We will be in Switzerland late May/early June next year for seven days. Our trip will start in Basil where we will end a Rhine River cruise. We plan on spending one night in Basil then on to Lucerne for two nights. Time in Lucerne will be spent touring the city on the first day then to Mt. Pilatus the second. After Lucerne for the remaining five days, we are interested in seeing Bern, Lausanne (including Chillon Castle), Fribourg and as much scenery as we can fit in during our short stay. We enjoy local culture, architecture, art and good food as well as beautiful scenery. We are not fans of big cities, but prefer small towns. Considering our age, we are not much into strenuous hiking, but rather nice walks. That being said, could you Fodorites please suggest a good home base where we can explore these areas without backtracking too much. Also, from the home base, which airport, Zurich or Geneva, should we use to fly home to San Francisco?

Geneva airport with a home base of Vevey, covers your small town request, and gets you closer to Chillon than Lausanne (which is significantly larger than either Vevey or Montreux). Walking the quai along Lac Leman is lovely in all these towns.
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Vevey/Fribourg
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Vevey/Bern
Maybe I missed it in your post, but are you doing this by train? Or renting a car?

We are planning on using trains. We know we will need a rail pass. Haven't done enough research yet to determine which pass works best for us.

Railpass probably good idea for your travel plans - Swiss Travel Pass - good on all except some mountain trains (50% off though), boats (great way to go one-way to Alpnachstadt for train up Pilatus) - urban transports, buses - practically everything that moves - compare fares at www.sbb.ch - though a pass gives you carte blanche to take as many transports as desired - but if you know exactly what transports you will take and no more than check out Half-Fare Card but pass seems best for your plans - lts of info on Swiss transports - www.swisstravelsystem.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Yes Montreux or Vevey are much nicer towns than Lausanne which is fine but a large city not as dreamy as Vevey and Montreux IME.

If you do choose Lausanne, look at Ouchy (a part and lakeside resort area adjacent/south of the center of Lausanne).

But train station access will be easier in Vevey or Montreux.

>>> We are not fans of big cities, but prefer small towns.
vs.
>>> Lucerne for the remaining five days, we are interested in seeing Bern, Lausanne
Basel, Lucerne, Bern, and Lausanne are large cities.
>>> Fribourg and as much scenery
Fribourge is a medium size city. None of the places you mentioned are small "towns."

>>> Also, from the home base, which airport, Zurich or Geneva, should we use to fly home to San Francisco?
Where are you flying into and are you tied to a certain carrier? Are you flying into AMS - a likely Rhine River cruise starting point?
First look at the flights. Next May/June schedules are already available at booking sites. If you are flying on a legacy carrier to your cruise starting point, then if you don't pair with the return flight in a multi-city booking, you will end up paying a high price. If you are flying into your cruise starting point on a point to point priced carrier, you will also need to return on a point to point priced carrier if you want to avoid a high one-way fare, You don't need to know which is which. You will be hit with a breathtaking fare if you try to book a one-way flight on a market priced legacy carrier.
If either airport is acceptable to you in terms of schedule, preferred carrier, and the price, choose where you are ending up first, then choose an airport that matches your ending point. From the middle of Switzerland, both airports are well connected by train.

If you do choose Lausanne, look at Ouchy (a part and lakeside resort area adjacent/south of the center of Lausanne).

But train station access will be easier in Vevey or Montreux.>

Well there is a funicular from Ouchy right up to the train station.

Thanks for the info Greg. We plan on flying into Amsterdam from San Francisco and probably out of Geneva home.

Well there is a funicular from Ouchy right up to the train station.

Yes, I know that. But since they are trying to use one place as a "home base" having to use the funicular (twice) every time you wanted to take a train ride isn't really the best option.

>>> Thanks for the info Greg. We plan on flying into Amsterdam from San Francisco and probably out of Geneva home.
Have you actually looked at multi-city flight options?
SFO-AMS, then GVA-SFO
vs
SFO-AMS, then ZRH-SFO?
At least from where I live, GVA return back has always been more expensive and fewer flight options than the ZRH return. You have to actually plug in your itinerary to see what is actually offered on your travel days.

Yes, it looks like Zurich offers many more flight at a reasonable than Geneva.

Would staying in Fribourg and day tripping to Lausanne/Vevey and Bern make sense? Also, we would like to go to Bernese Oberland area. Can you go there from Fribourg or is it better to be home based in the Lausanne/Vevey area. I can tell on a map how close all these places are to each other, but having difficulty determining how the train transportation works.

Bernese Oberland is not a great day trip from any of those places except Bern perhaps - but I'd stay in a cute mountain village like Wengen and spend a few days there - the Switzerland of your dreams:

https://www.google.com/search?q=weng...w=1269&bih=611

Cities like Bern and Freibourg are nice but the beauty of Switzerland for most tourists lies in the high Alps - can't really appreciate on a hurried day trip.

Hi wm!
Swiss train trips can be looked at site:
www.sbb.ch. choose English option
This will give you an idea of transit times involved.
A friend and I explored French Switzerland this past April/May, using a suburb of Montreux, Chernex, as our home base.
The trip from Chernex to Bern is 2 hours one way. This was the longest day trip that we took. To go to the Berner Overland from the Vaud area is too long IMHO. I liked Vevey very much, and wished we could have found a nice apartment there, but it just didn't work out. Instead, we were 9 minutes ABOVE Montreux, with a balcony affording stunning views of Lake Geneva, and the snow-capped French Alps opposite!

Hi WM,

Many folks try to find a spot to see all of Switzerland from, but it's pretty difficult -- those darn mountains!

However, I've done a bit of research in the past, and I found that either Thun or Bern is about 2h from MOST of central & western Switzerland (including Jungfrau area) by train. So you should check out the train journey times to where you want to go and see if they might work, as mokka4 suggested. I personally would pick Thun, as it's a pleasant town with a castle, sitting right on a lake. It may not be as small as you want (population 42,000), but it's far smaller than Luzern (81,000), or Lausanne (133,000). Fribourg has a population of around 38,000, so it may work for you if the journey times are good.

If you decide to base on Lake Geneva, I would just suggest that you go to one of the smaller towns on the lake -- Vevey or Montreux or even Nyon or Morges. But if you did this, you should (imo) focus on what is special about the area and not try to make long excursions seeing other parts of the country.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Swiss cities are neat but be sure to spend 3-4 days right up in the high Alps - again Wengen, Grindelwald, Murren, etc are all lovely places with views to kill from your hotel balcony -

I would probably skip the Romandie altogether, and spend some time in Ticino instead:
From glaciers to palm trees, so to speak. And I must admit that I find the lakes and countryside of the South (of Switzerland) just a bit more scenic than Lake Geneva.

Basel (1 night, as planned)
Bern or Thun (3 nights) - day trip to Lausanne/Vevey still possible, if only as an alternative option in case of bad weather (in the Alps)
Luzern (2 nights, as planned)
Locarno or Lugano (2 nights) - the mostly flat terrain along the lakes might suit your needs. If you want to give your feet a rest, you can use the boats or take a ride on the Centovalli railway.
Fly back home from Lugano via ZRH, or non-stop from Zurich or Milan (IF there are non-stops)

But I would double-check if you really CAN stay far away from any airport on your last night. Most flights to the US start in the AM hours, and any feeder flight for the transatlantic leg will require an ever earlier departure.

Spiez and its wonderful castle - smaller town that spills down to the lake with castle brooding above - great rail links and only a few minutes from Interlaken and trains to the Wunderbar Jungfrau region - but still try to stay in the mountains themselves IMO a few days - seems you have all fairly large cities.

Another vote for Thun. Similar to Luzern (lake and mountains) but not overrun (yet). And centrally located.

If going Thun to Montreux and Lake Geneva go one way at least on the Golden Pass scenic train - posh observation cars that are virtually all glass - neat swiveling seats at least in first class - much more scenic than faster route via Lausanne - catch GP train in Spiez. Swiss Travel Passes fully valid.

Thank you all so very much for your help with our planning for Switzerland. Here is our tentative itinerary:

5/26/19: Overnight Basil (where we arrive at the end of our Rhine cruise)
5/27 - 5/29: Lucerne (visit town & do Mt. Pilatus 2nd day)
5/29 - 5/31: Take the Golden Pass train to Montreux and spend 2 nights in Vevey (visit the castle & the vineyards & just hang out enjoying the scenery)
5/31 - 6/3: Bern (day trip to Fribourg & Thun + enjoy the city)
6/3: Zurich (those early morning flights! + see some of the city)
6/4: Fly home to San Francisco

We have friends who did the Golden Pass from Lucerne to Montreux and rave about it still.

Your further feedback would be most appreciated.