Hi everyone, I'm new here. My husband's company is sending us to montreux between march 10-16 landing in geneva. they will provide us with day tripes to aosta, italy, interlaken, lausuanne, chamonix, france.

We then checkout on March 16 and we would like to extend vacation to March 25.
Does anyone know how cold it is there at this time of year? I heard it's been a rough season in europe this year..

They asked if we would like to take the return flight somewhere else then geneva and my thought was Paris (budget reasons). I've been to Paris before and Bernese oberland/luzern so I want to go other areas in france this time so I need a 8day itinery--yet I want to enjoy instead of rushing though and want to use the train systems.

my thoughts were take train from geneva to annecy (yet I was told annecy is similar ot luzern? and I've been to luzern..I'd like something "different&quot spend two days, then take to dijon, and not sure if I should station myself there and take daytrips or use lyons as a "station"..I didn't know if I should then go on to strausbourg and daytrip to colmer, and then find my way back to paris as a station and then do daytrips to ambroise..

do you have any thoughts?

I could also go south to Nice..I'm so open up to suggestions because there's just soo many place to go.

at the end, I like lakes and mountains, but since the first part of my stay is in montreux (and I've been to bernese oberland) my thought is maybe I should try other things than French Alps, etc.

oh and I also thought of instead of france, do a germany thing (only place I've been was munich)

but germany seems to be north and might be very cold and flights to fly back to nj, usa seems more expensive..

You need to narrow down your options. You're all over the map here (Annecy, Dijon, Lyon, Strasbourg, Colmar, Paris, Amboise, the south....now Germany) and trying to squeeze too much into 8 days.

Don't see how we can help until you get a grip on which direction you'd like to go.

From Geneva, you can fly to Nice (or Paris) by low-cost air Easyjet. Staying in Nice (or elsewhere), you can visit other coastal towns by train or by bus (esp. bus was very cheap - I did last November). And low cost fly or TGV (reserve low cost Prem's on line) train up to Paris.

yeah I guess my point is to pick one/two regions in france to stay 4 days each in--it's just picking which region..

so many options!

This is why it's always a trick giving advice and opinions on Fodor's... If I were in your shoes I'd just catch the train to Paris and spend the week there!

Do you want any tips for Montreux? I love that town!!

I take that back, it it were really me I'd just stay in Vevey and Montreux because I have friends living there; I've often spent two weeks.

Hi parissian,

uh oh. I'm not going to help. I'm going to add to the confusion --

Why not just stay in Montreux? It's one of my favorite destinations in Switzerland, and I've been there lots of times, sometimes for a week.

Here are some links to my suggested activities (w/photos) in the area:

Montreux old town
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...reux_Vaud.html

Lavaux
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...reux_Vaud.html

Promenade Fleuri
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...reux_Vaud.html

Morges
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...rges_Vaud.html

Gruyeres
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR..._Fribourg.html

Saanen
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...wiss_Alps.html

Gstaad
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...wiss_Alps.html

I've been to Montreux in March, and yes it's cold and usually wet. But there are still some flowers on the promenade and you'll still see residents walking their dogs and strolling along. I don't think it was so cold that I wanted to be inside -- this is called the Riviera of Switzerland. I would say, think 40-50 deg f.

Also want to add that it's easier to take a bus from Geneva than a train -- no changes by bus. Bus schedules are at www.coach-station.com; rail schedules are at www.rail.ch.

Good luck!

s

ooops. Getting too old to do this right.

It's easier to take a bus from Geneva **TO ANNECY** than it is to take a train. Take the train for other trips.

apologies

s

thanks swandav, you had me confused there for a minute -lol. although it was only on my last trip i used the bus instead of the train for the first time for getting between Montreux and Vevey for market day. very handy.

Since this total trip is only 15 days there is definitely enough to see and do flying in and out of Geneva and staying in the canton of Vaud.

thanks both Swandav and suze..

do we need to make reservations for buses for travling from montreux to all those places? Are they inexpensive?

I must say the euro rail passes are expensive in for a few days..if you had one can you get on "free" for those buses you mentioned?

Can't help with the buses, but before buying a rail pass check out point-to-point tickets on www.sncf.com (French National Railway site) - probably cheaper.

Parissian, for a comparison, Bus for Geneva to Annecy (about 1 hour) was about CHF 30.00 (it's quite a long time ago so this is not exact but I did not find it cheap but as swadav said, there is no change, GVA-ANNE direct) while Bus Nice to e.g. Eze/Monaco/Menton, disregarding the distance the price is all €1.30 (ca.CHF1.60) so that's why I said on my previous post the bus was so cheap there. The difference is Bus GVA-Annecy is a motorcoach ("autocar" in French) and Bus from Nice I'm talking about is omnibus that does inter-cities/towns. This Nice-Côte d'Azur inter-city bus system is so cheap and quite scenic, great for day excursions when you are e.g. based in Nice.

I don't know anyone who buys a full rail pass for a short stay in Switzerland, unless you were literally traveling every single day.

Most buy the 1/2 price deal or simply 2nd class point-to-point tickets. Can't help with the bus as I've only used it short distances as mentioned (no tickets you get on and put coins in a machine).