3 - 4 day excursion to Switzerland
 

My husband and I are taking a trip to Germany/Switzerland at the end of this month. While in Germany we are primarily staying with a friend in Stuttgart. However, we’d like to take a 3-4 day trip down to Switzerland to see the Alps. We are lucky enough to be furnished with a nice car equipped with GPS from our friend. So here are the questions:
Where to stay? I’d like to keep the lodging at a reasonable rate, about $175 US including taxes. We prefer B&B like atmospheres – we feel you get to know the culture better that way.
We hear phenomenal things about Interlaken. We also know that you can take the train out of Interlaken and up into one of those little towns in the Alps. Is it safe to leave your car at the train station overnight if we chose to stay in one of those towns? And if so – which town would you take the train to?
Also – any ‘must sees’ while we are there? Is the ‘Ice Palace’ all that it is hyped up to be? Are dinner cruises even possible since we are going so late in September? I heard Lake Lucerne is amazing.
The weather……oh my, it has been pretty harsh on the Swiss lately hasn’t it? What clothing should end of September tourists bring?
I think that is it! Thanks for all your comments in advance:)

Interlaken is a good spot if you plan to split your time between mountain and lake activities or do some of the adventure sports stuff. There is also a great open-air folk museum in Brienz, less than 1 hour's drive from Interlaken.

But if you are mainly interested in mountain activities such as hiking, going up to the Schilthorn and/or Jungfrau, then you should drive about 20 minutes south of Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. All the mountainy stuff is much more convienent from Lauterbrunnen than from Interlaken.

Far an away my favorite little town in that area is Gimmelwald (not Grindlewald). It's traffic-free, has lots of great hikes from there and it's not touristy at all. Most of its residents are farmers, not tourism merchants. There is a couple of comfortable B&B there and a pension, all well under your budget. Murren is another good traffic-free choice on that side of the valley. See my photos for more from that region:

http://www.photoworks.com/share/shar...BC6E&cb=PW

On the other side of Lauterbrunnen valley are Wengen (also traffic-free) and Grindlewald, which you could also drive to. Grindlewald and Wengen are also great bases for hiking of all difficulty levels.

Call me crazy, but I wasn't that thrilled with the trip up to the Jungfraujoch, but that is mainly due to the cost and time to get there. It will cost you about $100 per person and take about 4 hours round trip (most of that in a tunnel). There's lots of "wow" up there, but I could have gotten just as much wow from any number of hikes (and for a lot less money).

Another neat attraction is Tremmelbach Falls in the Lauterbrunnen valley. It's a waterfall inside the base of the Jungfrau. It's extreme geology.

I have not seen enough in Interlaken to compel me to stay there despite 7 visits.
If I am in that area, I want to be in the high Alps, which Interlaken is not.

Also, if you look for Trümmelbach Falls
I think you will have a better chance of finding them.

The falls are reached easily by post bus from Lauterbrunnen, or walk it. It is not far and the trail along the stream is very pleasant.

The falls are lighted and there is an elevator to take you up to the highest viewpoints.

We spent a week in Switzerland in July and split our time between cities and mountains. If your main purpose is mountains than I would take the advise above and stay in Lauterbrunnen, but if you also want some time on the lakes, then Interlaken is very convenient. The only "phenomenal" thing about it is that's it's easy to get to mountains, on the lakes, and has lots of accomodations. We stayed at Hotel Lotschburg (www.lotschberg.ch/) and loved it. But we wanted to travel around the lake and also did a day trip to Bern and Murten so it was good for us. If we had planned to spend most of the time in the mountains I would have chosen Lauterbrunnen. Luzern is also wonderful. We spent the last couple days there (Hotel Goldener Stern).

If you want to see more photos mine are at: www.pbase.com/annforcier. Unfortunately we didn't have the great blue sky Edward had (those were great photos by the way), but at least we missed the floods.

I would agree that Interlaken is a good base for traveling around the mountains and lakes, especially since you have a car. It is so easy to go to places like Gruyere or Gstaad or the little towns mentioned in other posts if you are in a central location to begin with.

Awesome photos edward!

I would suggest driving to and staying in Lauterbrunnen. It has several hotels, at least one hostel and a nice campground which also rents cabins. You can take the mountain trains which run up either side of town to the towns higher up (which also have lodging). Spent two days in Lauterbrunnen once and thought it one of the lovliest places I had ever been.

I agree with "floyvic" about using Lauterbrunnen as a base. While it is not the most scenic village, if you are in the area for only a few days it is the most convenient. From L. you can catch trains, cable cars, funiculars, bus to Muerren, Schilthorn (go early, it often gets fogged in), Truemmelbachfaelle (can be done on the way back from the Schilthorn), Wengen, Maennlichen (nice walk from M. to Kleine Scheidegg), Kleine Scheidegg. At least go that far, if getting to the Jungfraujoch is too expensive. The Jungfraujoch is great if the weather is clear. But you can see much of the mountain itself, and of the Eiger, from the Kleine Scheidegg.

Be prepared that by the end of this month it can get quite cold at the Jungfraujoch; on the plus side, there won't be as many tourists as during the peak vacation months .

I stayed at the Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen and was very pleased. It is about a 5 min. walk from the station. You can park your car there for the duration of your stay, w/o charge.