Ph2088

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before but I have heard contradicting views -

I am a British passport holder and I am flying to Prague in a few weeks and on my way back from Prague to London, I have a stopover in Zurich as I am flying with Swiss. My luggage will already be checked in from Prague and I get to Zurich early morning (8am) and my flight back to London is at 5pm. I wanted to leave the airport as I've heard the centre is only a 10 min train ride.

If I leave the airport, will my whole ticket become invalidated as my luggage will already have been checked in? But I obviously will not have the boarding pass for the last leg between Zurich and London until I check in for my 5pm flight....

Also, I assume when I arrive in Zurich I go through customs and can just get the train from the airport?? unless there is an information desk...

Any help would be much appreciated!

dh01

No problem at all to leave the airport. You can check in online the day before also for your flight to London, or at a kiosk in the checkin area after you exit Customs in the Departures area.

NewbieRunner

Welcome to FT, Ph2088!

Of course you can go through passport control and leave the airport during the layover. I suggest you search for "ZRH layover" in this forum and also check the M&M (LX) forum for some excellent threads like this one:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss...r-zhr-lhr.html

You can check-in online 23 hours before departure for both PRG-ZRH and ZRH-LHR legs, or get BPs for both flights when you check-in in PRG.

Enjoy your visit to ZRH!

Ph2088

This is great, thanks for the advice! And thanks for the link NewbieRunner - really useful!

MSPeconomist

Welcome to FT. The sort of thing that could prevent one from leaving the airport would be having a passport for which a visa is required and not having the visa. Since British passports can enter the EU and Switzerland (schengen) freely, no problem for you.

Aviatrix

Just a small correction on an earlier post... arriving from PRG you won't be going through passport control (as it's all Schengen), you can just walk straight out of the airport.

Also - assuming your trip is all one ticket you should normally be able to check in for both flights at PRG (i.e., even if you don't check in online). It's pretty much automatic - i.e., if you present yourself at the check-in desk with a booking to London they will give you both boarding passes without you having to ask.

NewbieRunner

You are right, of course. I usually arrive in ZRH from non-Schengen, hence the confusion.

Ph2088

Great, thanks! My flight is all booked as one trip on the way back so I think I will check in for both legs at Prague.

I'm quite surprised at how many people I've spoken to have concluded that leaving the airport for a layover would not be possible - must be a common misconception perhaps!

nrr

You can buy a one day Zurich Card for 20 SF--this covers transportation to and from central Zurich to the Airport and all of the trams (and buses) for central Zurich and most of the surroundings; with it, most of the important museums are also free. Seeing the Kunstmuseum (closed on Mondays) is worth it, if you are into art. The Landsmuseum (right near the central railroad station) is also nice. The ZC allows free entry into the flight deck (good if you still have time to kill).

Thor3

I was there in July. Across from the terminal are signs for the train station. You will find the underground facilities like a small city. Including markets, multiple shops and even a food court. [I would avoid the court as prices are very expensive. A sandwich and drink from one of the markets will be less expensive]. Having some Swiss Francs might help. [Banks are easily found in the terminal.]

Once out the downtown train station it is an easy walk to the cleanest river I have ever seen running through a major city. It is a short walk down it to Lake Zurich. The transportation pass is a good deal. The trollies we used ran every 3-5 minutes!

Enjoy a new city.

ToGo

last year i book this tour: http://www.switzerland-tours.ch/index.php?cPath=25

Daichovo

I too will have a 9 hour layover in Zurich (actually, closer to 10). I am a US citizen, but arriving from non EU/Schengen (Turkey)

I found this tour that sounds good, but I am thinking I probably will get held up in customs and miss the start. My plane is Swiss/Turkish Airlines codeshare, arrive at 10:20, and tour starts at 11 downtown, which I understand takes about 20 min to get to. I will probably not book until I get into town (in case a miracle happens and I somehow make it) but I guess not counting on it.

How long are in/out times at Zurich usually, just for my info? On return trip I leave at 20:20, going to Germany.

Koby

You won't make it. Even if everything goes perfect (i.e. no waiting at immigration) you'll still need more than 20 minutes to make it to where the tour starts. (20 minutes is travel time, but you'll have to walk to and from the train stations, and buy your tour ticket.)

Daichovo

Okay, thanks! I'll either plan on another tour or see if I can piece something similar myself (now that the bait of Lichtenstein has been dangled, it's hard to resist. Especially since a lot of it will be INSIDE a bus or something where it's warm