France and Switzerland

Old Jan 20th, 2018, 03:47 PM
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France and Switzerland

We are in the early planning stages of a trip to France and Switzerland the last 2 weeks of May. We are both in excellent health and in our mid 60s. We have about 7 days. A few years ago we visited the Dolomites and stayed in Ortesi ( I have written a trip report on this and we consider it one of our all time favorite vacations) There, we really enjoyed the ability to take various ski lifts up to mountain hikes. This year, are hoping to locate in Chaminox or Megave or even Annecy and have similar mountain day- hiking experiences.. We love to hike as well as enjoy the quaintness of the old towns and villages. From this point we also would like to go to Switzerland, staying in the Geneva area. We have been to Lauterbrunnen and would like to go back to do some hiking there. We also like the fact that many of the small towns like Vevy and Lasanne can be accessed by boat??! I sure would appreciate some input as we plan this trip. Is there enough to do in this small area for a week? And - should we stay in Megave and spoke wheel out on day trips or move from village to village. From Geneva we are flying to Dubrovnik to enjoy the Dalmatian coast for 5 days or so.
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Old Jan 20th, 2018, 07:57 PM
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I’m being fresh but how is this thread in the lounge???

see you over in Europe soon...

ciao!
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Old Jan 20th, 2018, 08:32 PM
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I think it's been made clear that travel questions go to the appropriate board and it's NOT the lounge. Read the guidlines posted at the top of the Lounge Forum.
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 05:20 AM
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Please refer to the sticky thread above - https://www.fodors.com/community/fod...ge%2A-1646855/

Moving this to the Europe board.
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 06:51 AM
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Almost everything will be closed at Chamonix and Megeve in the last half of May.
It snowed more than usually until now: about 2-3 metres (7-10 ft) of snow at altitudes of 2000 metres (6600 ft) and up to 7 meters (23 ft) of snow at altitudes of 3000 metres (10000 ft).
End May, the snow line is usually around 2000 metres, may be a bit lower this year.
Therefore you may need sunny slopes in order to do mountain hikes. The whole area north of the Rhone river between Lake Geneva and Brig would be fine for that.. In this area, all buses and many cablecars will run all the day round in contrast to Chamonix.
There are tons of (open) places in the area. Her just an example: https://www.crans-montana.ch/en/walking/?ete

Lake Geneva:
in May, there will be 5 daily boats between Vevey - Montreux - Chillon and 2 daily boats between Lausanne - Vevey - Montreux as well as 1 boat between lausanne and Geneva on Saturdays and Sundays only. The boats crossing the lake between Lausanne and France (Evian resp. Thonon) run about every hr.
If you like wild flowers, you will find tons of blooming white narcissus in the heights above Montreux (towards Col de Jaman and Les Paccots FR).
https://www.region-du-leman.ch/en/Z138/montreux-riviera
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 11:13 AM
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With such seemingly wide-ranging Swiss travels check out the Swiss Travel Pass, good on trains, boats, buses, everything that moves practically - covers travel to Lauterbrunnen in full and beyond to Murren, Gimmelwald and Wengen. www.sbb.ch; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com.
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 01:38 PM
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thank you --I apologize
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 04:49 PM
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HI Neckerd. Thank you for your reply. Your reply has me rethinking our plans. From what I have read, May is an ideal time to travel due to low crowds, so this is frustrating news. Is there any hiking at lower elevations or is the Chamonix region absolutely out for us?? Thanks ~ I look forward to your reply.
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Old Jan 21st, 2018, 05:59 PM
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Are you sure that you can see and experience what you want with this plan in this time frame? This plan sounds unpleasantly ambitious to me – too much time in transit for far too little time to actually see or do anything while in any of these fascinating places. If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you plot your trip – and the places you hope to visit – on a calendar. Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

Do take neckervd’s info into consideration as you plan.

Good luck!
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Old Jan 22nd, 2018, 05:35 AM
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I've never been to Megeve outside the winter season, but it's not that high. I see plenty of people walking in winter, so assume that the same paths are open in summer. It's unlikely that there is snow at the end of May, except perhaps on some of the mountain tops.
It's a pretty village, with nice restaurants in town and on the mountain. Many of the mountain restaurants where we have lunch in winter, seem to be open in summer too, some have a pool.
There's a path that starts in the village, and goes up to the Mont d'Arbois; the Calvaire. It has little chapels at several stages along the climb, and ends up at the Mont d'Arbois Golf.
If you like quaint towns, then definitely skip Chamonix and go for Megeve. In 7 days you could combine Annecy and Megeve, but I wouldn't add another destination.
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Old Jan 22nd, 2018, 05:45 AM
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One problem is that May is a "shoulder month" where many businesses are taking the opportunity to have a holiday or rest. And this year there may be a lot of snow on the paths that you want to use because of the high snow falls there have been this year.

IMO if you moved your trip to June, you would have access to most of the high places AND less company from other tourists. You also get the best views of the snow on the tops which will have melted a lot if you go in September.

That being said we were in Wengen in August and it really wasn't too busy if you planned well. For example, we couldn't get tickets for the same day to go up to the Jungfraujoch until 3pm that day, [a Sunday] but there was plenty of choice for the next day. We took our chances on the weather and were rewarded with glorious blue sky all the way. And if you are planning on walking a lot, it won't be long until you leave almost everyone else behind.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2018, 07:29 AM
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OK--thanks for the valuable information. We will change our dates to be in the Chamonix region the first of June. Any suggestions for lodging in Megeve? We hope to do some hiking and some day trips from there.
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Old Jan 23rd, 2018, 08:42 AM
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To the OP:
I wrote above:
" you may need sunny slopes in order to do mountain hikes. The whole area north of the Rhone river between Lake Geneva and Brig would be fine for that.. In this area, all buses and many cablecars will run all the day round in contrast to Chamonix.
There are tons of (open) places in the area. Her just an example: https://www.crans-montana.ch/en/walking/?ete "
There are well signmarked panoramic hiking trails with no snow or ice which can you keep busy for weeks.

To Tulips:
" Many of the mountain restaurants where we have lunch in winter, seem to be open in summer too, some have a pool"
They ARE open in summer. But in the French Alps, summer means July and August. Almost everything will be closed between Easter and end June.
There is no doubt that you can easily walk in and around St. Gervais, Megeve, etc (on the bottom of Chamonix Valley too). But:
o lifts don't run and almost all restaurants are closed;
o the gems in this area are above 2000 metres and not down in the Valleys.
But it's possible to walk there in May as it's possible to do so in neighbouring Switzerland or Aosta Valley.
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Old Mar 16th, 2018, 01:47 PM
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Does anyone have a suggestion for lodging in Megave??
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