Switzerland

Old Mar 30th, 2017, 03:16 PM
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Switzerland

Looking for starting point suggestions.... will be in Switzerland mid May for 5-6 days. We will be flying in from London. If Luzern was a central point would you fly into Geneva, Milan, or Zurich? Wanting to see quaint and charming along the way...hike, walk, stroll by fields of flowers dotted with cows with bells Is there a place you would home base from?

TXtravelbug
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Old Mar 30th, 2017, 03:29 PM
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Split time between Lucerne and the Interlaken area - say a nice mountain village like Grindelwald or Wengen where you are eyeball to eyeball with soaring glacier-girdled peaks from your hotel balcony. Toylike trains and aerial gondolas going off in all directions - hikes with flowers and cows everywhere - some very easy - many moderately easy- the essence of the Alpine Swiss Wonderland etched in many folks' minds - the Wunderbar Jungfrau Region as it is called:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...w=1745&bih=864

Lucerne is lovely though not in the Alps and boat rides on its lake are so so sweet.

3 days in Jungfrau
2 days in Lucerne
IMO

Zurich is the closest airport but if fares to Geneva are much lower go there. Milan is too fare to bother about unless really much lower.

Trains are great everywhere - specially in the mountains -for lots on Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check the Swiss chapter of their superb online European Rail Guide).
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Old Mar 31st, 2017, 01:22 PM
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The most popular walk - and one of the most easy -In the Interlaken area has to be the famous Ridge Walk from The Mannlichen to Keline Scheidegg - Mannlichen is reached by cable ways from Grindelwald and Wengen - take trains to either and then is a gently descending wide trail you need no special shoes to do and in season flowers will abound:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mann...ih=864&dpr=1.1

Or take the tiny mountain train from near Interlaken to the Alpine Garden:

http://www.alpengarten.ch/en/

https://www.google.com/search?q=alpi...w=1745&bih=864
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Old Apr 1st, 2017, 04:51 AM
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For Lucerne, you best fly to Zurich or Basel.
For lots of blooming wild flowers in mid May, the Montreux area or Southern Ticino would be better choices.
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Old Apr 1st, 2017, 06:41 AM
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I would not organize a visit around seeing flowers -the Alpine Garden will have more than you dream.
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Old Apr 1st, 2017, 07:24 AM
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I really don't know what you expect anyone to tell you txtravelbug. Where one person would base themselves vs. another person and for what reason, really doesn't matter.

Think of it this way. You have a box of chocolates all with different flavours in their centres but all covered in Swiss milk chocolate. You are asking other people to tell you which one to pick.

One person says he likes the coconut cream flavour and another is saying he likes the butter rum flavour and so you should pick that one.

For anyone to give you relevant suggestions for YOU, you have to come up with some criteria that narrow down the field. All you have said is, " Wanting to see quaint and charming along the way...hike, walk, stroll by fields of flowers dotted with cows with bells Is there a place you would home base from?"

I could name several dozen places that meet those criteria. There is nothing in that to narrow down the choices. All you've described is the Swiss milk chocolate outside.

There are some general points worth considering. With only 5-6 days, I would not move at all. A day spent moving is a day not spent in a place doing/seeing things. Depending on your arrival and departure times in regards to your count of 5-6 days, you may only really have 3-5 full days to spend anywhere. Losing one of those days moving from A to B becomes a big percentage of your available time.

In early May, you may well encounter snow still at higher elevations as well as colder temperatures. So that may factor in to your choices.

PalenQ and neckervd have suggested different places for example. Compare the average weather:
In the Jungfrau area, http://www.holiday-weather.com/wengen_ch/averages/may/

In the Ticino area,
http://www.holiday-weather.com/ascona_ch/averages/may/

In Montreux area,
http://www.holiday-weather.com/montr.../averages/may/

And as neckervd pointed out, you will not find flowers (and cows) at higher elevations in May. In the Jungfrau region, the cows are not taken up to high pastures until mid-June.

Your choice of airport would depend on price but also on which area you pick. For the examples above, if you chose the Jungfrau it would make the most sense to fly into Zurich. For the Ticono, Milan might actually be best and for Montreux, Geneva would be the closest.

There is no shortcut for doing your own research and making your own decision txtravelbug unless you are happy to just follow the herd to the most 'popular' places.
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Old Apr 1st, 2017, 08:20 AM
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If flowers are your priority, then another vote for the Ticino. I'm going there for a week in May.

OTOH, we have had some very warm weather recently and there are already spring flowers in many places. If this warm weather pattern holds (no guarantees), things will definitely be blooming in May beyond the Ticino and at higher than normal altitudes.
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