Shore Excursions

AlliD

Anyone ever do shore excursions to either Zurich Or Basel. Torn between both. Any input or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Claudia Sails

We did the Rhine Moselle cruise 2 years ago. On the last full day we were offered Basel or Lucerne. We chose Lucerne since we were staying extra days in Basel. Basel only has a couple of interesting sights. Its more of a business convention sort of city.

AlliD

Thanks for the reply. Anyone else have an opinion?

drib

Just back from this itinerary. Lucerne was not an option.

We went to Zurich. It was entirely in the Old Town area, which is pretty enough.



Lunch here:



A very interesting venue which was hosting two weddings when we were there. Lunch was good. It was to be followed by a lecture by a Swiss banker ... however, we ditched that to have more time on our own. We walked along Lake Zurich, which the tour would otherwise have not included, but there is a lot happening there. (What I had hoped to see there is a building by Le Corbusier, but it turned out to be under scaffolding. For anyone trying this itinerary in 2020, it's definitely worth a look!) Later, I understand that the banker's talk was not well received.

Tauck paid for the admission to see the Chagall stained glass windows inside Fraumunster Church. Those are fabulous, but photos were not allowed inside the church. Search for them, though. This is the reason to choose Zurich.

Dinamo

Basel is in walking distance of the boat.

I opted for Zurich. There was little free time in Zurich due the over an hour bus ride to and from Zurich.

My opinion-- if you want to see Zurich and experience a fun city, skip the tour, skip the Tauck lunch and go out on your own. Lunch was not that great, you are herded into a banquet hall on the 3rd floor of the restaurant. This was not my idea of experiencing a great city of the world. I left which was a bummer because I wanted to hear the banker, especially after the Italian election that just transpired.

Zurich was a bummer due to lack of time and organization. The Chagall windows were beautiful--no photos allowed. You can see them in 10 minutes and buy post cards at the gift desk. Cash only.