We are planning a driving trip this Christmas with the kids. After visiting Venice and Parma, we will go back up to Munich through Switzerland - we are planning to take an Easterly route from Lugano to Chur then skirt Lichtenstein and through Bregenz to Munich.

I Love a previous posters' pictures of Stein Am Rhein - just beautiful. Is there a similar place to stop on our route? or should we take the longer Westerly route?

Unfortunately, we only have time for one overnight, so we want to choose well - my youngest daughter is into Heidi and the pretty painted houses that she imagines.

Can you help?

Not in Switzerland but just over the line in Germany and lovingly set on the Bodensee is Lindau, which should fulfill your dreams of a dreamy town full of pastel-hued house facades. Just past Bregenz - Lindau is on a peninsula jutting out into the lake.

Appenzell

We just spent 4 nights in Eastern Switzerland last month. I'd recommend the following:

Appenzell
Bad Ragaz
or
Lindau in Germany

Lindau is an island, on German side, the far side of the lake from Switzerland. Parking is sometimes tough. By car you reach it via the A 96, B 12 B 18 or B 31.

Picturesque and really quaint/rural/traditional, in the Toggenburg region: Wildhaus, www.beutler-hotels.ch/ or www.stumps-alpenrose.ch or www.hirschen-wildhaus.ch

Some thoughts and comments:

1. Not sure what “westerly” route you would be referring to in driving from Parma to Munich. The fastest way is via Innsbruck which will take about 5 hours. The route you have mentioned above via Chur is <i>west</i> of the Innsbruck route. Going to Munich from Parma via Chur and Bregenz will take about 8 hours. I can’t imagine what a further westerly route from that would be that would not be completely out of the way.

2. Stein am Rhein, while quite pretty, is also quite a bit out of the way if you want to go via Chur. Stein am Rhein is north of Zurich. And your planned route via Chur would not take you close to Zurich. Chur would be 2 hours from Stein am Rhein. Lake Bregenz would be about 1.5 hours.

3. IMO the prettiest village in Switzerland is Guarda in the Engadine. It has loads of painted houses. (It was also the setting for at least one Heidi film.) It also has the advantage of being up IN the mountains, something which Stein am Rhien, Bregenz and Appenzell do not have. This area is just one of the most beautiful in Switzerland, a country where beauty abounds in any event. The drive up from Parma would lovely through St Mortiz and the really stunning passes there up from Como. (Roads should be OK in December.) See something like the completely charming Hotel Meisser www.hotel-meisser.ch. This would split the drive into about 5 hours each day. From Guarda you would go up via Innsbruck, another lovely drive. You could also go via Fussen (2.5 hours or so), where you could spend a few hours seeing the picturesque Neuschwanstein castle (see more on that below). From Fussen, it is about 2.5 hours to Munich.

The one issue with Guarda is that is it car-free. Yu leave your car down near the train station. It is possible that with a hotel booking, you may be able to get parking either there or even in town itself. The only problem I see with that is over Christmas the parking lots may be full. (You could also park in Susch, which is a larger town, and then take a short and scenic train ride on to Guarda.)

4. Otherwise If you daughter likes Heidi, then by all means to Appenzell, which is allegedly where the story is set. There are painted houses in the village, and other smaller villages in the area as well. It is lovely country. You can go via Chur to get to Appenzell.

5. The easterly route via Innsbruck would allow you to stop off in Innsbruck which is a very lovely town (although much larger than villages like Guarda and Appenzell of course). That might be a good place to break.

6. This route would also allow you to go via Fussen Germany where the “fairy tale” castle of Neuschwanstein is located. Not Heidi, but certainly Cinderella. (I am fairly positive Disney modelled their castle after this one.) This would be east and north of Innsbruck and again might make a good stopping-off place. It would not take you hugely out of the way to stop in Fussen and then head up to Munich. Fussen itself is not perhaps as charming as other villages, but the castle is quite something.

7. Not sure if you are going to be including the “romantic road” in Germany as part of this trip, but talk about charming villages…it is hard to beat that area.

One more thought if you wanted to drive via Chur is to go Arosa, which is a village up on the mountain above Chur. You could park at the main train station in Chur (should be plenty of parking, it’s a major town), and then take the cute little train up the curving mountainside to Arosa. Chur has a very nice compact old town area that might be worth a stroll as well either before or after Arosa. Arosa is a fairly popular ski area, so one concern might be accommodation over Christmas, but certainly worth a thought. I could provide some reccos if you are interested. Arosa is not nearly as charming as Guarda, nor even Appenzel, IMO, but has really spectacular scenery. If this were my trip, I would still go to Guarda, but if you want a place close to Chur, then Arosa may work.

Also to correct my own post, Fussen is north west of Innsbruck, not north east.

Not sure how this works logistically, but we loved Scuol in the Engadin Valley -- lovely little inns, amazing spa, gorgeous walking around the town and along the river.

Appenzell while some would consider "quaint" doesn't have a lot else to offer IMO and I've stayed there in the past for several ngihts. We just happened to be there when there was a huge market set up in the morning right in front of our hotel (the Romantik Santis) and the trip by rail from St. Gallen was pretty scenic..but otherwise I suspect you could find somewhere else with more to see and do.

More ideas:
- Lenzerheide for a nice ski resort with lots to do
- Rapperswil for a quaint town on the lake of Zürich
- Lindau for a quaint town on the lake of Constance
- Constance itself

thank you for suggestions - my head is spinning with all of these wonderful suggestions - there is so little time!

Scuol is quite near to Guarda, and visiting both is usually part of a trip to the area. Sorry, I disgaree that Rapperswil is a quaint town when compared to some of these others. It has a small old town and a little castle (not worth going in side unless you are Polish, as it's a Polish musuem). But otherwise, it is quite modern. I would put that rather far down the list. If you are going to bother to drive all the way to Rapperswil on Lake Zurich, then go to Stein Am Rhein instead which is only about another 20 minutes drive.

Stein am Rhein is a 1hr 45 min drive from Rapperswil. Not close at all. And the drive isn't too scenic either (went there last summer from Zürich). However, the village is indeed very quaint.

The drive from Zürich to Scuol is 2 hours and 15 min. A very scenic drive but quite long. It also involves going through the Vereina tunnel where you put your car on a train.

I'm replying to this post quite late, so don't know if you'll see it. I would second the vote for Guarda. It's pictured on the cover of the current Frommers guidebook. It's definitely quaint and lovely. I've been to many towns in Switzerland, and I believe this is the most charming (and I love Stein am Rhein). I've never been to Appenzell, and have been considering one night there during my next trip. I do plan to return to Guarda, and I would also recommend Hotel Meisser there. Scuol is an easy day trip from Guarda (Guarda is prettier, IMHO).

I'm planning on a similar trip with kids but am a little worried about driving conditions and weather on these road during january, I will be driving from Italy to the uk over switzerland and on through france, does anyone know if this is in anyway risky, we will only drive during the day and will not be in any hurry so if we have to stop over a little longer then we will.

Thanks, saving for future trip.

Major highways should be clear, the only issue you may have is driving in heavy snowfall. In very cold weather bridges may freeze before other roads surfaces. In rising temps, you may have fog. If any of that concerns you, or if you are not used to driving in those conditions, you can always pull off the road. Also bear in mind that days are short, and if you don’t want to drive in the dark (including in the morning hours) then the trip may take a bit longer as well. But generally, highways are cleared often and well. Most secondary roads are also in good shape, my experience however is more limited to Switzerland and Italy, but I believe you would find this to be the case in France as well. But you probably are taking mostly highways the whole way (not as scenic, but certainly faster). You also would be taking tunnels rather than the high mountain passes which are closed in winter. If you can, I would avoid tunnels on Fridays or Sundays as you may encounter heavy weekend traffic.

Bummer - after the posts here and looking at our trip, which consists mostly of cities - I decided Guarda would be it. three days in the mountains. No rooms are available! It seems that there are really only three inns/hotels and all showed as being full. I contacted each directly and yep, booked.

So now I'm thinking Luzerne for 1 night, then to Appenzell or Lindau - I'm dejected....

Luzern is a city, not a little town. When I was there it was so packed with American tourists (busloads full of American teenagers, too), I couldn't wait to leave. Just my experience. I was there in July. It may be different in winter. There's a pension (guest house) in Guarda. I'm wondering if you tried there. Sorry, I don't remember the name. If you're thinking of Lindau, you may also want to consider Meersburg. Either that or Stein am Rhein.

Susan, yes I did email the Pension too - booked. Good point about Luzerne - it certainly is a diversion from my original post isn't it? You can see that I'm a bit scattered on this one! There are just so many good options and I've never travelled to this part of Europe before, I'm having a tough time putting it together.