I will be travelling from Paris to Switzerland in July and want to spend about 5 days in Switzerland.
Please tell me in which town I should stay and see the sights of this beautiful place.
Will be helpful if you can suggest an itinerary. I am not into skiing and such.

www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/home.html

In July you can ski only on the tops of the highest mountains - and I don't know the costs of the ski schools there.

In July most people are either hiking trails through the beautiful countryside (lower slopes of mountain) or taking trains or cable cars to the top, or visiting charming villages, taking steamers on the various lakes, checking out castles and wonderful museums.

I would stay in Lucerne, which has a lot to do in the town, a steamer on the lake to a bunch of small villages and easy access to several major mountains: Pilatus, Titlus and Rigi.

And there is easy train or car access to a bunch of other charming towns and villages ( we liked Bern and Interlaken and loved Brienz, thun, Gruyere and a bunch f others).

For five days, I would recommend going to Lucerne, spending two nights there, then take the train to Interlaken and stay either there or in one of the mountain villages of Grindenwald or Wengen. Our trip started in Lucerne (2 nts), Interlaken (3 nts), Zermatt (2 nts), Montreux (2 nts) and last night in Geneva. We had sunny warm weather in September. Hands down, our fondest and most outstanding memories of Switzerland were the three days in the Jungfrau/Bern Oberland. We had hoped to get over to Bern, and take spin around the lakes, but they paled in comparison to the days high in the Alps. Do not waste your days trying to get to lots of cities, we had 10 nights there, you only have 5. You will have had enough city culture in Paris; old European cities do not vary all that much. Go up in the mountains and savor every sight.

To me the literal and figurative high point of Switzerland is the awesome Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - soaring glacier-girdled peaks within view of your cozy family-run hotel or guesthouse balcony - toylike mountain climbing trains, thrilling aerial gondola rides and hiking paths for all abilities.

Stay the the whole 5 days if possible as there is so much to see and do - not just mountains but boat rides on the two idyllic lakes the bookend Interlaken - trains up the Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station and there is there a sea of ice - a glacier you can walk to - ice grottos - awesome views of the Aletsch Glacier and all around.

If you have never been to Switzerland before the Jungfrau Region should be IMO your focal point.

<The rail routes and the river cruise are more on our preference list> - For lots of great info on Swiss trains, including the iconic scenic trains like the Bernina Express (to me the most awesomely scenic train ride in Europe!), Golden Pass, Glacier Express, etc check out these IMO fantastic sources: www.swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

If there that long and travel about a lot then the Swiss Pass could be a great deal - kinds 15 and under get a free Family Pass so that they never pay anything to ride anything - even the gondolas to mountain tops that the Swiss Pass gives only 50% on the kids would always go free. Swiss Passes are valid not only on trains but lake boats, city buses and trams, postal buses and also give free entry to 400+ Swiss Museums.

To whet your appetite for the fantastic Jungfrau Region take a look at these images of it:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...=1600&bih=1032

From the Interlaken area it is easy to take a train over to Lucerne for the day - Lucerne is cute but there is really not that much to do in the city itself but just seeing it is awesome - pretty setting on Lake Lucerne and the train ride up and over the Brunig Pass is also awesome - part of the iconic Golden Pass scenic train route.

PLACES NOT TO MISS IN SWITZERLAND:
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),
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)

Thanks for all your inputs......u guys are the best......there is so much to learn from you!!!!

A good guide book or two should prove invaluable.

Hr

We stayed in Wengen last July and truly enjoyed it:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-oberland.cfm

Wengen has arguable the finest views of any Jungfrau town but is not for all - it is for those who like solitude and sidewalsk rolled up at night - there are no cars here, etc so is a special place, only reached by train from Lauterbrunnen or gondolas from Grincelwald via The Mannlichen.

Some will find it too quiet others will revel in the solitude and views.

Though looking for apres-hiking or skiing life should stick to Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald or Interlaken - Murren is like Wengen only a bit bigger and more a real city.

So match your personality to your town.

Pal, Mürren is smaller than Wengen. Mürren has a population of 450 while Wengen's population is 1,300. There is no way in the world Mürren could be considered a real city. Did you mean Grindelwald (which at population 3,800 still isn't anywhere near a city)?

Looks like it's time for a return visit!

s

No mea culpa - even though I've been to Murren and Wengen many times it seemed to me that Murren was larger - having walked thru it a lot - but perhaps I was mislead that Murren is basically all along one street now that I think of it and Wengen is spread out - thanks for correcting me. And Murren seems a bit livelier and again that is subjective.

Nandita, IMO 3 days/nights in the Berner Oberland area, be it Murren, or Wengen, or Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen....take your pick, would give you lots of time to explore and enjoy those fabulous views.

The remaining two days might be a little more difficult to decide upon as there are so many different places to see.

You have not said much to help us sort out specific places.

Perhaps you'd enjoy a couple of days along Lac Leman or in the Luzern area.

Did you mean Grindelwald (which at population 3,800 still isn't anywhere near a city)?>

Dealing with populations in these type places is problematic as this is the full-time residents not counting all the tourists - Grindelwald at its peak tourist season has far far more folks in it I think the 3,800 - ditto for Murren and Wengen.

Interlaken by all means - lovely Interlaken, my favorite base for the area, is a city - all other places in this regional are villages.

Thank you for helpful tips as we plan a 7-8 day trip in September 2014.

The earlier in Alpine areas in September IME the better - wether can get much colder with ice and snow at higher places - I was in Murren one early Sept and there was ice on the streets - a bit early for that they said but as they month goes on the weather deteriorates I believe.