Luzern, Switzerland
 

Has anyone out there spent a couple of nights in Luzern?<BR>We want to use it for a homebase while we explore: Gimmelwald and the sites in the area.<BR>May 24th to the 27th. <BR>Any good recommendations for hotels, moderately priced.

If you want to stay in Lucern so you can explore the Jungfrau villages such as Gimmelwald, then I would suggest that you use Murren,Wengen or Grindlewald as your homebase.<BR><BR>Lucern is probably 2-3 hours by train. Probably not as long by car though.<BR><BR>Lucern is a great place to stay. I have stayed there several times and I have throughly enjoyed my paststays in Lucern.<BR><BR>If you stay in Lucern, you could possibly exlore the Egleberg-Jochpass areas with good results. You could also do many nice excursions such as Mt Pilatus or a nice paddlesteamer boatride on Lake Lucern, but if you want to explore the Jungfrau area,Gimmeleald, you need to stay closer in my opinion.

We've loved Lucerne--just a beautiful city, with great food and the best lake/mountain views. You'll like it.<BR><BR>A ccommodations are not cheap, but you can find good values. Two websites have listings. You could click on<BR>http://www.forum.ch/<BR>Once on the site, click on "Hotels" then type in "Luzern" in the box marked "City" you'll then get a list of hotels. Click on each and you'll get info on address, website if they have one and e-mail. Another site that's good is the Luzern tourist office <BR>www.luzern.org<BR>Here you can get info and make reservations.<BR><BR>We like hotels on the Reuss River. Hotels in the 230-240 chf range with view of river and mt pilatus are the Des Alpes and Hotel Schiff. Both are literally minutes from the train station and in the Altstadt. I've not stayed at the Mr. Pickwick, which is next door to the Des Alpes, but it is even cheaper--around 150 chf if I recall.<BR><BR>By the way, the Des Alpes restaurant has wonderful fondue, raclette and salads, with tables outside on the terrace above the river.<BR><BR>Enjoy

We've loved Lucerne--just a beautiful city, with great food and the best lake/mountain views. You'll like it.<BR><BR>A ccommodations are not cheap, but you can find good values. Two websites have listings. You could click on<BR>http://www.forum.ch/<BR>Once on the site, click on "Hotels" then type in "Luzern" in the box marked "City" you'll then get a list of hotels. Click on each and you'll get info on address, website if they have one and e-mail. Another site that's good is the Luzern tourist office <BR>www.luzern.org<BR>Here you can get info and make reservations.<BR><BR>We like hotels on the Reuss River. Hotels in the 230-240 chf range with view of river and mt pilatus are the Des Alpes and Hotel Schiff. Both are literally minutes from the train station and in the Altstadt. I've not stayed at the Mr. Pickwick, which is next door to the Des Alpes, but it is even cheaper--around 150 chf if I recall.<BR><BR>By the way, the Des Alpes restaurant has wonderful fondue, raclette and salads, with tables outside on the terrace above the river.<BR><BR>Enjoy

John,<BR><BR>Oddly enough, my wife and I will be in Luzern May 25-27. I did a lot of research on hotels, etc. and decided on Hotel Des Alpes. The price is 235 CHF or $138.32/night. The price included all taxes and breakfast.<BR><BR>If you are there, or in the area, take my name down and look us up. Maybe we can have a drink together!<BR><BR>Dick<BR><BR>

Goodmorning, John Luzern is a very<BR>good spot for day tripping to places<BR>as Zurich, Mt Pilatus, Engelberg and<BR>Mt. Titlis, Mt. Rigi and the Rigibahn<BR>and the boats on Lake Lucerne. Tho<BR>Interlaken pver tje Brunig is two hours<BR>you have additional time to get to<BR>Lauterbrunnen .25mins, an other 25 mins<BR>to Murren, walk thru Murren to Gimmelwald would estimate an additional<BR>20. You also can go thru Lauterbrunnen<BR>to Stechelberet by buis and up by cable<BR>car to Gimmelwald about the same time.<BR>As Orangesuin54 mentions it would be<BR>better to stay, closer such as Interelaken for places within the<BR>Berneroberland.<BR><BR>Have a question whqt is the draw of <BR>Gimmelwald other than being a small<BR>swiss village????<BR>Richard of LaGrange Park, IL...

In addition, you can look for specials at some of the luxury hotels. I recently stayed in the 5-star Grand National Hotel, right on the lake for $150 a night including breakfast.

By staying closer to Gimmelwald (Wengn-Murren, Grindlewald or even Interlaken), you can certainly access Gimmelwald in a much quicker way.<BR><BR>What's in Gimmelwald? Just some of the best walking excursions on the planet. Murren to Tanzboden for one. Then there are the walks that originate from Allmenhubel for some more walks Fabulous views!<BR><BR>It is my opinion that by using Luzern as a homebase, you would spend 30-35% of your day traveling to this area<BR><BR>How abut a compromise? How about staying in Meiringen? You would be closer to the Jungfrau-Gimmelwald area and close enough to Luzern to make day trips. Just a thought.<BR><BR>Luzern is a wonderful place also. If you just want to do a day trip to the Jungfrau area, then Luzern would work;however, keep in mind of how much of your day could be used up by changing trains.<BR><BR>Orange( yeahIheardthat) Sun

I agree with the others. While Lucerne is a great little city, it's not convenient for the Jungfrau area. The train connections are way too long.<BR><BR>If you don't want to stay directly in the Lauterbrunnen area and want to stay in a city, try Bern. It's about 1 hour and is a good place to stay and visit. It's very near Thun, Friburg, Montreaux (not my favorite).

I would like to add my comments about Luzern. It is a wonderful city and well worth a visit. However, if you are driving and staying in a hotel that does not offer parking, then expect problems. The old town is a no car zone, so if you stay there your car has to stay elsewhere. Our hotel provided a "pass" that you could display on your dash board that allowed you to park on the streets around the outside of old town from like 6pm to 8am...IF and it is a BIG if, you can find a spot on the street. Almost next to impossible. I suggest that if you are staying in old town and need parking, consider using the large underground car park at the main train station just across the river from old town. You can park all night there, walk to your hotel, and not have to spend time looking, usually without success, for a parking spot on the street. While a car is useful for day trips you really won't need it in Luzern in the evenings as everything is very walkable. <BR><BR>As far as hotels, the ones above are all good. We stayed at a nice small hotel in the old town - Hotel Zum Weissen Kreuz, a very nice not too expensive hotel. Good one to check out.