sk_whong

I plan to stay 1 night at St. Moritz, 2 nights at Zermatt and 4 nights at Interlaken early next month. All my reserved hotels are at the central location (e.g. near train station) and are not air-conditioned.
Reporter said that it was very hot in some of the European countries last week. Are those 3 places cool at night? Can people sleep without air-conditioning? Please advice.

(My friend had just returned from Paris. She stayed in an hotel w/o air-conditioning. Due to the high temp, she couldn't sleep at night at all.)

tom22

Take a look under
http://bergbahnen.zermatt.ch/e/bahnen/wetter.html

and judge for yourself, if this is warm, moderate or cold.

bluenose

Hi,
We stayed in Basel for one night at the end of May, centrally located also. It was stifling without air conditioning, and the noise from the trams was really bad. We had to close the window shutters most of the way against the noise, but left them open a bit for air.

nytraveler

St Moritz and Zermatt are in the mountains and should be reasonably cool at night - unless there is some incredible heat wave.

Interlaken is in more of a valley - but also should be cool enough to sleep at night - just don;t pick a hotel right on the main street - so you can open windows if you want.

Caveat: If there is an incredible heat wave as happened a couple of years ago - probably no place will be cool enough.

kleeblatt

Basel can be noisy if you have a hotel with thin windows near tram stations. It can also get hot. However, it rarely stays warm at night in the mountains. It shouldn't get too warm in Interlaken at night either.

There aren't too many people with air conditioning in Switzerland (except perhaps in the Tessin). And it usually doesn't get humid.

Don't worry: you'll love it here.

Gaia

Try this: http://meteo.search.ch/lokal.html
About 95% of central europeans sleep without air conditioing and we survive.

612boudou

Just returned from 13 nights in Switzerland. The weather was extremely warm including Zermatt, Ascona, Lucerne and Zurich.

Night time windows and doors wide open, fortunately we had small fans in several hotels to keep the air moving...

Zermatt did cool down somewhat in the evening, but the down comforters were still too much...

Maybe you should consider a place to stay further from town center where the air can circulate...

Part of the total experience is to see how others live and enjoy the enviroment...You'll see that we americans are compelety spoiled...will you be able to live without ice cubes in your drinks?

FainaAgain

I was in Zurich, Interlaken, Zermatt at the end of May, the weather was from snow to suntanning during those days. If it's hot, you can open a window or the balcony door.

In Zermatt I stayed at Schlosshotel, it had down comforters. My sleep was perfect under a down comforter, with an opened balcony door.

Intrepid1

I'm sorry but to characterize Americans, or anyone with air conditioning, as "completely spoiled seems extreme.

After all, do you consider heating in the Winter a "luxury" or a necessity?

Same with air conditioning in the Summer.

julie_Colorado

We were in Switzerland last August during some very hot weather. But the nights in Lauterbrunen were lovely - and I did use my down comforter. Thankfully, no need for air conditioning because we didn't have it - and I absolutely hate it.

jmw44

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I wonder if schuler or someone else living in Switzerland might be able to answer this question: Looking back on June, how many days would you estimate had a high of 30c or more? Are there cool days scattered in or was there a hot patch of straight days in the 30's? Did it get hotter as the month progressed, or is it the luck of the draw -- just as likely to have a hot first week of June followed by the next with cool temps? Thanks. I'm just trying to get a realistic picture of the new Switzerland (post global warming?). J.

kleeblatt

Hello JMW44:

I live in Central Switzerland. I went jogging this morning and it was very cool and then we got caught in the rain. So much for today's weather.

The weather is utterly impossible to predict.

Winter:
In the 90's, we didn't have much snow in the winter and couldn't go skiing often in the lower altitudes. Then came the new century and now we've had three years of great skiing in the area. I need new skis because mine are wearing out! This year we went hiking in the mountains and made campfires to grill our bratwursts until mid December. Incredibly mild. Then Christmas and New Year's came and we got our snow. In fact, we went sledding for our New Year's celebration.

Summer:
In 2002 we had a very medicore summer...almost too cool. Then we had a heatwave in the summer of 2003. Last year was nice but no heatwave.

Spring:
This spring was very cool...actually chilly. We had two days of nice weather followed by 10 days of nasty weather. The good weather came beg. of June and we've had more or less a heatwave till now. However, now it's supposed to stay cool and a bit rainy for next week.

Fall:
Five years ago we had a fall to die for. October was warm and the views were incredible in the mountains. You could even go hiking in your shorts!
Three years ago I had visitors at the same time and we had fog and rain the whole time. Two years ago we went to Flims the first week in October and had to deal with new snow. Last year we had a cool first week but a hot second week in October.
Generally, the mountains are nicest in the fall because of the colors and the clear views.

There's a club in the area for men who can forecast the weather using signs in the nature. They have competitions to see who is right. The Swiss love it because they do this with a lot of hillbilly like humor. They are called Wetterfrosch (weather frogs).

They speak of global warming here too. However, this spring we didn't have much of it at all.

Hope this answers your questions.

Florence

Bonjour sk_whong,

We've had 1 week of high temperatures but fortunately the heatwave has abated since yesterday and we don't expect them that bad in the near future.

The reason so few Europeans install air conditionning systems is that 2003 heatwave was exceptionnal in its temperatures and duration, last year's summer was rather unusually cool, and we don't know what this season will be made of.

Usually, outside the South of France, Italy, and Spain, we don't have such high temperatures at night, at least not for any significant length of time. In addition, most traditionally built houses and buildings have rather thick walls and we're used to deal with heat through ventilation, which has proved enough until 2003.

This could change should the climate keep deteriorate.

jmw44

Thanks, schuler. Our winters here in Louisiana are unpredictable day to day, one warm, one freezing, a toss-up. But our summers (in case you're interested) are hot sunrise to midnight everyday from June through September. Makes planning easy, but all things considered, I'd rather be in Switzerland. J.

sunstar

>>>>>>>>>I'm sorry but to characterize Americans, or anyone with air conditioning, as "completely spoiled seems extreme.<<<<<<<<<<&l t;<<<<


I missed that comment, but it does not surprise me that there would be another little dig at the USA or Americans.

If you live in the Southeastern United States in the summer, you need air conditioning to not only provide comfort, but to also insure good health. The heat and humidy levels often reach dangerous levels that can threaten the health of older people and people with breathing problems.

So to say that Americans are spoiled because we have air conditioning is yet another stupid asinine comment!!

As for Switzerland. The Swiss villages can be quite warm, if not hot. I have seen 80-almost 90 degrees in Interlaken, but higher altitudes, the air is cooler.

The nights usually are cool enough to open up your window to let cool air in.

I have never seen Zermatt hot. It usually is about 50-60 degrees in late August. As I have said, I have seen warmer weather in Interlaken. One trip in Murren. I think the temps were near 80 degrees.

Dress for all kinds of weather when you are in the mountains. The weather can change suddenly!

sk_whong

Thanks for the information.

I live in Hong Kong where it has been named as "a city of Arctic air-conditioning". Due to high humidity and temperature, many indoor places was over air-conditioned or with air-conditioning set at "Arctic level".
Now, gov't has advised the public to set temperature at 26C. Some shelters are open when "Very hot" weather warning is reported.
For most hongkongers, we always dream of cool summers where people can enjoy many outdoor activites, such as hiking, and have better hygiene.

Intrepid1

I suspect a lot more people in Asia die from the fact that they smoke rather than from being "over-air conditioned."