Hi, my wife and I are planning a 7 days trip to switzerland in early september.

We want this trip to be relaxed and at our pace. Specifically, we don't want to stay in heavily touristed places and would prefer to stay away in a picturesque place, which however should be accessible to the well known points. I am a photographer, and scenery is my prime interest over history.

In our research, we came across www.schwizi.ch - the managers there have sent us a detailed list of the place, but I wanted to ask people here of their recommendations on how Schiwizi is in terms of peacefulness, beauty and accessibility to places to see.

Finally, is it advisable to rent a car there ? We stay in the US, so how easy is it to get used to driving in Switzerland ?

Here is what the manager of schwizi said:

"From our place you can cover 80% of whole Switzerland by daytrip. So it makes no sense to stay for a few nights to Zürich and Luzern and Montreux and Zermatt.

Our resort in Ringgenberg is 4 km outside Interlaken; therefore you will find this resort in a quiet and sunny, south-facing position in the upper part of the village. Centrally situated; shops, children’s play area, railway station and lake Brienz are all within a 3 - 7 minute walk. From Interlaken Ost railway station you transfer by bus No. 2 to our village Ringgenberg (2'500 residents), frequency every hour with connection to all trains to Zürich (main airport with direct train to Interlaken), Berne, Luzern, Grindelwald. The transfer (by our private shuttle bus) by arriving and departure we offer for CHF 5.00 per person. Travelling time is 8 minutes. The Ringgenberg bus station is 3 minutes from our resort. The Ringgenberg railway station is 7 minutes from our resort. We are also able to offer individual local transfers to any places at any time for CHF 5.00 per person.

Niederried is the small village (360 residents ...) just next to us, only 4 minutes far from our resort in Ringgenberg. The Niederried railway station is 1 minute from the resort. Travelling time from Niederried to Interlaken Ost by train is 6 minutes.
For the using of our indoor pool in Ringgenberg we offer a free of charge transfer service."

This sounds like an absolutely terrible idea. Why stay in one tiny resort if you really want to see several diferent places.

(I'm not a fan of moving every night - but day trips only make sense if you really want to stay in the city with the hotel and the day trips are within a reasonable distance - an hour or so from where you're staying.)

What I would suggest is renting a car and spending 4 nights in Lucerne (from which you can see the town, the lake, take reltively brief boat rides on the lake to a variety of small villages, to mountains to ascend (Pilatus, etc.). And then spend 3 nights in one of the smaller mountain towns in the Berner Oberland from which you can take hikes further into the mountains or visit a variety of other small villages - but still have acces to town (Interlaken, Thun etc) for nice dinners.

Anriunec

Riggenberg is a beautiful village, and in the Berner Oberland if your choice is picturesque as opposed to tourist, you are on Lake Brienz, travel via Interlaken by rail to other parts of the Oberland would I think be preferable to hiring a car,which would be of no use to visit villages such as Wengen and Murren or walking in the Lauterbrunnen valley. It will take you seven days to explore some of the area, you won't manage all of it. Look at the Swiss tourist site at www.myswitzerland. for ideas. Lucerne is a possibler day trip over the Brunig Pass from Interlaken Ost or Brienz
Enjoy your trip, I shall be in Interlaken in early September so maybe our paths will cross. If you are there at the beginning of September, the first weekend it is the Unspunnen festival, very worth seeing from a photographic point of view, it only happens every eleven or twelve years.

For relaxed travel in Switzerland, I would go by train, not rent a car.

Hi arjunrc,

I also think you should stick to the trains; I rented a car only twice out of about 14 trips to Switzerland, and regretted it both times. Trains are easy & comfortable: get your schedule ahead of time to minimize lost time, buy a picnic, and enjoy the trip. Rail schedules are at www.rail.ch.

I like your idea of staying in one place and taking day trips out to see the area, but I always limit my trips to two hours each way (or else the day becomes a blur).

There are literally dozens (hundreds?) of quaint, small, untouristy villages in Switzerland, so don't commit yourself to the first one you've found. I recommend you decide which area(s) you want to use as a base, then find a village or town in that area. In the Berner Oberland alone I can think of Brienz, Thun, Spiez . . .

Good luck!

s

To give you an idea what day trips with a train from Interlaken are like:

Interlaken - Zermatt: 3 hours one way
Interlaken - Lugano: 5 hours one way
Interlaken - St. Moritz: 6 hours one way

I personally think that seeing 80% of Switzerland through day trips is an exaggeration.

See: sbb.ch