Itinerary

Fly into Frankfurt.
Train to Strasbourg. Stay three nights using Strasbourg as a base for day trips to Nancy and Baden Baden.

Day 1-3 Strasbourg
Days 4-7 ?????
Days 8-9 Beaujolais staying at Chateau De Bagnols to celebrate our anniversary
Train to Paris from Lyon
Days 10-13 Paris

Fly home from Paris.

As you can see I am missing 4 days in the middle. I have thought of doing 4 days in Switzerland as we have never been there. Other ideas would be Burgundy (we have been to Beaune for one day on previous trip many years ago) We have done the Route de Vin in Alsace already.

If we opt for Switzerland, where would it make sense to go for only four days. We would either rent a car in Strasbourg and drive it wherever we decide to go until we drop it off at Lyon train station. Or we could take the train from Strasbourg to wherever we decide to go.

We are traveling in late May and early June. I would love to start making hotel reservations, but need to figure out the middle of my itinerary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I would vote for northern Burgundy to fill in the four days. My husband and I took a similar trip years ago starting in Alsace and working our way through Burgundy south to Provence. We enjoyed Dijon, Auxerre, Avallon, Vézelay, Autun and felt that there were many other places we'd like to go back to explore. Beautiful countryside, lots of wonderful architecture and of course great wine.

I also think Burgundy is a great choice. We recently stayed at the Hotel Moulin des Templiers in Pontaubert, near Avallon, and we loved it. Gorgeous countryside, great food. Don't miss seeing Vezelay while you're there.

Switzerland would be a good choice - perhaps around Interlaken/Junfrau. It's about 3 hrs to Interaken from Strasbourg by car (you'll have to purchase a freeway "pass" for your French car). You could stop in Bern along the way for a visit - very interesting town. In the Junfrau, you may not use your car much - taking trains, lifts, cog railway, gondolas, etc to most other destinations.

From Interlaken, its 3 3/4 - 4 hrs to Beaujolais. The only drawback to Switzerland would be the weather in late May/early June. If this was my trip, I would not reserve any accommodations for this portion of the vacation. The last day in Strasbourg, try to determine if the weather is clear in the Junfrau region. If it is not, I don't think a trip there would be as enjoyable. I would head for Burgundy instead.

Stu Dudley

How about some awesome mountain scenery and lakeside enjoyment in between these dry-land and flat-land (or slightly hilly at best) locations of Strasbourg and Bagnols?

Can be done by car - gives you more options along the way, or by train, works just fine also.

Go to Montreux (www.montreux.ch/index_en.html) on the lake of Geneva where there is a great deal of sightseeing (www.montreux.ch/sightseeing/carte.html) awaiting you while you marvel at the Mont Blanc and such mountains across the lake.

Stay either in Montreux itself (www.montreux.ch/hotels), or - better in my book because of the views - up in either Glion or Caux above Montreux (http://www.montreux-mountain.ch/engl...venue/haut.htm) - the views are fabulous, and it doesn’t take long to get up and down. (http://membres.lycos.fr/beuret/english/real/mtgn.htm).

Then one brilliant day you can go all the way to the top of that little train line, to the alpine flower paradise of Rochers de Naye (www.montreux.ch/naye).

Another day you can go watch cheese and chocolate being made in the Greyerz/Gruyère region, by taking the “chocolate train” excursion (www.mob.ch/GPS/produits/choc1.asp) and maybe also visit the Gruyères Castle (www.castle-gruyeres.ch/e/index.html).

Speaking of castles, there is one very close to Montreux, go by bus or train, a hop and a skip, to the famous Chillon Castle on the lake (www.chillon.ch/en/index.html). Or one quite a ways further, in Brig, the Stockalper Castle (http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/offe...ture-8689.html ) in the adjacent canton of Valais/Wallis (www.valaistourism.ch).

Or go to Lausanne, maybe by boat (timetables at www.cgn.ch/en/home/index.php), ride the new subway up into town, visit the Olympic Museum (www.olympic.org/uk/passion/museum/home_uk.asp ).

If you have a car, then on the way from Strasbourg to Montreux you can drive through the Jura region that straddles the French-Swiss border, made up of seven almost symmetrical “chains” of ridges, none of them high and snowcapped like the alps, a different topography altogether, but mountains nevertheless.

Great places of interest in the Jura, see www.juratourisme.ch/e/home/, places like Le Locle with the watchmaking industry museum “Musée de l'horlogerie” (www.mhl-monts.ch/).

Then still on your way to Montreux, you have choices like the excavations from the times the Romans occupied what is now Switzerland, well presented in Avenches (www.avenches.ch/ota/page.php?id=138&lang=eng), not far from the walled-in and well-preserved charming town of Murten-Morat (www.murten.ch/_anglais/index.html).

I’ll stop now, for fear of overwhelming you - I hope you’ll like what you see when you go to the links I provided.

Dijon and the rest of Burgundy would be great!