We are a fit couple in our 60's but we don't like hauling around baggage. Our idea is to find a hub city for 6 days, the second week of May, 06, and take day trips on the train or stay put and hike and sightsee. Lauterbrunnen is appealing to us for such a hub but are unsure of early May weather staying in the mountains? Also considering Interlaken, Lucern and Bern as hubs. Any and all suggestions appreciated, also a recommendation for lodging near a train station, in a hub location, would be great!

Topping this for you.

In terms of ease and frequency of rail connections, Interlaken itself would be superior to Lauterbrunnen IMO although the latter would be a more pleasant place to actually stay for scenery.

In terms of lodging, did you have any particular budget requirements? The nearest hotel to the Interlaken West station is the Hotel Bernerhof which is directly across the street. It is listed as a three star which may not be adequate for you.

Hopefully others will see your post and respond.

Hi. My compliments for favoring a six-night stay in a single place. In Switzerland, this is especially workable. (And you'll receive the best room rates, too.)

The rail/bus/boat system is so good that you'll never run out of daytrips. But what do you mean by a hub city? Bern and Lucerne are cities, but Lauterbrunnen is not.

Of your three alternates, I like Bern the best. It's a graceful, interesting old city where you can spend rainy days exploring and from which you can zip around Switzerland for a multitude of daytrips: Lausanne and Lac Leman 1:06 away, Lucerne 1:05, and Lauterbrunnen and the mountains 1:34 -- all rides through gorgeous scenery.

I'd like to suggest the smaller city of Thun as another possibility. It has more to offer in the way of in-place sight-seeing than Interlaken (It's just at the other end of Thunersee), and daytrip times from Thun are, for example, Lauterbrunnen 1:10, Bern :20, Lucerne 1:31, Montreux 2:04, and Gstaad 1:45. I think Thun might be a winner. What a difficult decision. J.

If you choose Zurich as your hub, I highly recommend the Central Plaza hotel. It's one block from the train station right on the river. Very nice hotel with good restaurants and within walking distance to other very good restaurants and shopping.

Thanks for the input. We will look into Thun as a possible hub as well. (It need not be a city - just needs to be convenient to a train station and somewhere where there are things to do if it is raining). Our budget is for a hotel in the $100. to $140. range. We have found many hotels in that range on the internet given that we are staying for 6 days. But we always prefer a personal
recommendation for lodging. Thanks!

If seeing the mountains is what floats your boat, I think you would find Lauterbrunnen ideal. It is a village in a valley, so I don't think weather would be a great concern there, and its large enough to have a few stores. In May, from my experience, the weather is quite good, but at the highest elevations the trails are still closed. Many of the famed mountain sites have variable weather year round, and while it may be very clear in Lauterbrunnen, the mountain sites may be socked in. At the Lauterbrunnen train station, they have cable TV showing what the weather is at the top, so if you are already in Lauterbrunnen, you can make an informed decision as to whether to ascend, or wait for another day. There are plenty of scenic sites in the valley and at lower elevations above it that will have good weather even when the peaks are obscured.

And the public transportation in Switzerland is so good you can easily get anywhere from anywhere.

Interlaken may be slightly more convenient, but I think I would prefer the scenery of Lauterbrunnen and its convenience to the mountain sites. Bern is nice to visit, but I would not want to stay there because the countryside around there is not scenic, and I understand that Bern becomes overbooked frequently, being the seat of government. I have not yet been to Lucern, but it is high on my list.

Enjoy your trip.

Hi J,

You mentioned Bern to those places have gorgeous scenery. How about those from Thun or Lauterbrunnen to nearby towns ??
Since I plan to get Railpass, I will make the full use of it.
Please recommmend me some MUST SEE jouneys even if the trip is short or non-stay. Thanks !

In a bit of a rush just now, but meanwhile, take a look at the sbb.ch website. Click on english and then plug in various destinations from your home base to see not only how long it will take, but also the route. For example, Lauterbrunnen is undoubtedly a lovely mountain town in a good location for hikes and daytrips up and down the mountainside, but a bit slower when you have to make connections at Interlaken to daytrip to cities below like Lucerne or Bern. Later, J.

I suggest Bern as a hub city because if you like night life, Bern is the place. It is also a good choice if you will be traveling to other places and coming back the same night, because the trains run so late. You will be forced to return much earlier in the day or evening if you are staying in a small town, especially one up in the mountains. Plot trips and study the arrival times very carefully on sbb.ch. I stayed in Lausanne last year and when visiting larger towns, I could get back to Lausanne as late as 1:00 -2:00 AM. When I visited tiny Les Diablerets, the last train/bus left there at 4:00 PM. If you're having a good time, it's inconvenient to have to leave so early. If I were staying in a small town like that, the inconvenience would lie in having to catch early trains back because the station at your base would close early. So my advice is to definitely base in a large city for the flexibility of travel times. Also, when choosing a hotel, don't be shy about calling the proprietor and negotiating a deal for a large number of nights. I did that with Hotel Elite in Lausanne and got a great deal, paying much less than any website quote. Do you speak French or German? Even better.

I´d like to top this discussion.

My wife and I are also looking for a home base in the Bernese Oberland when we go next week. We are students (2) but are willing to spend a little bit (under $100). Our main goal is to get as much out of Switzerland as possible without rushing around trying to see everything, which is usually our biggest mistake. We have about a week to spend, maybe more if we love it.

Bern is obvious as the hub, but I read that it wasn´t as scenic and is do-able on a day trip anyway. Have also heard recommended Thun, Lautterbaun (sp?), Gimmelwald (sp?), Interlaken, etc. How would you vote?

We fly into Geneva, so our original plan was to take the Golden Train or some other train up to the Bern area and settle in somewhere that is within day trip distance of a lot of places. We like small and quaint, if it is decently connected to other places. Also, if we can do Bernese Oberland in 4 or 5 days, I´d also like to check out maybe Lucern or some other highly recommended place.

Thanks for any input you have!

My experience is Switzerland is very expensive if you stay in cities or in popular tourist destinations; much more affordable if you stay in a less popular rural area. Yes, you must return earlier because of train schedules, but we are not into the night life, so it never bothered us. Also, I think most Americans (I presume you are) think of trains and busses as slow and inconvenient ways to travel. In Switzerland the public transportation is superb, so day trips from almost anywhere to almost anywhere else are feasable.

As you will be there next week, you should look very carefully at what will be open. Many inns and hotels close during November and even early December, so you will want to make certain the one you pick will be open. They also had serious flooding this year, and I would check to see that your destinations have recovered.

I might be the one who disparaged Bern. If so, I misspoke. It is a scenic and historic town, but is also sometimes crowded with government business, and while it itself is scenic, the surrounding countryside is not, in my opinion, memorable. It does have the advantage of rainy day alternatives, such as the art museum (if you like Klee), while a village like Lauterbrunnen is almost exclusively for outdoor activity, but it certainly offers access to a lot of that.

I have spent a week or more in Lauterbrunnen 7 of the last 8 summers.
I like the village and the mountains.
I stay in an apartment while I am there.
We found a good deal in 1998 and we have stayed there each time, including June of 2005.

Early May is pushing it a bit in terms of snow on the trails at the higher elevations. We cannot predict the snow depth and how soon the snow will melt, but my guess(!) is that the melt line will be around 1,800 meters by mid May.

I really think the decision is a function of what you want to see and why you are going to Switzerland.

Luzern is a charming place with a very good transportation museum. You can even ascend in a tethered hot air balloon.

I am not sure I know what your weather concern is. Lauterbrunnen is not that much higher than Interlaken.

Also, I suggest you consider the pass you buy carefully. Do you know it will save you money? And which one of many types will you buy? Swiss Card, Swiss Pass, Berner Oberland Regional Pass, Jungfraubahn Pass?

All depend on what you are going to do and where you intend to go.

As far as the weather concern... I was in the country the last week of May 2005, we got it all - from snow/rain in Murren to sunbathing in Zermatt. To sum it up, "unpredictable".

Interlaken itself is not an especially interesting town (very touristy) BUT it is a great location as a hub. Easy access to the Bernese Oberland Mountains, Lake Thun and towns around it including Thun itself, and Bern (and Murten). We spent five days there last summer at Hotel Lotschberg (www.lotschberg.ch/) and did all those things. We then moved to Luzern for two days but it would be possible to do that as a day trip as well. If money is a concern, the Hotel Lotschberg also runs Suzi's B&B, right next to it which you can do as a B&B or they have a couple of "apartments" - rooms with kitchenettes. Much cheaper but still nice enough.

Thanks everyone for all of your input!

We have slightly altered our plans because of a desire to concentrate our travels in Italy. Therefore, we are choosing one city for 3-4 days or so to simply relax amdist the Alps. I have narrowed it down to Thun or Lauterbrunnen.

Looking at the weather reports, it looks like it will be rainy. (We´ll be there starting Dec. 8). Would this impact the decision, i.e. should we go for a city with more to see "in-house"? Thanks.

Don't go up into the mountains unless you are sure you have a view of something. If it's raining or snowing hard, you won't see a thing.

Raining? See Thun, Montreux castle, Bern and/or Lucerne.

I would personally stay in Thun because you'll have faster connections to the above. There is also more to do in Thun on a rainy day.

I am so happy to find this forum. We are also going to be in Switzerland after completing a riverboat trip from Antwerp to Basel. We plan to stay 5-6 days as well. I had thought about staying in Basel the first and last nights since we could store our luggage there and then go to Bern. Now after reading some of the replies, may look at either Thun or Interlaken. Any moderately priced hotels or B&B's would be appreciated. We are 3 senior couples who would like to keep our costs down. I was considering using the Swiss pass which would cost $153 for 4 days of unlimited travel. I need to see how much other passes will cost. I don't know if it pays to get the Swiss card which gives you 50% off fares. More checking on the options is necessary. If anyone has more ideas on hotels, B&B's or restaurants please reply. Thanks.

cjm: Thun and Spiez are easy train travel locations on Thunersee; Brienz is good for Brienzersee. Interlaken is between the two lakes. Of these towns, I think Brienz has the prettiest view of the mountains across its lake. You didn't mention when you'll be traveling. If the lakeboats are operating, then the Swiss Pass will give you numerous daytrip possibilities plus free travel on the boats. Oberhofen has a delightful small castle and it's across the lake from Spiez. You might take a look at bnb.ch for a list of bed and breakfasts in the area. J.

jmw44:
We will be arriving in Basel on May 14 and plan to stay till May 19. I want to find a good hub site where we can leave our luggage and make day trips to the different towns and cities. I originally thought of Bern but after reading some suggestions from these chats I may decide on Interlaken or even Wengen but now I'll also check on Thun. Thanks for the site for bnb's. I will check that out for sure. Will the boats be running mid-May? I think the Swiss pass will be best for us but we might need to purchase 2 extra days. How close is the train station from the docks where the riverboats dock? We are flying back out of Basel.
Can luggage be check for 5 days at this location in the station and what are the rates? Thanks for the reply.
CJ