if only one could be visited, should it be interlaken or zurich? we are thinking about doing one of these places, and then spending a few days in lucerne. out of interlaken, zurich and lucerne, which place should we exclude from our itinerary??

I could just as happily exclude them both. Perhaps it would help us answer better if you told us just what your travel objectives were.

Interlaken is a city between two lakes with high mountains in the distance.
Zürich is a business town with some points of interest. As cities go, I find it only mildly interesting. At least it is a little more interesting than Innsbruck.

On the other hand, it lacks the charm of Salzburg or the character and world-class places of Paris.

If you have the budget to pay $500 - $700 a night for hotel rooms you can find luxurious accomodations in both.

I visited Switzerland last year Zurich is a big city and easy to get to by any method of transportation. I liked Zurich and it makes a great base for day trips I think, I was in Interlaken for a couple hours on one of my day trips (to Jungfraujoch) Interlaken was small and charming with BEAUTIFUL surroundings. Jungfraujoch was wonderful, try it if time permits. Luzern is great to visit also and do things like Mt Pilatus and a boat ride on the lake.

Hi CarlyLewis23,
I have to agree with bob_brown. I wouldn't mid excluding them both. I don't know what your time frame is or what your interests are, but I couldn't go to Switzerland and stay in either of these places while excluding stays in the BO (Wengen, Muerren, Lauterbrunnen, etc.) or Luzern.

Paul

While it's true that Interlaken is charmless itself, it does make a good base for exploring the BO either by car or train and cable car. IMHO, Interlaken has the advantage over the mountain towns in that it has services such as laundry, supermarkets, banks. It all depends on your personal requirements. We met people who always stay in Interlaken and take train trips to Luzern and all around. To answer your question, I would eliminate Zurich and divide time between Luzern and the BO,staying in either Interlaken or one of the smaller towns in the mountains.

Zurich is much larger and esentially a business city - although in a pretty setting.

Interlaken is a smallish town set between 2 lakes (syrprise) that gives eacy access to themuhc cuter towns up in them mountains and the rail up the Jungfrau.

Lucerne is a much better tourist center - a very cute old town in a picturesque situation with some nice shops, a couple of museums and easy access to lake steamers to cute little towns and trains to boat to the cog railway or cable car up several different peaks around the late (Pilatus, Rigi, Titlis).

Carly, my advice to you would be to let bob brown advise you in your trip. My DH and I had a wonderful trip to Switzerland last year, and he pretty much planned it all. I would highly recommend Wengen, small but trains are so easy.....big cities are the same in most countries, people on their way to work, but the countryside is where people go to enjoy the beauty of our world....whatever you decide have a wonder trip.

My preferences would be for Interlaken since it is closer to the high mountains.

My first few trips to this area were based in Interlaken. In some funny kind of way, I still enjoy Zurich, but it is a fairly good sized city. Mountains in my opinion

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The Byrds: Wild mountain thyme

Well I cannot visit Lauterbrunnen without going through Interlaken!!

Yes it offers services that the smaller villages do not.

I will confess to being in a rut when it comes to visiting the Berner Oberland. I drop the owner of Chalet Horner an email, after looking at her on-line availability calender, and tell her when I would like to come.

It is so easy to do that I have grown very familiar with the situation.

I do not deny that Mürren and Wengen offer grand views of the main range of the Berner Oberland. We visit both places each time we go there.

We also visit Interlaken for various purposes, mostly to pick up and/or return a rental car. Also there is a great supermarket directly across the plaza from the Interlaken Ost train station.

I really think that if you want to stay in a lake town, pick Spiez, Thun, or (my favorite) Brienz.

If you want a mountain town, Wengen or Mürren if you are going to be there perhaps 4 nights. I stay for a week or more so I want a place that has access to transportation that takes me higher in the mountains or takes me to another destination in Switzerland.

Usually I have a rental car so I can have more freedom of movement. The public transportation system is great, but it does not always go where I want it to go when I want to make my trip.

Another great city destination is of course Luzern. It has charm and beauty and interesting places to visit. We visit it, too, upon occasion for an enjoyable day.

Another fabulous mountain destination is Zermatt. Yes, it is touristy as they come, but that is what it is all about. I have found quality shops in Zermatt for purchases other than cheap trinkets or little stuffed St. Bernards.

Zermatt is also the gateway to two of the most fabulous mountain views you can reach with mechanical assistance: The Gornergrat and its stupendous views of Monte Rosa and the Klein Matterhorn for its awesome views of the Pennine Alps stretching from the Mischabel Range to the east, to the Matterhorn in the immediate foreground, to Dente Blanche to the north, and all the way to Mont Blanc on the west if the day is sufficiently clear.

At any rate, I think it is obvious that I go to Switzerland for the mountains, the pastoral scenery, and the waterfalls. If I want a big city, then I will go to London, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Munich or ...

And for the intermediate sized ones, there are oodles. Salzburg, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and a whole bunch more.