioned I'm only there for three days too.
>>1123746
Geneva is à shithole I don't know why anyone would suggest to go there.
Get your breakfast in Manor in Fribourg, take the 9:26 train to Lausanne. From the station walk 10 minutes to Ouchy, the quarter at the lake.
Around noon take the train to Vevey.
There take lunch at Charlot just near the Old town (ask anyone) and 20 meters from the lake.
Eat à "creve la dalle" sandwich btw.
Then near 4 go to Montreux and visit à bit and find à place to eat/drink.
Try to take the slow trains because it's another path with better view.
It can sound too much but it's way less than visiting 3 places/quarters in Paris or London.
If you have too much time do another stop in Cully between Lausanne and Vevey.
Go to the east, as deep into the mountains as possible.
>>1122503
what the fuck are you talking about
>>1123764
>>1123767
thanks so much for all the info. Just had a look at all these places and they look fucking beautiful. My relatives have a car but I'm pretty keen on catching the train after what you've said and what I just looked at.
Anyway, I'll be capping this post and probably be doing exactly that some time in August, cheers.
>>1123908
If you have a tight budget then car is way cheaper but will actually take more time and you'll miss the views.
But then you could also stop in the Lavaux (the région that borders the lake between Lausanne and Montreux) somewhere and taste the wine directly from the producer if you like it.
They make à lot of wine too in Cully anyway though.
>>1124016
How much does the train cost? I don't really mind spending money on experiences over there. I'll be staying with my family anyway so I'll be happy to spend more money on food/transport than if I was somewhere else. Interesting that going in a car takes longer.
>>1124160
Just ask them to buy the City one day General Ticket also called GA (every small town has at least 2 of them for every day) ticket for the day you want to do this. It's 30-50CHF and valid on all public transport lines in Switzerland (Bus, train, tram, boat)
>>1124166
Seems crazy to be paying that much for public transport, but when it looks that beautiful, I can't really argue.
Boats? Are there public boats that go across the lake? Would you recommend them?
>>1124174
A single return ticket will probably set you back 80CHF+ so it's the cheapest option as you can use all public transport in the entire country at will for a day.
>Boats? Are there public boats that go across the lake? Would you recommend them?
Yes there're and they're great. You could do the
Lausanne-Ouchy - Vevey-Marché leg on one, leaving at 11:00 form Lausanne and arrive 1h later in Vevey or at 12:30 and be there at 14:00 for lunch as the other Anon suggested.
Thank you all for the suggestions, I'm going over them with my wife. I think we'll stay in switzerland as was mentioned and skip the neighboring countries.
If the thread is still up I'll tell everyone how enjoyable the trip was.
>>1123764
Thanks for the details, we'll be using this for our first day out.
