Hello,

So I have a lot of hotel points from Marriott and SPG and would like to spend them on a 3 week trip to Switzerland in late August to early September. The goal is only to stay in these hotels as they would not cost any money . I need your help please to create a great itinerary around the places of these hotels. I am going with my wife, both in mid 30s and we would like to see the mountains and the villages as much as possible.

Below is the list of the places with the hotels in question. Ideally we spend 3-5 nights per location and want the trip to be fun and manageable. Don't want to see all of them as that would be too many so best ones. I am not asking for you guys to create a trip for me (don't take it that way please) but if you could share your insights on what you think are the best locations and surrounding trips and I will take it from there.

Thank you!

Gstaad
Rougemont
Silvaplana
Chandolin
Adelboden
Champfèr (maybe as hard to book)
Lucerne
Geneva

Gstaad and Rougemont on the one hand and Silvaplana and Champfer on the other hand are more or less at the same place.
Gstaad is a upscale resort whereas Rougement is rather untouristy.
Both are linked by train (line Montreux - Spiez - Interlaken - Lucerne).

Silvaplana and Champfer are linked by local buses (about 5 any hr; most of them go to St. Moritz). Both are cloose to scenic maountain lakes and not far away from the gondola to Corvatsch glacier.
Both hotels are not in the village centers. The Nira Alpina may have less traffic noise than the Giardino Mountain.

Chandolin is a small mountain village, popular with Swiss people. It's at an altitude of about 6500 ft and open to south-west, that means bright sun until 8pm even in late August. The view to some of the highest mountains of Switzerland and down to the Rhone Valley (just 5000 feet below) is breathtaking.
But don't expect to find big shopping opportunities or discoes. The only chairlift will be closed in late August.
Buses to all other villages of the Valley (Val d'Anniviers) as well as down to Sierre/Siders railway station run about every 2 hrs.
For day trips to other Valleys: the first bus leaves Chandolin at 6.14am and the last one comes back at 20.12.

Adelboden is a big agglomeration of Bernese Oberland chalets, popular with people from Berne, above all for winter sports. Both gondolas will run. The first bus down to Frutigen railway station leaves at 5.35 and the last one comes back towards midnight (they run at least every hr).

I prefer Silvaplana/Champfer and Chandolin; they are closer to glaciers and high mountains.
Rougemont/Gstaad is a good base for day trips to Lake Geneva, Gruyeres castle, Broc chocolate factory and Diablerets Glacier.

Lucerne is extremely touristy, but there are good reasons for that: Lake with historic paddle steamboats, 3 mountains with cog wheel railways, 4 with rope railways (among them the steepest line of the world) and about a dozen of gondolas, from Brienzer Rothorn and Pilatus up to Titlis glacier and Stanserhorn (with open upper deck).

As usual, neckervd gives really useful information...used a lot of his/ her ideas from other posts for my trip

We had a wonderful 18 day Switzerland holiday in September last year, my photos and logistics here:

Switzerland (and a bit of Italy) trip report

Late summer and autumn can be a fabulous time of year.

We only had a 'taster' of different regions, so I have limited experience to offer, but Silvaplana is stunningly located ( we stayed in Sils Maria nearby) easy frequent bus in either direction, towards St Moritz or Chiavenna, so many walks in valleys, along lakes, through forests, mountain trails, to or overlooking glaciers, many cablecars, you can visit tiny villages, the upscale St Moritz, take a day trip on the Bernina line, we had 5 nights in the upper Engadin and needed more.

I agree that neckervd has (as usual) provided some supremely informative input. And like Adelaidean, I particularly enjoyed the Engadine, which you can see from Silvaplana (although I’m glad I stayed in the Lower Engadine for part of my trip). Unlike some Fodorites, I did not like Gstaad, but (of course) I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t gone.

I must admit that I would not plan a trip to Switzerland around hotels to which I have points – to go to that stunning country, and pay everything else such a trip would cost, only to miss wome wonderful destinations just because I can’t stay there on points would, to my mind, be a great example of penny-wise-pound-foolishness. But that’s just me….

No interest in Zurich? The Marriott is very nice and Zurich is worth a couple of nights IMO if you fly into there and out of Geneva. Good place to get over jet lag and some good sites to see.

I stayed at the Ren in Lucerne, also on points. Very nice hotel in a good location. A couple of blocks off the lake, not far from the train station. They have onsite parking if you are driving as I was.

I stayed at a number of non-Marriott and -SPG properties because I really wanted to see those areas.

my final 2 nights were at the Intercontinental on SPG points in Geneva. Great hotel and great town. Had my best fondue there of the trip, even better than the one in Gryere.

Hi Travel_To_Eat,

Yes, neckervd has given you a wonderful and pretty comprehensive snapshot of each of the towns you mention.

I've been to Gstaad several times, the last few times for longer than 1 week, and I've visited Rougemont a few times for a few hours each time. Rougemont is really a village, and if you enjoy those, you'll like Rougemont. I always think it's the prettiest village I've ever seen -- its houses are simply chalet-stunning! It sits in a sweet little depression among beautiful, green rolling hills. However, as a village, there really isn't much to do. At all. You can walk up & down its main street in about 15 minutes. I only saw a few restaurants and only one or two shops. Neckervd notes some of the excursions you can easily make from either Gstaad or Rougemont, and you can also very easily visit Chateau d'Oex (more cheese-making and the locality of ballooning adventures). I'll just add that I love Gruyeres and visit every time I'm in the area. You haven't said if you like to hike or walk, but Gstaad/Rougemont have some excellent hiking trails in the mountains (Wispile, Rinderberg) or walking trails from town-to-town (Gstaad-Saanen, Gstaad-Rougemont, Gruyeres-Bulle, Gstaad-Schönried).

I've also really loved spending time in the Engadin Valley, and I thought Silvaplana was in a lovely location, right on a lake. The mountains are much higher here than around Gstaad, so you'd get that mountains-and-glaciers-and-lakes experience. Yes, as Adelaidean notes, taking the Bernina scenic train route is really a wonderful excursion. You travel from the Alps, up to the watershed and glacier area of Alp Grüm, then descend into the palm-tree, lush, green warmth on the southern side of the mountains. Stop in Poschiavo for lunch in a totally Italianate setting.

If it were me, I would probably do something like Gstaad/Rougemont, Silvaplana, then Luzern.

Have fun as you plan!

s