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-   -   See or skip Switzerland in November? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/see-or-skip-switzerland-in-november-1717430/)

victoriainwanderland Sep 5th, 2023 03:21 PM

See or skip Switzerland in November?
 
In the interests of using some frequent flyer points, I am slowly piecing together a trip to Europe next November (2024) with the intention of seeing some of the beautiful Christmas markets in Alsace while there.

I have about 3.5 weeks available and am planning on spending them in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, possibly with a brief detour to London to visit a friend before returning home.

I was teeing up the option of tinkering my itinerary/extending the trip to see Switzerland but from a previous thread I started and some other threads, it seems like there may be better places to visit that time of year purely by reason of the fact that I would not want to go to Switzerland without seeing the Bernese Oberland but the timing would be awkward and the beauty of the mountains would likely be overshadowed by overcast weather and fog.

Thoughts? Is it worth saving Switzerland for another trip at a different time in the year or is the view of the mountains around mid-late November not all that bad as I fear?

Melnq8 Sep 5th, 2023 04:02 PM

November isn't a very good time of year to visit Switzerland - the weather can be iffy, and you'll find a lot of closures in alpine areas (hotels, restaurants and cable cars, etc) due to off season maintenace and staff rest time as they gear up for ski season.

Having said that, we've visited in November a few times, but only because we're frequent visitors and didn't really care what cable cars were operating, etc. We did have to do our research just to find restaurants that were open (alpine villages, etc).

I've been to many Christmas Markets in many countries, and I've yet to find one in Switzerland that I'd go out of my way for.


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