tay

hi everybody! we will be visiting Sitzerland end of the year.As we hate to hunt for hotels too often, we intend to stay in one hotel and use it as a base to explore the nearby cities/villages. Some recommended Leysin to us. But we know nothing about this town, only thing is that it has a better weather in winter time. Please give us some advices if anyone of you is familiar with this town. <BR>thanks!

suzann

tay, <BR>Leysin is a small town in the mountains south of the eastern shores of Lake Geneva. I don't think it'll be a good spot to be based for daytrips as it's out of the way and not on a major rail line. Are you driving? If so, you might be able to make it work. Better bases, though, would be Bern or Luzern, both rather centrally located and on major rail lines. Where do you want to go in Switzerland? You may want to get a big driving map of the country and figure out where you want to go, then find a rather large-ish town that's central to all of them. Good luck. <BR> <BR>suzann

harzer

I spent a week in Leysin in 1961 (sic)and loved it. If you have a car, no problem, Switzerland is pretty tiny after all, about the same size as New Hampshire.

tay

<BR>Many thanks to Suzann and Harzer. The reason we were thinking of Leysin was according to some friends, this town has a longer daylight and not too cold around end of November. We read some mails from this forum that suggested visitors to take train instead of car, is it true? will it be a problem driving in end of November? Also, is it true that most of the shops, hotels and restaurants will be closed in November until few days before Christmas? if that is the case, do you think that we should wait till mid December to travel? <BR> <BR>Once again, thanks!

suzann

tay, <BR>I believe folks here recommend the train for travel in CH because it's so very efficient, and it's so much easier to concentrate on the spectacular scenery from the train. One consideration for you might be your budget. A Second-Class Swisspass for four days will be about $160; eight days will be $220, and 15 days will be $266. If there are two of you travelling, it might be cheaper to rent a car. The roads will probably be ok in November, but I think some of the high passes close around this time. You can research some of the rail time tables at www.sbb.ch. As for shops & hotels, you can get specific information from the Leysin website www.leysin.ch or the tourist office [email protected]. You might have to ask specific hotels if they remain open during November. You can get a good list of hotels from the Leysin website or the tourist office or from www.swisshotels.ch or www.hotelguide.ch. Mid-December would be a nice alternative because of the Christmas markets. I know Montreux, close to Leysin, has a nice Christmas market, so I would imagine other towns would too. <BR> <BR>I wish you luck. Research is half the fun!! <BR> <BR>suzann

Yatin_Desai

how is weather in leysin in late april/may first week,is it all cloudy,and no sun