Getaways from Zurich: day trips and destinations close by.

Everything leaves from Zurich HB

There are direct flights to Zurich airport (ZRH) from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga, Seville and Palma, and from Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma. The railway station is beneath the terminal and takes you in a few minutes to Zurich HB, the central station, from where everything on this page departs.

From Zurich you don't need a car. The plans that start here go by SBB train and, in Graubünden, by the Rhaetian Railway, and continue by boat, cog railway, funicular or cable car. From Zurich HB to Lucerne it is about 50 minutes; to St. Moritz, in the Engadine, about three hours, via Landquart and the Vereina tunnel or via Chur and the Albula line. With the Swiss Travel Pass those trains and the Rigi cog railway are included; the Diavolezza cable car is not.

You can also reach the Jungfrau Region by train, as far as Interlaken Ost changing at Bern, and Zermatt and the Aletsch Glacier, via Visp and Brig. For those three there is not yet a timetabled plan from Zurich.

Lucerne, the perfect day

About 50 minutes away is Lucerne, the perfect day from Zurich: the city fits into a morning and the lake fills the afternoon. Lucerne and the Rigi by boat and cog railway combines the Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument before the groups, the boat to Vitznau, the train up to Rigi Kulm, with Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug at once, and a late lunch at the Rathaus Brauerei, which is open on Sundays too. The Golden Round Trip to Pilatus goes up the other side of the lake: a boat to Alpnachstad, a cog railway with gradients of 48% and a descent by cable car and gondolas to Kriens, all on one ticket. If it rains or the summit is in cloud, the Swiss Museum of Transport is open every day.

About three hours away is the Upper Engadine. You can go there and back in a day, but the train weighs on you: the Bernina to Tirano with dinner at Muottas Muragl leaves Zurich at 7:07 and reaches St. Moritz in about 3 h 05, and the Morteratsch Glacier and the Diavolezza is about 3 h 35 away, with changes at Landquart, Sagliains and Pontresina. Both plans advise sleeping there the night before. That is why the natural way to go is the three-night Engadine by train getaway: out via the Albula line and the Landwasser Viaduct, in about three and a quarter hours, one day for the Bernina, another for the glacier and nights in Pontresina, next to the station.

November, the month when almost everything stops

From May to October everything that leaves from Zurich is running. It is the only season for the Golden Round Trip, and from June to September it is the best for the Engadine, with the glacier trail free of snow and the terraces in the sun.

In winter the Rigi stays open, and it is the alternative when the Pilatus cog railway is not running. The Bernina train runs all year and the Panoramarestaurant at Muottas Muragl is open from 19 December 2026 to 4 April 2027; the sun sets around five, so you need to bring the ride up forward. From January to March the Engadine is a snow destination: you go to the glacier on foot or on cross-country skis and the Diavolezza is a ski area.

November is the weak month. RIGI BAHNEN carries out servicing on the mountain, the Pilatus gondolas are stopped until 27 November 2026 and, in the Engadine, from late October to mid-December the Restaurant Morteratsch, the Panoramarestaurant and the getaway's hotels close. In May they close again for a few weeks.

Pilatus, Tuesday to Saturday

• The first day, without an early start: the Rigi from Lucerne. A 50-minute train, all year apart from November, and it works on Sundays.
• A summer weekday: Pilatus, Tuesday to Saturday, when the Wirtshaus Galliker is open for Lucerne cooking.
• With three nights: the Engadine by train, Thursday to Sunday, without touching the car.