Hello everyone!

I know that the end of October is generally bad weather for Switzerland, and that most attractions and cable cars and scenic trains close, but i wanted to see if there was much else to do? Switzerland is one of 3 countries I'm considering visiting. And would love to take advantage of the once in a life time relatively reasonable hotel rates.

Soi wanted to see if theres much i can do with 7 full days, and if I'm likely to have poor weather or miss out on too many things and attractions. Im operating on the assumption i will definitely be back to Switzerland in high season to see what i may miss

As much as id love to see the scenery, i understand most will be fogged up, or businesses and lodging closed.

That being said, i am a huge History, culture, gastronomy, and old world architecture fan. The Swiss style buildings, historical sites, lakes and rivers that might still be enjoyable to view, that sort of thing.

I would be flying into Zurich from LAX, on the 26th and was thinking, to explore Bern, Basel and perhaps Lussane.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, in particular, places to skip during that time, possible direction to go. Again I'm aware its not a good season to visit

Thank you in advance for your help!

brian

I would skip Lausanne and visit Montreux then get the train to Vevey for lunch. Lausanne lake is quite ugly compared the Montreux and vevey as the mountains are so far. Take a look at Le Forc restaurant in vevey. I’ve only been to vevey in the summer though..

Lausanne is great for getting drunk but there are much better places to visit imo.

I would consider Lucerne too. It’s near Zurich. There’s a great Italian restaurant there.

Bern and Lucerne are 1 day and night each, for me.

As much as id love to see the scenery, i understand most will be fogged up, or businesses and lodging closed.

Not necessarily...we've been visiting Switzerland in the off season for years and never run out of things to see and do. In fact, we'll be leaving Zurich the day before you plan to arrive (Covid willing) having spent a month there. There may be some fog around the lakes, but you can often get above the fog and clouds by traveling to an alpine village. Transport to most inhabited areas in Switzerland runs year round, and because people live in these villages, shops remain open to serve the people who live there.

Yes, many scenic cable cars may be closed for the season or for maintenance, and hotels in tourist areas may be closed, but that certainly isn't the end of the world, especially if you're already thinking of this visit as your first, not only.

The trick to visiting Switzerland in the off season is to plan well - research what is and isn't open in the areas you want to visit and go from there.

Bern, Basel and Lausanne are cities, and will have plenty on offer despite the time of year. It's when you branch out to ski resorts, and tourist areas that you'll find more closures. But, even that's not a deal breaker, as you can stay in an apartment instead of a hotel, as many apartments are more flexible with booking in the off season (no minimum stay).

Should you try to fit in an alpine excursion, say from Bern, keep in mind that the Jungfrau operates all year, although it may close for maintenance for a short time in the off season. Schedules here:

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/live/operating-info/

You don't have to go far from a city to experience the beautiful scenery of Switzerland, no matter the time of year.

lz4542 What did you end up planning? I also am researching a short 3-5 day trip to Switzerland for the last week of October. We are interested in hiking but are novices so not looking to scale a mountain

@Melng8 Would love any more details on where you would recommend. Our crew is coming from Florence, Italy, and is interested in beautiful scenery. We just hiked the Alpe di Siusi and loved the green pastures, cows, mountains in the distance, friendly hikers in the mountain huts. We are hoping to find something similar later this month.

We are looking at Bernese Oberland but many on another Travel Forum say it shuts down now and we've missed it. I believe the link above is to this area, right? https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/live/operating-info/ It does look like maintenance truly may be the few days we were planning.

I see the Lauterbrunnen Mürren mountain railway is open year-round but closed for maintenance work from 18 October to 5 November 2021. Does this mean we can't go between the two towns? Does that matter? The Bernese Oberland Railway is open year-round so we could still get to Lauterbrunned, right? Is there walking or hiking in Lauterbrunnen and Grindewald or do you have to take a gondola to trails? I also see that the Eiger Express is open: From Grindelwald Terminal: 08.00 - 16.15 h; Last descent from Eigergletscher: 16.50 h.

Oh, and what about Interlaken? Is it worth us traveling there to go hiking? That appears open.