Sion Switzerland or other towns with castles
 

Hi. I'm finalizing my plans for my Switzerland trip in July and the other thread about favorite places in Switzerland got me thinking. I'll have 5 nights in Interlaken, followed by two in Lucerne. From Interlaken I certainly plan a day or two up into the mountains and also one day trip to Bern. But I've been thinking about a day trip to Sion. Early in my planning I came across photos of Sion and it's castle and decided I wanted to go there. But it's over two hours from Interlaken and I'm wondering if it's worth it. I know there is a castle in Thun. Are there other castles that would be easier day trips from Interlaken? Anyone been to Sion? Did you feel it was really great? I'm not a castle fanatic or anything, but I do enjoy seeing European castles, and as I said, that one just got stuck in my mind but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Thanks for your opinions.

I'm assuming you've been to Chillon..or have you? If not, you might find it as, if not more, appealing and in a wonderful location, too.

Sorry...Chillon is located in Montreux.

Hi isabel,

Here's a link(www.swisscastles.ch/Bern/default.htm) to all the castles in the Canton of Bern. Unfortunately, the site is only in German & French, but you can get the idea from the map & town names. At least you can take another look at Thun's castle and the one in Spiez, the two best that are close to Interlaken.

I haven't been to Sion, but the pictures look great! Of course, many believe the best Swiss castle is the one at Chillon (www.chillon.ch), but it's even further than Sion.

Hope you get more replies!

s

Hi isabel,

I don't think it is worth the long ride to Sion. I admit this town is one of the few I haven't seen yet in Switzerland ;-) but from descriptions I believe that you'll enjoy the castles in Thun, Spiez or Oberhofen as much (which I have seen). For a medieval castle Thun is excellent, for a mixture of styles Spiez is great. Castle Oberhofen is right on the lake, very picturesque and it has an exhibit on historic interior/furniture (dependency of the canton's museum).

Unfortunately Chillon is a bit too far, although it is the best medieval castle I have ever seen. And the train ride through Gstaad - Montreux is soooo scenic ... You should consider to do this day trip as a combination of scenic train ride and visiting the castle. Back by fast train via Bern.

Ingo

Hello everyone. I think I've mentioned this before, but my cousins visited Chillon as a daytrip from Brienzersee and enjoyed the day, including the long trainride, very much. Be that as it may, I liked the castle at Thun and the one at Oberhofen. J.

I'm not sure I totally agree with the assessment that it is a "looooooong" train ride Interlaken-Montreux. You can do it in less than three hours and in some cases with only one change...but if you consider 2 hrs 43 minutes as "loooong" then I guess it is!

Enjoy your trip no matter what you decide.

I have been thru Sion but only the train station to make a transfer. The castles seen and loved were at Montreux, Chateau de Chillon and the one at Gruyeres. But I don't think they're in the right part of the country for you.

We loved the castle in Thun - and the whole town is very cute.

The castle in Gruyere is also quite interesting - and there's a very nifty restauarnt where we had one of those never-eding Sunday lunches (we didn't realize they keep bringng out more food until you leave some on your plate - a local had to clue us in). But the lunch - lots of those little pike/perch fish for me - some sort of ham thing for him was incredible- as was the view from the restaurant's terrace.

The cheese making was a yawn though.

Fortunately we did not see cheese making. Just that dramatic castle and a fantastic meat & cheese board, white wine lunch at a scenic restaurant in the village nearby.

Sion is actually quite charming as a town, in itself. We spent a leisurely afternoon last October touring through the city and were pleasantly surprised.
Cheers,
Jan

Sion's castle on the Valere hill is called by the Michelin Green guide "one of Switzerland's outstanding buildings". It's technically a fortified church according to Michelin. Beyond it, accessible by a rocky trail is a ruined castle on Tourbillon hill - it provides a swell view of Valere below. These two castles, on Valere and the ruins on Tourbillon are very picturesquely situated; Valere is 400 feet above the Rhone valley just below. I enjoyed visiting both very much but as for Sion the town it's ordinaire - like any Swiss town nice but not much of touristic interest there. At neighboring Sierre, from the SBB mainline station one of the world's longest funicular creeks up the mountains to Crans-Montana, a world-renown Alpine resort with stupendous views over the Rhone Valley and surrounding Alps. One reason to day trip to Sion from Interlaken is that you'll be taking one of Europe's most scenic rail routes to get there - first along idyllic Lake Thun to Spiez and then via the Lotschberg route where before Brig the train barrels along on a ledge and passengers feel like they're in a plane heading for a landing in the Rhone Valley hundreds of feet below. The apparition of an airport landing strip in the valley enhances this effect. (Sit on the right side of the train when going to Brig for best views.) The Brig to Sion rail route is also neat as it goes through the vineyard-acarpeted Rhone Valley. Sierre and Sion are known as some of the sunniest places in Switzerland. The other castles mentioned by others are also fantastic in their own way but are hemmed in by cities - Sion's awesomely stand silent sentinel on craggy hills by themselves, the reason they look so dreamy in pictures. Takes about 2 hours by train from Interlaken, perhaps 2.5 each way however.

Thanks for your replys. I had just about decided it probably was not worth the time until I read those last two posts. It does sound nice. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see how we feel when we get there. But thanks again, opinions do help.