Zurich or Lucerne

[KansasCityGuys]

In 2014, we are going on a river cruise from Zurich to Amsterdam. I have been to Amsterdam 3 times but never to Switzerland. For a couple days pre-cruise would anyone recommend to stay in Zurich or Lucerne? Any recommendations for a gay hotel or at least gay friendly which is located close to the gay night life!

 

Scott

[Rotterdam]

Having been to both I prefer Lucerne - it is a bit smaller than Zurich & so beautiful. Zurich is a larger city & certainly more commercial.

 

Lucerne certainly offers a classic / traditional Swiss holiday - omg...the chocolates are to die for!!!!!( and the rest of the food is wonderful as are the beers & wine). One certainly experiences that wonderful feeling of being in the Swiss Alps

 

Both towns are gay friendly & offer accomodations is various budgets..I don't usually stay in gay hotels so no help there.

 

You'll love it and the people are quite nice.

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

Lucerne definitely.....

 

Zurich itself is probably the least inspiring of Swiss cities......it's not bad....there's just a whole lot better.

 

If you go to Lucerne and have any interest in railways, aviation, cable cars, lake steamers & all forms of transport, then the Verkehrshaus Museum is a must.

 

Lucerne is barely an hour by frequent, efficient & scenic trains from Zurich.

[dfwguy]

Hey kcguys, I agree with the others. Zurich is mostly a big business driven city- Lucerne is by far a better choice. I was up in kc last week(seeing family in topeka) it was nice to see snow!

[KansasCityGuys]

Hey kcguys, I agree with the others. Zurich is mostly a big business driven city- Lucerne is by far a better choice. I was up in kc last week(seeing family in topeka) it was nice to see snow!

 

Since you mentioned Topeka, I was born and raised there. I lived there for 28 years before moving to Kansas City!

 

Scott

[rojjodc]

In 2014, we are going on a river cruise from Zurich to Amsterdam. I have been to Amsterdam 3 times but never to Switzerland. For a couple days pre-cruise would anyone recommend to stay in Zurich or Lucerne? Any recommendations for a gay hotel or at least gay friendly which is located close to the gay night life!

 

Scott

 

 

I've never been to Switzerland. So far, everyone recommends Lucerne, but I wonder how many days you are planning for your pre-cruise. You also mention staying in a gay hotel or close to gay night life, so I would suggest researching both cities before making a decision. From what I see from Google, Lucerne has about 80K residents in the city and 250K in the metro, while Zurich has 375K in the city and 1.8 million in the metro. So Lucerne may be more beautiful for a very short stay, but may not have the gay life you want.

[LukeSkywalker]

The gay hotspot in Switzerland definitely is Zurich, but you may find Lucerne or Interlaken more romantic. Your Rhine cruise, I am sure it leaves from Basel, my hometown :-), also an interesting spot for a day or 2.

[Gizmo9zh]

Lucerne is a nice city but you have seen it in a day, it's really small. Zurich is bigger and has many things to offer. You can easily stay in Zurich for a couple of days and travel to Lucerne for a day, it's just about an hour from Zurich.

Lucerne is very touristic, especially in summertime. If you wanna enjoy gay life, your choice should definitely be Zurich (my home town, btw.. ;)...)

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

One "must do" if you have time is the Transport Museum in Lucerne, known as the Verkehrshaus locally, it covers everything from trains, planes, boats, ships to mountain cable cars. I work in aviation and found the perfectly preserved Convair Coronado early jetliner (only a handful were built) quite fascinating.....

 

https://www.verkehrshaus.ch/en

 

If you do stay in Zurich, it's still an easy visit, and you can buy a combined rail and entry ticket from any SBB/CFF railway station.

[TimATL]

KansasCityGuys, your river cruise leaves from Zurich? My friend and I just booked the Viking Tor, which goes from Basel to Amsterdam on August 2, 2014. We're staying in Zurich for two nights prior to our cruise. Now I'm questioning whether we should do Lucerne instead. There's a hosted, gay group on our cruise with Aquafest; which is a nice bonus.

[KansasCityGuys]

KansasCityGuys, your river cruise leaves from Zurich? My friend and I just booked the Viking Tor, which goes from Basel to Amsterdam on August 2, 2014. We're staying in Zurich for two nights prior to our cruise. Now I'm questioning whether we should do Lucerne instead. There's a hosted, gay group on our cruise with Aquafest; which is a nice bonus.

 

Actually, the cruise leaves from Basel, but Avalon has a pre-cruise hotel in Zurich and will transfer passengers to Basel. We have decided prior to the cruise to stay in Berlin for a few days. In that case, we are still deciding whether to take the train to Basel, the day before the cruise or to go ahead and go to Zurich. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

 

Scott

[TimATL]

Actually, the cruise leaves from Basel, but Avalon has a pre-cruise hotel in Zurich and will transfer passengers to Basel. We have decided prior to the cruise to stay in Berlin for a few days. In that case, we are still deciding whether to take the train to Basel, the day before the cruise or to go ahead and go to Zurich. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

 

Scott

 

I vote for Berlin and Zurich. We're doing Nice before Zurich to get a little beach time in before the cruise.