dave12478

I've posted a somewhat similar question before, so please forgive the repeat, but how would Wengen by in the first week of May? My impression is this might be in between seasons.

I'm going to be in Switzerland anyway, and i''ve been debating between going to a more cosmopolitan place like Montreux, but part of me thinks it'll be a waste to not actually get up into the mountains. I just don't want to be in a deserted ghost town in the in-between-season.

Thanks in advance.

Ingo

In early May Wengen is indeed a "deserted ghost town in the in-between-season."

Better just do an excursion there (better yet, have a look at it from the train up to Kleine Scheidegg, it's enough.) and stay somewhere down by the lakes. Lake Thun is nice in early May.

swandav2000

Hi dave12478,

Ok, so here's another idea -- stay in Gstaad. Gstaad is only at about 1,000m, so it's much lower than Wengen and has much milder weather. I was there in May one time and even saw some beautiful yellow wildflowers covering the fields outside of town.

You can ascend some nice mountains -- though not as high as those around Wengen -- and take some nice walks. One of my very favorite mountain hikes is from Wispile cable car to the Lauenensee, about 3h. You can also visit Gruyeres and its castle and cheese dairy and/or Broc and the chocolate factory there. You can walk to Saanen (45 minutes) or take the train to Montreux (2h) or visit Rougemont and Chateau d'Oex (about 15 minutes by train).

Gstaad is much more cosmopolitan than is Wengen -- the rich/beautiful/famous folks have been living and vacationing there since the 1960s (folks like E. Taylor and R. Burton, D. Niven, etc), so it has extraordinary restaurants, good cafes, and mind-blowing shopping. It has a wonderful gourmet food store, too.

www.gstaad.ch

Good luck! Hope you hit on the right place!

s

kja

FWIW, I only visited Gstaad very briefly, and so could easily be mistaken, but I didn't like it very much -- it struck me as much more upscale and more tourist-y than I prefer. In contrast, I enjoyed the places I visited along Lake Thun quite a lot. Just my opinion -- YMMV.

swandav2000

kja,

Yes, Gstaad is undeniably more upscale -- I think I represented that well above. It is also more touristy than other places along Lake Thun, which are pretty much overlooked by tourists.

However, I have never, ever seen tour busses in Gstaad, like one sees at truly touristy areas. The "tourists" you see there are either older hikers (I've seen plenty of those on the streets in town) or the well-heeled finally making it out of the hotel for a meal at around noon. Both of these types of visitor seem to know Gstaad very well and act like it's their second home. You don't get the tour-bus throngs clogging up the streets while they pause to aim their cameras.

I've spent many holidays in Gstaad -- the first was a day-trip, the second was 4 days in neighboring Saanen, the third was a week, the fourth was 2 weeks (well, this was an apartment in Chateau d'Oex, about 5 minutes away by train), the fifth was a week, and the sixth was 10 days.

s

kja

@ swandav - Yes, you described it very well and you make a good point.