I must admit to be surprised about your decision (and the given advice). Romont for great views of the Alps? For this reason you'd better pick a stop closer to the Alps. Maybe somewhere above Lake Thun.

Just wondering.

I don't want to take a major detour just to be in right in the middle of the Alps. I merely want a nice and convenient Swiss small town, without getting too far out of my way to Lyon, where I can spend an early evening and the night. If it presents a descent view of the Alps, the better it is.

Ingo is right, rcc, the view of the alps is quite a distant one, possible only because Romont is on a little hilltop. But as we were all trying to keep you as close to your Michelin route as possible, well that might be the place.

Were you able to access that photograph at the pays-fribourg site? Really quite a lovely picture of the town. I do think that you will see some pretty countryside along your driving route -- are you able to drive and ooh and ahh at the same time? I think that is why I prefer train travel.

October should be a wonderful time. When do they harvest grapes, anyone? I'm thinking you might be passing near some vineyards as you head south, yes? no? J.

p.s. the pays-de-fribourg.ch site I noted above lists two hotels for Romont. You might want to take a look. the Lion d'Or seems to be the oldest. Another idea is to take a look at the bed & breakfast site

bnb.ch

to see if you find anything appealing in the neighborhood. J.

The detour for Romont is about 20 minutes, the detour for Lake Thun maybe 35-40 minutes. Not worth it?

You'll have closer views of the Alps from the motorway driving along Lake Geneva and around Geneva than from Romont.

rcc,
Next to the suggestions made above, you might want to consider the small and charming town Morges, close to Lausanne, right on Lake Geneva. No detour at all!

rcc,
Just read that you narrowed down to Romont.
You will find all hotels listed on the following web site which includes all towns/villages in the Fribourg area, also Murten (Morat in French).

Click on 'loger/reserver' and all hotels will pop up. Click on any of the names and the hotels' sites will show. Just one word of advice. Not knowing when you will be travelling, be aware a lot of these places might fill up quickly on weekends and most of them are pretty small.

http://www.Pays-de-Fribourg.ch/

Allright, people. Again, thank you for the suggestions.

I have until October to make up my mind and Ingo has swayed my current decision, as well as my wife's, into making a detour towards Thun to get a closer view of the Alps.

Made a call to the Thun tourism board for some hotel suggestions and they're mailing me the information. Anybody with firsthand suggestions?

Ingo: What exactly do you mean when you wrote "closer views of the Alps from the motorway driving along Lake Geneva and around Geneva"? Is this a major detour from my intended route to Lyon? Thanks.

Hi rcc, the more help you get from us, the more difficult the decision, yes? It seems that you're going to have to decide how important serenity is to you. Thun is a fascinating, picturesque town, (and Thunersee is one of my favorite mountain/lake combos) but I don't think Ingo would describe Thun as serene. (thunersee.ch)

Ursula's suggestion of Morges might be a thought, or St. Prex which is even smaller (are they on your route? I cannot remember).

Or, you know what? You could start all over again, throw out the Michelin route, and plan your own driving route from Munich to Lucerne to lakes Brienz & Thun and then to Bern and pick up the highway heading down toward Lac Leman. Talk about the best of all worlds, wow, what scenery. How many hours would that take, somebody who drives?

I hope we're not driving (no pun intended) crazy. J.

It was not my intention to cause you any trouble with your wife :-)

You are right jw, Thun is not serene. But what about one of the nice villages above the lake? I thought of Heiligenschwendi e.g. and Hotel Alpenblick, only 10 km away from Thun in a setting with panoramic views. See www.alpenblickhotel.ch (in German only I am afraid, but you can see pictures and mail them). Click on the picture to see more. Rate is 132 Sfr. per room/night incl. breakfast - exactly 100 USD. (cheaper for longer stays)

RE: views from Lake Geneva - When you approach Lake Geneva via motorway Bern-Fribourg right at Vevey you will be stunned by the fantastic views of the lake and the Alps on the opposite bank. Your fastest route goes via Geneva and this is no detour.

Ingo

So just to milk this interesting topic for all it's worth, Ingo, how long do you think it takes to drive from Munich to Vevey, and what is your recommended route. The Michelin site figures between 5 and 6 hours to get that far, and then only another 2 hours to reach Lyon. (And its recommendation goes along the other side of the lake I think.) But what do they know. Maybe you'd like to guestimate Munich to Thunersee too while you're at it. If you're laughing, it's because you know jw will NEVER drive either or any of those routes. rcc, you have given Swiss fans a great deal of pleasure, even if you ignore every word we write. Affectionately, J.

By the way, Ingo, I had to pull out my map to find Heiligenschwendi. And then I took a look at the Alpenblick's photographs. It's a charmer. J.