Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Zurich

On By KarenIn Christmas Markets, Europe, Marriott, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Zurich

I left on a Saturday (dark and early) for my 6 AM flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia where I would be connecting onward to Zurich. (Thank you American Airlines for constantly moving my flight earlier until it was as early as could be…) My mother, who would be traveling with me, flew to Philadelphia as well and we met there before flying together to Zurich.

Upon arrival in Zurich on Sunday (around 8 AM local time), we headed to immigration and customs and it probably took somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour before we were able to cross through. When we finally exited, we looked around for someone with a Globus sign but were not able to find anyone so we waited where our travel packet had indicated someone should be waiting for us. I actually overheard a bunch of people looking for the Globus representative so we stuck around them until someone came along to take us to the bus that would take us to the hotel.

One of the other tour group members noticed me as we were walking to the bus and told me that I would be bringing the average age of the group down significantly. This statement ended up being very very true…

Courtyard Zurich North

Max-Bill-Platz 19, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland

The bus took us to our hotel which was located in the Oerlikon area of Zurich, south of the airport and north of the city center. The location of the hotel was pretty great as it was conveniently located near a train station that could take us into the city center in just a few stops. We took a bus but you could also take a train from the airport to the hotel.

The hotel seemed fairly new or at least newly renovated. There were a lot of outlets and had options for both the Swiss outlet and the US outlet as well as some USB ports.

We got to the hotel pretty early so rooms were still being cleaned. Our tour director, Zdenka, was already there to meet us and to push the hotel staff to get rooms cleaned and assigned to the tour group members. While they were slowly assigning rooms, my mother and I decided not to wait around since today was the only day we would have free time in Zurich since we were only staying one night. We left our luggage with the hotel staff and went into the city via train.

About our Tour Group

Before I go into our exploration of Zurich, I want to first talk a little bit about our tour group. As I mentioned, our Tour director for this trip was Zdenka (who was absolutely amazing). She is originally from Croatia and I think is now living in Croatia again although she has lived around Europe throughout her life. She mentioned she had lived a few years in Switzerland previously and also had relatives living in Switzerland. Zdenka was super helpful, super knowledgeable and really just an absolute gem.

Our tour group (which I met through the welcome dinner Globus always hosts on the first night) was primarily made up of retirees. It ended up being a total of 42 people (we unfortunately lost a few due to bad weather and flight cancellations) and probably a good 2/3 to 3/4 of the group were all retirees. But do not let that fool you, this was not a slow and boring group. These were retirees living the good life. They were a very excitable bunch with a LOT of energy. I hope I am having that much fun when I retire in the future.

During the welcome dinner, we randomly sat at different tables and got to know those we were sitting with. I happened to be sitting with a couple from Chicago and someone from Sacramento that came on her own. Zdenka, the tour director, introduced everyone and where they were from. The majority of the people were from the United States but we also had a few from Australia and New Zealand. At this point we were actually still missing a few members since they had flight cancellations or delays. So it was pretty lucky that we were able to arrive on time to Zurich and with our luggage (we had carry-ons only). We had quite a few members of the group who were not reunited with their luggage for days. (Side note: I highly recommend placing Apple air tags in checked bags. Sometimes your luggage is not just delayed because it missed your flight but because the airline is still trying to figure out where they left them. If you have an air tag, you can help expedite the process by telling them precisely where it is.)

The actual welcome dinner was a three course meal with a free drink. It took place in the hotel restaurant and honestly was nothing to write home about. In fact… I have never had a drier piece of chicken… However, breakfast in this hotel was my favorite of the trip and was from the same kitchen so it redeemed them some what. It was an American-style breakfast with eggs, sausages, potatoes, etc. and probably more bread options than you see in the US since we are in Europe (and they do good breads and pastries). There was also cereal and oatmeal type options, fruits and other items like smoked salmon.

Exploring Zurich

Like I mentioned previously, our hotel was just a few blocks away from a train station so my mother and I walked over and hopped on the train to go into the city. I will be honest, the ticketing process was kind of confusing as there were so many options. Someone told us you could get an all day pass for just 8 CHF but we just could not find that pass on the machine. Instead I decided to just buy the Zurich Card on the Zurich City Pass app which includes all day public transportation as well as discounts on certain city tours, attraction tickets, etc. for 29 CHF per person because we were also considering visiting certain attractions that the card provided discounts to.

“Wienachtsdorf” at Sechseläutenplatz

Sechseläutenplatz, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

Since it was nearing lunchtime, our first stop would be at Zurich’s “Wienachtsdorf” (Christmas Village) at Sechseläutenplatz near the Opera House and along the lakeshore. This would be the first of many Christmas markets on this trip. This market is open from 11 AM to 10 PM, except on Sundays when it closes at 8 PM. The unique part about this Christmas market is that it has a lot of international food stalls such as Mexican tacos, Chinese baos and lots of other international cuisines. There are also stalls selling crafts, Christmas items and a bunch of other different things.

We walked around the entire market and in the end decided to get some pommes frites (french fries) and I got a chiliwurst (sausage) and my mother got a currywurst (sausage) and some hot cider.

After wandering around the market and eating our lunch, we decided to move on and headed off to the Lindt Home of Chocolate which is pretty easy to get to via a direct bus line from the city center.

Lindt Home of Chocolate

Schokoladenplatz 1, 8802 Kilchberg, Switzerland

The Lindt Home of Chocolate is a giant building that offers tours about the Swiss heritage of chocolate, has a café and has a giant chocolate shop. I think they also have chocolate classes on occasion. We considered doing the tour but from a glance it looked like it was a self-guided audio tour so we decided against it and just spent probably an hour wandering around the chocolate shop. The chocolate was pretty big and you can find tons of little balls of chocolate, chocolate bars, gift sets, etc. as well as some new flavors of limited edition flavors. They had pre-packed bags and also loose items you could bag yourself and were charged by weight.

We both grabbed a bunch of bars and other chocolate goodies and showed our Zurich Card to get a 10% discount off everything we bought. I also took a quick step into the café but decided I did not want anything. We did compare some of the prices here with grocery stores we stopped at later and since some items were on sale and we also had the 10% discount, we got a good deal buying at the Home of Chocolate shop.

Afterwards, we took the bus back to the city center to the main train station Hauptbahnhof or HB. I could have sworn there was a Christmas market in the station but I either read wrong or mixed up stations. Either way, this station had a lot of shops inside so we walked around, stopping in some of the Swiss grocery stores like Coop and Migros to pick up some water and look at their chocolate selection. I also bought some chocolate-covered corn flakes from Läderach which I love. And because we had a welcome dinner at 6 PM, we headed back to the hotel to check-in to our room and get ready. It was just a few stops from the main station.

The next day we got on the tour bus and as a group we went to the Zurich city center where our tour director took us on a quick stroll and explained some of the history of the city and showed us a few sites. Then she gave us a little bit of time to check out the chocolate shop Sprüngli and to use their restrooms. One of the group members mentioned that the tour director had recommended the hot chocolate there and that it had been very good. Much better than what she has had back home. Afterwards, we were back on the bus and headed towards Montreux where we would be staying for two nights.

Exploring Neuchâtel

On the way to Montreux, we stopped in a cute town called Neuchâtel for an hour or two so we could grab something for lunch or do some shopping. The tour director recommended a few restaurants with good soups since it was cold out with some small snow flurries. She also showed us a creperie but my mother and I decided to walk around the town and just get something light and quick for lunch since we were still pretty full from breakfast. We actually ended up wandering through and Aldi grocery store and happened to run into a staff member bringing out fresh baked goods. We each bought a freshly baked croissant and it was delicious and still warm from the oven. This was enough to tide us over until we got to Montreux.

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