URGENT! Swiss in quick 4 days!!!

OK, I'll go first. Why don't you simplify things by just going straight to Brienz from the Zurich flughafen, and stay there for all four nights before moving on to Milan (if that's the plan). From Brienz on Brienzersee, you've got a view of the Oberland peaks, and you can daytrip to Lucerne, Bern, Grindelwald, Wengen, Ballenberg, Thun, Oberhofen, and even Chillon on Lac Leman if you don't mind a long day on the train through the mountains. Do you have a map? J.

Wow! That's a great idea!!!
I just noticed that many hotels are closed in the Swiss Alps region. Will it be completely empty in Swiss during mid Oct???
Anyways. Will study up on your idea.

Travelling prep is hard so I do appreciate all your comments!

If schuler doesn't see your thread, perhaps you could post a new header asking that specific info. She lives in central Switzerland and should be able to answer. There is a Brienzersee website, too. Try brienzersee.ch. (If memory serves.) J.

Hm. Just looked at the website feeling lost as couldn't find the English link. But thank you!

I was thinking of basing in Interlaken but Brienz seems to be better located.

Are there any good hotels you can recommend there? Many thanks again!!!

http://www.weisseskreuz-brienz.ch

This is the small hotel where we stayed quite a few years ago. Liked it a lot. There's an e-mail contact address.

The sbb.ch website is good for checking train times and schedules. From Brienz to Lauterbrunnen, it's :49, to Thun 1:02, Bern 1:24, Lucerne 1:36, Ballenberg :22, and Montreux 3:09. The last involves several changes, but Swiss trains and the scenery from their windows are part of the adventure. We chose Brienz because we wanted daytrip possibilities far and wide, not only up into the mountains. And we like staying lakeside with mountain views. A four-night stay in Lauterbrunnen would get you closer to the mountain villages but farther from Lucerne and Bern; a stay in Spiez would put you closer to Montreux, Gstaad, and Bern, but farther from . . . well you get the picture. For us, Brienz was the perfect compromise. I've never traveled in October. That's a question for schuler. J.

Interlaken is a railhub w/o a doubt, but it doesn't have the view of the mountains across the lake from it the way Brienz does. The Weisses Kreuz site isn't in English either, but the folks at the desk spoke English, so if you e-mail them, you should receive some info. J.

Thanks, J! Appreciate all your help.
More studying for me...

We drove through Brienz a couple of weeks ago and sadly noted significant damage to parts of the town from the recent mud slides following the August rains. (Houses buried by mud and cars that had been buried or crushed by the mud slides.)I don't know that this would cause any disruption to you as a tourist, but certainly there has been disruption to the town. We stayed for three nights in Lauterbrunnen and it was a wonderful base for us but we were driving and just wanting time up in that region to go up to the Jungfrau and to visit some of the villages that were easy to get to from Lauterbrunnen (Murren, Gimmelwald, etc.) We had wonderful blue skies and warm temperatures in mid Sept and the views from Lauterbrunnen and on our train trips were magnificent. Another time we might steal some days from our France itinerery to spend more time in the Lauterbrunner area. We would like to go back and buy the six day train pass and travel all of the routes.