Author Topic: Yehudaa's 2016 18-Hour Zurich Stopover  (Read 4282 times)

Offline Yehudaa

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Yehudaa's 2016 18-Hour Zurich Stopover
« on: February 19, 2019, 04:04:28 PM »
Here's my mini-TR from a one-day Zurich stopover that I did in early May 2016. Someone asked for it in another thread, so I took a few minutes to type up whatever I remember. Keep in mind that that this was a few years ago so some details might not be relevant anymore.

I had an ~18 hr stopover in ZRH (IIRC it was from around 6 AM until midnight) on a Swiss flight from YYZ to TLV. I was single, travelling alone and wanted to pack in as much as I could. I landed in Zurich, took the train into the city and headed to a shul for shacharis. After shacharis I was speaking to some guys that I met in shul and it was then that I found out that it was a legal holiday in Switzerland, so they told me not to go to Pilatus as they thought the lines would be really long. I really wanted to see it though, so I decided to go anyway. After shacharis I went to Koscher City and picked up some danishes and some other food for the day, then took the train out to Lucerne.

From the train station in Lucerne I took a city bus straight to Mount Pilatus, a 15-20 min ride IIRC. The lines turned out not to be too bad, around 30-45 min IIRC. To get up the mountain you have to take 2 cable cars, one small 2-4 person cable car and one bigger one. Altogether I think the ride took around 20 min plus a short wait for the second cable car halfway up the mountain. At the bottom it was a nice mild spring day but at the top there was around a foot of snow and it was kinda cold, but the sky was completely clear with great visibility. It was my first time seeing the Alps and the views were absolutely stunning: To one side is a great view of the surrounding peaks and to the other side is Lake Lucerne and the surrounding green areas, making for a breathtaking panorama. Aside from the view there's nothing to do up there, so after around an hour or so I went back down into Lucerne.

Now that I had seen Pilatus I was in less of a rush to get anywhere. I walked around Lucerne for a while, the lake is really nice and picturesque with the Alps in the background, but I didn't take a boat ride as I still wanted to see Zurich.

I took the train back to Zurich, where I 'rented' a free bike. I'm not sure if they still offer it, but the city of Zurich offered free bikes with just a piece of ID as a deposit. I biked around Zurich for a couple of hours to see the city, around the lake in particular, and then returned the bike and headed back to the airport early as I was completely exhausted.

Here are a few pictures of Lake Lucerne and the view from Mount Pilatus. Excuse the quality, they were taken in 2016 with a smartphone that was already not exactly new then :)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Yehudaa's 2016 18-Hour Zurich Stopover
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2019, 12:38:59 PM »
Beautiful! Thanks for writing it up! I had a 24 hour stop there once and did a similar trip but up Mt. Rigi. Unfortunately there was close to no visibility that day. :(

Offline Yehudaa

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Re: Yehudaa's 2016 18-Hour Zurich Stopover
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2019, 01:46:25 PM »
Beautiful! Thanks for writing it up! I had a 24 hour stop there once and did a similar trip but up Mt. Rigi. Unfortunately there was close to no visibility that day. :(
That's rough :(

Is getting up Rigi free with a train pass? I feel like I heard that once. Pilatus was $100.

Offline myi

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Re: Yehudaa's 2016 18-Hour Zurich Stopover
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2019, 06:21:42 AM »
Short and sweet! ;)
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