Accommodation recommendations in Switzerland
 

Hello, I'm planning a holiday in Swtizerland in July and would like to know if you guys have any hotel recommendations for these places:
Geneva
Vevey (or surrounds)
Gstaad/Lenk (or surrounds)
Lauterbrunnen
Luzern
Bern
Neuchatel (or surrounds)
I'll probably be staying at each place for 2-3 nights, and would be travelling by rail.
As an added challenge, I'm taking my wife and 2 kids.... so any recommendations for family hotels are more than welcome.
Thanks for all your help!

I've stayed lakeside in Neuchatel at the Beaulac. It's quite nice. I would think your family would be most welcome there.

In Luzern, I'd suggest the Grand National on the lake... but it's probably not a place you would want to take a family. Very expensive. But a fabulous hotel!!

Also in Luzern, the NH Hotel is reasonable, and well located just across the street from one of the streets that runs through the old city. Nothing fancy, probably 3 star.

Can't recomment hotels in your other cities, although I've been to all of them except Lauterbrunnen. I know you will get replies from other Switzerland travelers.

My suggestions is not to book two different hotels for Geneva and Vevey. Because they are just over 1 hour train ride apart from each other. Seems a hassle to move twice in such a small area imo.

Hotel Des Negociants is one that is often recommended in Vevey. It is a very good central location. I have seen it only from the outside, as I am lucky enough to have friends in Vevey & Montreux who put me up.

Vevey: Hotel de Famille is a budget hotel about 3 minutes from the train station. I booked on GTA for $88 paid at time of reservations. http://www.hotelfamille.ch/ang/index.htm

Luzern: Hotel Alpha. This is a budget hotel with bathrooms down the hall. Rooms are modern and clean. We had a view of Mt. Pilatus from our room. It is located in a residential area but not too far for a couple of grandmothers to walk to everything. There were several families with children staying there at the time we were.

Hotel Alpha
Pilatusstrasse 24
Luzern
196 CHF including breakfast for two nights for two people.

Hi itwk,

Until you give us your budget & whether you want one large or two rooms --

The Hotel Le Grand Chalet in Gstaad is hard to beat -- ultra cozy rooms and a panoramic view over Gstaad. Alternately, the Steigenberger in Saanen is lovely.

s

itwk
I second the motion from Barbara about Hotel Alpha. It is very easy to spend lots of money on accommodation. This can be an opportunity to save a little. Also, you can consider the Tourist Hotel Luzern, beside the river and a great hotel to save money. It is clean, basic and centrally located. Ask for the top floor (recently renovated) if you choose the Tourist Hotel. Have a great time.

If you are staying in Lauterbrunnen, I suggest looking at the website for the Hotel Crystal:
http://www.crystal-lauterbrunnen.ch/seiten/fewo.htm

Arguably, the two best hotels in town are the Oberland and the Silberhorn.
The Silberhorn says that you need to ask for family rates.
The Oberland does not say anything about a 4 person room.

The Crystal has a room that will sleep 4 people, or so it says.

As often as I have been in Lauterbrunnen , I have spent exactly 1 night in a hotel! (I usually stay in an apartment.)

There is also the Jungfrau and the Staubach, but none of these advertise family rooms.

If you want to call the Oberland and ask, have no worries. The hotel is managed by Mark Nolan, a native of Australia, and his wife Ursula who is a native of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Mrs. Nolan speaks English more clearly than her husband!! (Mark might object to that one!)

At any rate, you will be there in high season, and the hotels are usually full.

We just returned from a trip to Lauterbrunnen and Stein am Rhein in Switzerland as well as a few stops in Germany. We stayed at the Oberland Hotel in Lauterbrunnen and can highly recommend it. They have a great restaurant and the owners (as Bob Brown mentioned) speak English and are very friendly. It's right in the middle of town on the main street with beautiful views. We booked our room via email.

As for Bern, I stayed at Pension Marthahaus last year and found it to be quite lovely. Nice quiet neighborhood, clean, reasonably inexpensive (110 CHF/single, 130 CHF/double). Private bath. Check out www.marthahaus.ch. One of the things I liked about it most was that the owner, Martina Kellerhals, responded very quickly to my questions and reservation request, and then greeted us on arrival as if we were old friends. Highly recommended.

Melissa

Hello,
Thanks for all your responses. I've booked my hotels and will let you know how the holiday went...
Suze, I've taken your advice and not booked at both Geneva as well as Vevey.

We came a week ago from Switzerland. Big thanks to suze and whoever recommended to stay in Vevey. Wonderful! I liked it much better than Mauntreux. We stayed at Negociants - quite good, very clean. The only drawback - the front desk person was never there, they helped in the restaurant. So if you need to ask something... But overall, we did like it and their restaurant.

Lauterbrunnen was absolutely wonderful! Again, many thanks to those who recommended that serene, havenly place. I have a feeling all of their hotels are pretty much the same and pretty good. Just go there - you won't regret if you love nature.

Good luck!

Just came across this tread from last month. Thanks for the thank yous.

And Suze---I see the compliments for Hotel des Negociants in Vevey, so I will pass that on to my friends.

enzian, the only slightly negative comment i read was on an old (pre-registration) thread, where someone mentioned often there was no one at the hotel front desk because they also worked in the restaurant too! (which BTW has also gotten good comments).

I saw that post, but not to worry--that's often the situation in small, family-run places. Part of the charm, to my thinking.

We stayed 5 nights at the Hotel Staubach & ate many times at the Hotel Oberland. I don't know if Hotel Staubach has family rooms, but their rates are great & the breakfast is filling.

We loved Lauterbrunnen & would like to go back someday.