maysielulu

Hi everyone,

I'll be spending 4 1/2 days in Switzerland in December (8th to 12th) and am having a hard time settling on a plan. I'll be traveling from Prague on an overnight train to Basel. I'm inclined to head straight to Bern from there, having heard good things about this city. I do, though, want to spend some time in the Oberland, and I have some interest in seeing Lausanne. I obviously don't have enough time to do all of those places justice, and I don't want to wear myself out moving from place to place. How much of this could I do from one central location with day trips? I'll want my last destination to be one from which I can get the high-speed train back to Paris, from which I'll be flying back home to Chicago the next day.

I definitely want to see the mountains, but I won't be doing any outdoor sports. Very interested in lovely train rides, but also very interested in seeing the towns and cities. Know for sure that I want to see the Paul Klee museum in Bern. I'll be traveling by myself.

What would you recommend? I welcome hotel suggestions as well (in the $150-175 range).

Thanks!

swandav2000

Hi maysielulu,

I always limit my transportation to two hours in each direction -- or else my memories of the destination will be overwhelmed by too many hours inside a closed, moving container. So with that two-hour window in mind, you could stay in either Bern or Thun for your 4.5 days. They are around 1h30 - 2h from Lausanne and the same from Wengen (about 1h or 1h30 more to the very top of the Jungfraujoch).

Bern is a lovely city with a lot of history and an interesting, medieval core. Thun is another lovely city sitting on a lake with the mountains as a backdrop, giving incredibly dramatic views. Thun also has a castle.

Either one would be fine to return to Paris; I think there is a TGV from Bern to Paris, but from Thun it would be an easy connection.

Don't know if you have it yet, but the Swiss rail site is at

www.rail.ch

for schedules and fares.

Good luck!

s

chewy1

The train ride into the Oberland is very pretty. We went up to Grindelwald and stayed at the Gletsher Garten (very nice, casual)...right below the Jungfrau. Nice town, great views and tram rides. Think you can take a tram over to Wengen as well, then we took the train down to Zurich for departure.

Ruff

I think Basel deserves some attention particularly if you like art. The Fondation Beyeler gallery is superb, as is the Tinguely museum. There is also an excellent contemporary art museum right along the river and, of course, the big Kunstmuseum Basel.

In Lausanne, go to Collection de l'Art Brut, which is all "outsider" art. It is one of only two art museums in world devoted to this kind of art. The other is the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.

maysielulu

Thanks for the replies so far.

I'm now more inclined to stay in Bern, since it seems the dates I'll be in Switzerland are right before all the hotels in the Oberland open for the winter season (I'll be there the second week of December). Assuming I do stay in Bern and take the train into the Oberland, will I have a hard time finding places to eat, or otherwise entertain myself once I get there? Is everything shut down or just the hotels?

Also, I do welcome hotel recommendations for Bern. I'm looking for something nice and kind of special (~$200/night), not overly frugal.

Thanks again.