diane

I will be arriving in Zurich on Saturday Jan. 26. I had planned to go to Italy and zone out in a spa. However all spas in Italy are closed until about March 1. I will be in Florence for about 5 days starting March 1. I have free air tickets about to expire and had to use them at the last minute.
Looking for suggestions... oh I need these three or four days to be relaxing and sort of down time before a more hectic time in Florence...
Thanks to all for your reply... Diane

s.fowler

How about an Italian ski resort? Many have some spa facilities attached -- no law says you gotta actually SKI there

x

Lucerne and Berne.

jw

I'm thinking maybe you mean February 26? It really doesn't matter, because I don't have Swiss experience re those months. However, I must recommend lakes Maggiore, Lugano, or Como! J.

ingo

I know two large spa resorts in Switzerland: Bad Ragaz and Leukerbad.

Both have hotels for every budget. If you are looking for luxury hotels check this:

www.resortragaz.ch in Bad Ragaz

For accommodation in Leukerbad check
www.leukerbad.ch

I prefer the smaller resorts as Scuol f.e. There are wonderful, charming hotels in this village and around. The best is Schlosshotel Chaste, Tarasp

www.scuol.ch

Ingo

s

diane,

I echo "x" who recommends Lucerne, but I'd go to the smaller villages of maybe Weggis or Vitznau on Lake Lucerne. There you can relax and take lots of gentle walks while enjoying stunning scenery of lakes & mountains. You can spend a day exploring Lucerne's old town & the city walls, and you can take various ferry trips around the lake and explore the birthplace of Switzerland's Confederation. You can also make excursions to Mt. Titlis & Mt. Pilatus.

Another option would be the mountain villages of Wengen or Grindelwald in the Berner Oberland. Even if you're not skiing, you can enjoy excursions to the lakes of Brienz & Thun, and take lots of alpine walks. The walking paths are kept clear all winter long.

It's a great problem to have!

s

Barry

We spent 10 days in Switzerland 4 years ago in March. We used Lucerne as our "base" for utilizing the marvelous Swiss rail system. From ther we were able to easily cover Bern, Basel, Interlaken, Thun, Mt. Rikki (sp) and Titlus (sp).

We fly into Zurich this march and head out to Salzburg and "Points east" gt;)

Barry

diane

Yes, it is January 26! I should have mentioned I have done the Lake Geneva and Lucerne area and Zermatt before. I went to Lake Garda last year. I also wonder if the lake areas would be foggy now? Do you think I should stay only in S? I will be traveling on my own (first time alone in Europe) but I feel ok about it. Keep your ideas coming. Thanks for helping....

Rex

Given the time of year, if I needed to "zone out" for three days, starting from Zurich, I would head to Nice (or Monaco, or other close places - - a lot depends on your burget and style of hotel/resort - - as well as availability on short notice).

Zapfly (Crossair) has a roundtrip fare of 247 euros, leaving on 27 Jan and returning 30 Jan. Easyjet is considerably cheaper from Geneva (45 to 95 Sfr outbound, 30-55 Sfr return), but the cost and hassle of taking a train from Zurich to Geneva probably isnt worth it.

Best wishes,

Rex

noski

Hi. Check out the travel section of today's New York Times. It has an article on a Swiss mountain town, Saas-Zee. A few years ago my husband and I went to Zermatt, Switz for a few days and had a really great time. We went in July and not March, but I'm sure they have spas, etc because it is a very upper-end resort town. But saying that, it was very relaxed and not pretentious at all. We took the Garnergraut (sic)up the mountain, so we didn't expend any energy, but you could also hike part of the way up and meet up wiht the train. The mountain climbing museum was small, but neat. We stayed at Grand Hotel Schoenegg (sic) and entered the hotel through a cave, then elevator. We had GRAND view of Matterhorn from our bed! No cars allowed in Zermatt, so you do feel like you are getting away from it all.

Kay

I would head to Interlaken, Grindelwald and then down to the Italian lakes, from there it will be an easy train ride to Florence. I have stayed at the Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken and I believe it has a spa although I didn't use it. Both the Villa Serbelloni and the Villa d'Este have spas on your way to Florence.

Ark

Lugano and Locarno would be a very interesting little getaway from Zurich, and maybe even warmer,but.... I'd love to see Grindlewald or Interlaken in the Winter and there used to be a beautiful Spa in Interlaken. I want your problems for five minutes..... Have fun!

diane

Ingo- Help! I tried to follow up on your suggestions... can't get a reply.Where are these places...can't find them on a map.. they must be small.
I am getting anxious -not much time.
What do you know about snow conditions there now? Thanks...