Can anyone recommend a good 3-star (possibly 4) hotel in Villars-sur-Ollon, preferably chalet-style with wood-furniture rooms; good restaurant both food and service? Need to know soon! Thanks!

Hello travels,<BR><BR>Sorry I don't have any personal recommendations for you. However, I wonder if you've found the town's website at www.villars.ch? I checked it out and found there is one 5-star hotel, three 4-star hotels, and four 3-star hotels. All of the hotels listed have links to their own webpages. I clicked on the Alpe-Fleuri (one of the 3-stars) just for curiosity, and it is a chalet-style with cozy wood furniture in the bedrooms. I also clicked on Le Bristol (one of the 4-stars), and although the outside looks modern, the interior is toe-curling cozy. I think you can find the hotel you're looking for if you check out the site.<BR><BR>By the way, the village looks absolutely charming. It's a real stunner. There's also a set of links to real estate agents. hmmmph. Thanks a lot! Now I have **yet another** must-go-to place in Switzerland.<BR><BR>I see from some of your other posts that you're really getting into the less-known areas of the country. What have you been reading? What leads are you following? Personal recommendations for areas and villages?<BR><BR>Anyway, best of luck -- and maybe you'll post a report (and link to photos??) when you return.<BR><BR>s

Thx s. I've actually been to the villars website, just wanted to get any kind of "personal" feedback. I rely a lot on web info but the personal stuff is usually the icing on the cake. I'm doing this research for some other people; actually, have been to Villars, only for the day - did some great hiking up at La Brehaye and environs. Have also been to Chateau d'Oex, Saanen, Adelboden, Wengen/Grindelwald, Lenzerheide, Flims, Arosa, Pontresina/Sils Maria/Celerina, Zermatt, and Saas Fee, all of which I recommend - besides the larger cities. Kind of know the country already...

Hello travels,<BR><BR>Yes, I'd say you do! I'm such a stick in the mud, I ususally go back to the same places. But with the help of you, Ingo, jw, & Ursula, I'll be looking at some other corners of the country over the next few years.<BR><BR>Actually, I think I'll check out Villars when I'm in Montreux in Sep. I was planning a day in Leysin, so I'm hoping I can also get to Villars. Is it similar to Leysin, do you know? Higher? Smaller? You don't mention Leysin in particular, but you seem to have surrounded it!<BR><BR>Anyway, sorry to hijack your thread. Instead of giving you answers, I'm asking you questions. If I do get to Villars in Sep, I'll nosey around the hotels for you & your friends.<BR><BR>s

Looking at the Villars website. Wow, I want to go there! Please make sure to post a report when you return.

Keep this up.

You people bring such joy! Villars-sur-Ollon! Merci beaucoup.<BR><BR>S' Calm down already! You're going soon! The excitement builds, yes? silly question. I really enjoy your posts so much, because you might be the only one at this forum more delirious about going to Switzerland than I am. I hope you'll give us your itinerary and dates at the SGFTWLSII thread, so I can be properly envious while I'm back at school. Affectionately, J.

For s: Time for me to get to know the Villars village and not just the hilly surroundings. You've got the advantage of side-trips there to Chateau Chillon, Bex (salt mines), Martigny (more hiking or art museum), Montreux, etc... If you ever want one of the most spectacular Alpine panoramas, walk the easy trail from La Bretaye above Villars and you'll get Dents du Midi / Mont Blanc / Les Diablerets all in a row (of course, on a sunny day). By the way, the Les Diablerets glacier in summer is not too shabby: you can snowshoe on the glacier; take a dogsled ride (if you're lucky, you'll ride down on the telepherique with the whole pack at the end of the day, they're incredibly obedient Huskies); snowboard or ski; or just sun on the deck. A nice scenic walk at the end of the day is from the Col du Pillon, where the telepherique descends, down to Les Diablerets village.

Travels:<BR><BR>I skied in Villar three years ago. Being an American, I would have never considered Villars as a destination resort. I have a fried who married a woman from Villars and she kept trying to get us to go there! What a pleasant experience. It was a small quaint town ,with a nice little mountain train running thru the town, but it was a world class ski resort with miles of trails and interconecting resorts. We stayed in the Hotel Golf, a nice 3-star hotel in the center of town. I could not give you any bmore info about resturants bercause we ate the meal plan at the Golf (nice menu)<BR>JOHN

Wow, travels & John,<BR><BR>Thanks so much for such enticing descriptions! Now Villars will vie with Pontresina for my future ski/exploring trips. It's a real toughie. I'm going to try to find & do that walk you name, travels, so I'll let you know how I liked it when I return in Sep.<BR><BR>jw -- be careful what you ask for!! I'll gladly post my itinerary in a few weeks, but I bet I'll have trouble balancing the level of detail! I mean, I can give you train times, train numbers, and even track numbers if you want!! Just a mite obsessive. But what the heck, I get to visualize every step a million times before I travel. Of course, I rarely get to all of my planned itinerary -- I sometimes just do that bench-and-lake meditation thing.<BR><BR>s

(apologies to travels) Oh, s' (we should be having this exchange at SGFTWLSII), I'll be looking forward to reading every detail! Knock yourself out. And as for the time spent on the bench by the lake, well you know how I feel about that. During my five days in June I not only spent hours and hours (many of them in the middle of the night) sitting on my tiny balcony just breathing and memorizing and repairing my layers (I'm sure I stole that from "Enchanted April"), but I must have spent two solid hours with my eyes closed most of the time in the bamboo/palm 'patch' on Isole di Brissago -- listening to the click, click, click of the fronds (?) and caress of the breeze. I am so happy for you! J.