Thanks, Dax. Brasserie Lipp sounds fine, esp. as somebody else will be reimbursing me for it and I don't want to pick an OTT deluxe expensive restaurant. And CA will be ok, too, I didn't dislike their restaurant in Vienna, just thought Novelli was better.

I look forward to the taste test comparing Schiesser and Sprungli chocolates.

BTilke, I'd be curious what your verdict will be. I am also partial toward Schiesser Confiseur as we used to make weekly stops in their thin building in Marktplatz though it's been a long time since I had Schiesser chocolate. That said, Sprungli is hard to beat and is, I perceive, a much more succesful endeavor.

I think I will have to get a selection from both, plus a bottle of Etter pear eau de vie and "resign" myself to an hour of tasting and comparing.

By the way, the website for the Brasserie Lipp ("so isst Paris&quot is:
http://www.candriancatering.ch/sites...t=411&rng=

Looks very nice and will probably be my first choice.

Where do you stay in Basel these days? Or where would you recommend? I've only been doing daytrips into Basel in recent times.

Well, I just got in from Basel and Zurich about an hour ago. And may I say, what a treat it was descending into Heathrow in the face of 100+ mph headwinds and driving rain. Next time, I'm taking the train!! I prefer a 10 hour train trip to a winged roller coaster, thank you very much.

Anyway, in Basel, I stayed at the Hotel Basel (185 Sfr, including breakfast and taxes and free Basel transit pass for length of stay), where I always stay if possible. It's just a block off the Marktplatz and I love winding my way up Spalenberg to the Spalentor and back. I had a simple dinner at an Italian restaurant (salad, risotto al funghi). Some big changes since I was there last...the huge cinema complex near Barfusserplatz (sp) and the honking big Media Markt by the new above ground walkway connecting Guterstrasse to the train station.
Zurich was pleasant, I did my Bahnhofstrasse tour, had my cappuccino and cake at Sprungli, strolled around the old town. By the way, I looked at the Cantinetta Antinori, but there was only one thing on the menu I really liked, so I skipped it. Bindella's looked appealing, maybe next time.
The restaurant suggestions given here were all good, but I was tired and as I had an early meeting today, I simply ate at the Bel Etage restaurant in the Sofitel. It was more than satisfactory, so that worked out well. Thumbs up all around for everything about the Sofitel. Plus it's nice and close to the train station...a 10 minute walke or one tram stop (the 11 or 14).

I got very lucky with the weather. Apparently Zurich will soon be getting the lousy weather pummeling the UK at the moment.

We've got the winds but not the rain yet.

Oh, and I forgot, yes, my chocolate covered heart still belongs to Schiesser. I liked their chocolates more than the ones I tried at Sprungli (and there is now a small Sprungli branch in the Basel train station concourse linking to Guterstrasse).

Schuler, perhaps you'll get snow instead of rain! Although it was milder than I'd expected in Zurich earlier today.

BTilke: Thanks for the blip about Basel, it makes me want to revisit. I used to live in the catholic Studentenheim 3 blocks north of Spalenberg toward the river. I do remember climbing up Spalenberg from your hotel corner. I assume you ate at the Bodega zum Strauss at Barfuesserplatz? Is Basel still as enjoyable as you expected? I have yet to think of an excuse to go to Basel.

Before there was Antinori in Zurich, we used to eat at Bindella, but lately the small restaurant has become so popular that we could never get a table without a long wait so I tend to end up at CA. The cooking was always great & authentic but their winelist was even better since Bindella AG is a major importer of Italian wines to Switzerland.

Thanks, Dax, I had no idea if Bindella's was a good restaurant or not, it just looked very attractive. However, I couldn't find where they'd posted their menu so I didn't know what the dishes were. It might not be hard to get a table for an early dinner...when I walked by...maybe 6:30 pm?...there were just a few tables occupied.

No, I ate in Basel at PomoDoro. I ate there several times when I spent some weeks in Basel in 2002. I noted a variety of restaurant changes...for example, a traditional restaurant on Spalenberg is now a tapas bar. The Argentinian steak house down by the Rhine bridge is no longer there (at least, I didn't see it). There were more wine bars and also more chain restaurants. Happily, Fumare/Non Fumare is still going strong serving (arguably) the best coffee in Basel.

I was bummed that my pockets weren't overstuffed with cash as the sales were on--so many temptations...

please excuse me cutting in to this excellent post! Cicerone you may remeber us you just abot planned our recent visit to Hong Kong- nice to see you name on this forum you have an excellent reputation on the Asia forum

the husband and I are going to Zurich on 2nd April - arrive in the evening - we can spend one or two nights there- what should we do? we need to work in town for an hour or so on the morning of the 3rd, otherwise we are free. we fly London to Cape Town on 7th April and we can split the time between the 3 rd and 7th as we like. Should we just fly in and out of Zurich and spend the time in Londaon. Also we need a very nice hotel in town near the station - we always travel en masse and for once it is just the husband and i so somewhere special would be nice - your thoughts are appreciated and I do appreciate that I will find a lot on this board when I look further so please forgive me if I am asking the already answered

many thanks in advance

Zurich is quite small, and for bits you can't walk to there is an excellent tram service, and virtually all parts are safe (even the dodgy bits don't get dodgy until after about 1 am). So IMO it does not matter a whole lot if you stay within a 5-10 minute walk of a train station, or like a 5-10 minute tram ride which would put you further out of the main "down town" area, but in either case you won't be far. Do you have a budget for the hotel, that would be much more of a help in giving reccos. Zurich is pretty expensive for hotels. If by a "very nice hotel near the train station" you mean a 5 star then you probably the Savoy au Lac or the Widder Hotel which will cost you like US$700 a night, but there are 4-stars in a bit less range (Like US$350 and above), and 3 stars in the US$200 range. Zurich is town where a budget helps to narrow reccos. There are also 4 train stations in town, so you don't have to stay near the main one (Hautbahnhof) necessarily. You are also going to be there partly on weeknights when hotels are more expensive. So can you give me a range. You might also search here, as myself and others have posted on hotels. Two very charming hotels with character in a slightly better price range (but not much) would be the Zum Storchen (http://www.summithotels.com, they have some other nice hotels in Zurich too including the St Gottahard which has a great location steps from the main train station) and the Kindli (http://www.kindli.ch). Both are in very charming parts of the old town. Be sure to ask about room size, or check on the website, as they can have some small rooms (this ain't Asia), so look out for this.

Now, if I understand your post correctly, you have from April 2 – 7 to either spend all in Switzerland, or you can just stay April 2-3 and return to London. I would recco that you do you work on April 3, see a bit of the town on the 3rd, and then get out of Zurich and see the countryside, which is really what Switzerland is all about. I think Zurich is great, but would not choose it over the countryside if I could help it.

April is just a little bit of a weird time in the mountains as it is of course not at all Spring yet, but winter is kind of over, but I think the first week in April you should still find things in winter mode in the mountains, so that is where I would go. You may find some hotels closed for the season, so start looking around. However, the majority of closures tend to be around mid-April, which tells you something about the ending of the season there. (They re-open in June, as May is not a good month in the mountains, fog and snow melt.)

The most popular area on this board seems to the Bernese Oberland (the Interlaken area of the Jungfrau mountain valley, I would consider Wengen or Murren), that is certainly really beautiful. Another thought is the Matterhorn in Zermatt, another good choice with of course the great wow! impact of the Matterhorn. Another really beautiful area but relatively unexplored by people on this board is the Engadine area around St Moritz, IMO this is really a lovely and unknown area and has some of the most charming villages in Switzerland to explore, including the truly lovely Guarda. Many of these areas should be OK for some spring skiing, but even if you don't ski there is a lot to do. There are many activities like winter walking, cross country skiing, horse drawn sleigh rides, sledding, ballooning, or just sitting by a fire sipping mulled wine that you can do other than skiing. You can also take the cable cars or little trains up the mountainsides and admire the wonderful views. In the St Moritz area you could take the Bernina Express glacier train ride (see rhb.ch), or in Zermatt the Glacier Express (as a way to get to St Moritz perhaps, but with your limited time IMO this train is not ideal.) I lived in Switzerland and actually think the Alps are more beautiful in winter than they are in summer. Although museums and historical sights are a bit thin on the ground in mountain towns, good hotels and restaurants, breathtaking sights and relaxation are not. The areas above are within 3-4 hour train ride of Zurich, some like Guarda are about 2 hours. See rail.ch for schedules.

The other ends of Switzerland, the beautiful Lake Geneva area, is IMO not great in April, it is too early for the spring stuff and too late for winter. They have more of a sunny microclimate there that does not get going until about mid-May. The vineyards on the hillsides will be very brown and no spring flowers will really be going. I think you may get more foggy and rainy days there (and I have been there with snowstorms in April too), so I would skip this otherwise lovely area.

Once you settle on an area, I can recco some hotels as well. If your flight to London is not until late in the day on th 7th, that gives you some more time too. Is there anyway you could fly out of Zurich to Capetown? That would save backtracking.

Cicerone you are a star - as always! I now have more info. It appears that our business meeting is in Aarau so now we could possibly look at the following:

2nd April - arrive Zurich about 5pm and spend night in Aarau

3rd - morning business meeting - will be free from about 11am
afternoon ?

4th - ?
5th ?
6th - morning free - need to fly out of Zurich about 3pm and do need to get back to London for international flight to Cape Town on the 7th - do need the morning of the 7th in London

I am going to research your suggestions. We have been to Geneva before and agree with timing being a bit off