wrenwood

Most of our Switzerland trip in September is coming together pretty well, thanks to this board!

We will leave Darmstadt (near Frankfurt) after staying with friends for a few days, and head towards Weggis. We are thinking of staying overnight somewhere on the way to Weggis for one night, maybe in the Black Forest area? A wonderful inn/restaurant/village?

We have been to Freiburg, Trier, Heidelburg and Meersburg, so we would like someplace new to discover.

We will then stay in Weggis for a few days ( I hope!) then on to Grindelwald for 5 days and Guarda for 4 days. After that we will have 3 days and nights to head back to Darmstadt, probably a more eastern route.

We have previously stayed in the Garmisch Partenkirchen area, Oberammergau, Hallstatt, Heilegenblut, Durnstein and Rothenburg, so I'm hoping you can point us in a new direction!

We love small villages and towns, mountain landscape, cows, good restaurants ( they don't have to be fancy, just memorable) most everything about rural Austria and Germany. Not really interested in Salzburg or Munich or cities.

Thanks!
Wrenwood

Vttraveler

Bad Wimpfen is a really charming old imperial town on the Neckar, east of Heidelburg

wrenwood

Thanks Vttraveler, I'm not familiar with that town so I will check it out.

Do you have a favorite Hotel or Restaurant there?

susan001

Hi wrenwood,
I would recommend you stay in Murren rather than Grindelwald. It's much more remore, smaller, and the views are incredible. Also check out Gemut.com for a write-up about Murren. I stayed at the Alpenruh and had marvelous views there. For dinner I would go to Hotel Blumenthal or Eiger Hotel in Murren.

wrenwood

Thanks Susan001, we already have an apartment booked in Grindelwald. There will be 5 of us in Grindelwald ( 2 brothers & wives, and a sister) We got a really nice price for 5 nights on an apartment run by Hotel Kirchbuhl in Grindelwald.

We might try to have lunch in Murren, I know we will go there one of the days. It probably would have been my first choice if my husband and I were by ourselves.

laverendrye

I assume that you are taking the Frankfurt-Basel autobahn (A5). If so, there are a couple of nice towns for an overnight not far from it.

Just north of Offenburg is Gengenbach, a lovely old town on the edge of the Black Forest with some of the town walls and gates preserved. Use the search on this board and you'll find lots of details.

The other is Glottertal, just north of Freiburg-im-B. It has a number of good restaurants and hotels in the traditional Black Forest style. I recall that the Adler was particularly good, but it's been some time since I was there.

Vttraveler

I stayed at a small B & B in Bad Wimpfen and it does not seem to be open any more. I know other people have recommended Hotel Neckarblick. It is also recommended in fodor's destination guide for Heidelberg along with a few others in Bad Wimpfen.

I know there is also a hotel at Burg Hornberg, an 11th century castle north of Bad Wimpfen on the Neckar, outside Neckarzimmern

this whole stretch of the Neckar is part of the Burgenstrasse

bettyk

When we were in Gengenbach, we stayed at the Hotel Sonne, on the Hauptstrasse right off the town square. Nice hotel and restaurant. Our room was under 60 Euro.

It looks like they are in the process of redoing their website so you may have to send them an email for more info:

http://www.sonne-gengenbach.de/uc.php

I remember the Pfeffermuehle Hotel was also very nice but a little more expensinve I believe:

http://badenpage.de/pfeffermuehle/frame.html

In Bad Wimpfen, we stayed at the Neckarblick. Again, nice hotel just a short walk to the Hauptstrasse. Rooms start around 75 - 80 Euro.

http://www.neckarblick.de/englisch/index.html

Either town would be a wonderful place to spend the night with enough to keep your interest.

wrenwood

Bad Wimpfen I think isn't far enough from Darmstadt, although I have read that it is "stunning"

Gengenbach looks appealing, I just can't "bond" with a place to stay. Maybe Pfeffermuehle? Restaurant is supposed to be quite good.

Found a few places in Glottertal to research more. Any particular recommendations?

As I look at the map more and distances, I'm thinking the southern part of the Black Forest or even Lindau or Stein am Rhein?

Diane

I can recommend stopping in Staufen, a small, charming village just south of Freiburg-im-B.

The Die Krone is a lovely family-run hotel in Staufen. We stayed there in May 2006. Price was E75 per night including a very nice breakfast buffet.

There are several good cafes and restaurants in the village, including the restaurant at the hotel.

Diane

bettyk

Stein am Rhein is amazing! We stayed at the Rheingerbe Hotel right on the river. Their website is www.rheingerbe.ch.

Another hotel right on the River near the bridge is the Rheinfels but it is more expensive than the Rheingerbe.
www.rheinfels.ch.

The SAR town square is like being in a fairy tale. Check out their website:

www.steinamrhein.ch

wrenwood

I emailed Die Krone in Staufen and they were full for my dates It looked wonderful!

Will check out the places in SAR, thanks!

Anyone know anything about Hotel Dorer in Schönwald? Is it a pretty village?

BTilke

We were in the Bad Wimpfen area last month visiting with relatives. It's a very pretty town, but the streets are rather hilly, in case that's a problem for any of your party. (One of our relatives, who used to live in one of the more famous houses in BW, gave us a guided tour of the town.)
We opted to stay in Bad Rappenau, the next town over. It was quiet (no tour buses--we saw a few of those in BW) and relaxed--but every Saturday night is social dance night at the cafe by the castle. A good place to party with the locals if you're interested. We stayed at the Hotel Adler, doubles around 60-70€ inc. breakfast--in our case, they upgraded us to a huge apartment with two terraces.
The back road between Bad Wimpfen and Bad Rappenau (just a few miles long) is very pretty. Given that we were visiting with our German relatives, they didn't want to go out for traditional German food, so we went to the Tando German/Chinese restaurant on BadWimpfenstrasse. We were very surprised at just how good and fresh the food was, how friendly the service, and how inexpensive the bill. Plus it's an attractive place with a lovely rural view.

LLindaC

Hi wrenwood! About your days in Guarda...here's a link to my trip report from 2006. If you're going by train, be sure to catch the bus waiting there, or you'll walk 30 min straight uphill to town. The Hotel Piz Buin has wonderful food, great dinners. Take the train to Scuol, then either walk (beautiful) or take bus to Tarasp Castle. That's a gorgeous little town (Sparsels) with a good restaurant at the hotel. Not far from there is the village of Ardez. It just OOZES charm- all cobblestones, old women gathering flowers and speaking Romansch. We had a really good dinner there at Hotel Aurora. Serendipity...great luck! In the opposite direction is the lift to Muottas Muragl and a pretty easy hike around the mountain with stunning views of St Moritz and all the lakes around there. You can then take the chair ride down from Alp Languard. Splendid day! You'll be near Pontresina at that point. If you really want an adventure, take a side trip to Soglio. Has to be Switzerland's most beautiful village. Enjoy!
http://www.epinions.com/content_238856932996

wrenwood

Thanks LLindaC, your trip report and photos are wonderful! I'm so impressed with the amount of hiking you did!

We will need easy "walks" rather than hiking. There are a few 55-60 year old "less-than-perfect" knees on this trip and we want to be walking as much as possible so we need to be a little careful. Can you recommend the easiest as far as terrain? (doesn't matter if it's 3 hours or more if it's not too steep up or down)

On an earlier thread someone had talked about Soglio, it's on my list. We will have a car but I was warned we might not want to drive there, do you agree? Is the hike down to the Chestnut Trees steep? I understand that we could catch a bus somewhere down there?

Bad Rappenau sounds wonderful too, but I'm still thinking that's not far enough out of Darmstadt.

Regarding the two places in Stein am Rhein, they both look pretty nice, is either restaurant better?

TuckH

>>We will have a car but I was warned we might not want to drive there, do you agree? Is the hike down to the Chestnut Trees steep?<<

There is absolutely no reason not to drive to Soglio. None. Parking is easy, with a short climb to the village itself. I don't know what 'Chestnut Trees' refers to, but we took a very enjoyable hike (more like a 'walk') on a level path eastward from the village. The views across the valley were marvelous!

wrenwood

Chestnut trees........ what I copied and pasted from this forum to my ( very lengthy now!) trip ideas folder is as follows.........

Just below Soglio, the large chestnut groves yield their fruit in the autumn. At this time of year, when the chestnuts are dried in small houses called, “cascine,” bluish smoke rises among the multicolored leaves of the tall trees and creates a magical atmosphere.

.. Soglio. Italian feeling there. Gorgeous views. Have lunch in the garden of Palazzo Salis. Hike down to Castasegna through the chestnut forests and catch the bus there.

So it is this walk that I'm wondering how steep it is.

Thanks for the reassurance for taking the car. If we don't get to Soglio when we are at Guarda, we'll go for one night before or after and stay at the Hotel. It sounds magical!

TuckH

Well, if the 'Chestnut Trees' are below the village, then it could very well be steep. The beauty of the site is the 'perched' effect of the village high on the mountainside.

BTW, we made two excursions to Soglio, the second because we liked it so much the first time, which was from our base in Lugano. The second (same trip) was from our base in Pontresina in the Engadin. (Also, we have quite a few years on you 55-60 year olds.)

wrenwood

TuckH did you stay at Palazzo Salis or eat there? Or did you just visit for the day? Glad to know there are older knees than mine wandering around Switzerland!

I want to stay in room #9 with the HUGE old bed that LLindaC has on her photos at Trip Advisor!

TuckH

On our first visit, we ate lunch at the Stüa Granda at the very table shown in this photo...

http://www.stua-granda.ch/restaurant.html

We had checked out the garden at the Palazzo Salis and, frankly, it wasn't as scenic as this was.

On our other visit we picnicked along the path I described above...