Opinions please Swiss Hotel Stars
 

We are looking at Switzerland as a possible place to cycle tour . I have never been there but we have 2 weeks to travel as much as we want. What are my "must sees" for a newbie? Start would be Geneva, end Zurich. In your opinion , can we find decent ( not luxurious) hotels in the 3 star range for $250 or under( CND) for Lucerne, Geneva and Zurich? Any thoughts/ experiences / suggestions are appreciated.

I won't comment on the "must sees" because what are must sees for me probably won't be for you. Make a list of the places and things you would like to see and go from there. As to the 3* hotels again what are you looking for. I like a clean room and en-suite bathroom, telephone, TV, bathroom with a shower and towels changed when I want them changed. I'm not fussed about a mini-bar, so as long as those criteria are met |I'm happy with the three star hotel I stay in in Unterseen (Interlaken) Yes I have stayed in 4* hotels and quite honestly there is not much difference. the Untereen hotel is family owned and run and and any problems I have had, have been sorted the same day.

What's CND250 in CHF or €? Is that for a single room or a double? For a starter, try booking sites such as booking.com and see what rates they give.

Hi snowgirls,

Once you settle on your itinerary, you can find hotels in the towns you've picked by going to the town's own website, such as:

www.townname.ch

You can search for hotels that way. One thing to note is that many hotels list their rooms with a price PER PERSON, so make sure you check that and don't assume the price will be for two. If you are looking for a double for $250, I think you can find those in the 3-star category if you look away from the main touristy areas of town.

I'd also suggest you stay away from the big cities and try to spend more time in the smaller towns and villages. For instance, I would prefer to stay in Vevey or Montreux than in Geneva. There is a lovely 3-star hotel right on the water outside of Vevey, for example, where doubles go for 205 to 275 chf (Hostellerie Bon Rivage).

You may be interested to know that Switzerland has a number of national bike routes and maps to go with them. You can look at them at this site:

http://www.veloland.ch/en/cycling-in-switzerland.html

I would think the Lakes Route would be a good fit for your plans.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Sorry for the double post.

Here is a link directly to the Lakes Route:

http://www.veloland.ch/en/routes/route-09.html

s

To be exact, Hostellerie Bon Rivage is situated in La-Tour-de-Peilz, just next to Vevey.

You may have a look at
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html

Some Places not to miss in Switzerland (not exhaustive list):

scenic train Chatelard - Emosson, may be combined with the visit of the Chamonix area,
Steam train Furka Pass (until first weekend of Oct)
Entirely walled medieval town of Murten
Roman theatre and museum of Avenches
Menhirs around Grandson and Yverdon
Gorges de l'Areuse and Creux du Van
Watch museums at La Chaux de Fonds and Le Locle
Underground mills of Le Locle
Musical box museums at L'Auberson, Ste-Croix and Seewen SO
Celtic lake dwelling museums at Neuchatel-Hauterive and Biel/Bienne
Caves of Vallorbe, Reclere, Beatus
Medieval city of Berne and it's fine museums
Ballenberg Eco museum and nearby Aar gorges
Lucerne: historic center, Rosengart Museum (Picassos), Glacier mills, steamboats plying the lake, cog railways to Pilatus and Rigi
Baroque churches/monasteries at Solothurn, St. Urban, Einsiedeln, St. Gallen
Subtropical gardens at Brissago Islands, Isola Bella (Italy), Isola Madre (I), Villa Carlotta (I)
Engadin Valley (St. Moritz - Scuol)
Bernina railway
Mustair Monastery
Swiss National Museum at Zurich with dependances at Schwyz, Nyon/Prangins, Gandria (Lugano),
Aletsch Glacier (Riederalp)
Rhine falls and historic towns of Schaffhausen (with castle) and Stein am Rhein
Medieval Gruyeres with cheese diary and nerby chocolate factory (Cailler at Broc)
etc. etc.

Yup kappa1, HBR is in La Tour-de-Peilz. However, the towns merge together seamlessly, and folks walking along the lake around the towns of Villeneuve, Territet, Veytaux, Montreux, Clarens, La Tour-de-Peilz, and Vevey might be very hard-pressed to tell where one ends and the other begins. When I discuss a hotel in Clarens or in Territet, I just talk about it in Montreux to keep it simple.

The walk from HBR to Vevey proper takes about 10 minutes. To the Vevey gare maybe 15 minutes. To the bus stop that links all of the towns named above about 1 minute.

s

As I wrote " to be exact " in case OP look for it and find it under a different address and wonder. If you call it loosely "in Vevey", that's fine. No harm. The locals sure do distinguish (not always and not everyone though) between Vevey and La-Tour-de-Peilz. Bon Rivage is well in the side of La-Tour-de-Peilz from "la carrefour" Entre-Deux-Ville ( meaning "between 2 cities-towns", Vevey and La-Tour-de-Peilz.) I pass lots of weekends these days there, maybe that's why I notice this kind of things.

> .. Montreux, Clarens, La Tour-de-Peilz, and Vevey might be very hard-pressed to tell where one ends and the other begins.

FYI you cannot pass from Clarens to La-Tour-de-Peilz walking on the lake side so the border is clearer there than let's say between Vevey and La-Tour-de-Peilz.

Thanks everyone so much for all the information and suggestions. I appreciate everything you have written and it is very helpful to have personal tips from fellow travellers. If this trip is a go, I will reach out to you again.

You might find this useful

http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Swiss_Guide.php

I would suggest you first choose a route using information on cycling in Switzerland avaiable online. Once you have a route then you can intelligently ask about places to stay along that route.

Your budget will get you decent rooms, don't worry about that. It's the cycling route that you may find daunting. Switzerland is not exactly known for flat land. ;-)

This site allows you to choose routes, read a description in stages and most importantly click on 'height profiles' to see just how much climbing/descending a section has.

http://map.veloland.ch/?lang=en&route=all

We found Hotel Collina in Pontresina a very good value, lovely place. We rented an apartment in a chalet Grindelwald which also was a good deal.

kappa1 -- yup, I do know what "entre deux ville" means -- my French isn't fluent, but it's at least that good.

I also know about the lakeside path not connecting Clarens and La Tour-de-Peilz -- in fact, I've walked it and didn't much care for the walk next to the busy street!

But I was thinking of the bus ride from Montreux to Vevey. It is a pretty constant flow of small businesses all the way, with just villas on that short space between C/La Tour. But on the bus from Villeneuve to Vevey, one really couldn't tell which little village the bus was in.

s

Hi, you can find a different suggestions http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/t...ng-around.html

You have 3 different spoken languages in Switzerland (Franch, German and Italian) but you will not have any problem on finding people who speak English! Following the languages also the culture is a bit different from a region to another one :)

To find you accommodation, once you know where would you like to go, I suggest you to contact the local tourist office of each city..they are able to help you to find an hotel which can be alright for you!

Love_ch, what happened to Romansch?

Exasperis is right: Switzerland has 4 languages and 4 cultures (only since 211 years / duatschien endish onns / deux cent onze ans / duecentoundici anni / zweihundertelf Jahren, however).