Interlaken vs up in the mountains:

I've stayed in Interlaken several times and love it - a casual tourist may dismiss it as a tourist trap main street and that's all. But there are really lovely parts of Interlaken, such as Unterseen, just north of the train station across the river.

This is the old town of Interlaken that for some reason few of the hoardes that stroll up and down the main drag never seen. There is a classic Swiss town square here with a view of the jungfrau looming high above it in the distance.

Walk along the swift-moving river on nice walking paths - there is a Lucerne-type wooden bridge over a damn as well.

That said if it were my first trip to the area i'd probably stay up in Grindelwald, Wengen or Murren ,etc. Just to drink up the intoxicating views from your hotel balcony - but for me these towns are too quiet for me at night - if you love quiet go to the hills if not Interlaken offers the usual city life and even has a casino in which to replenish dwindling trip funds!

Sorry I have been "incomunicato" - I've been sick with allergies - If you never had allergy problems, move to Dallas, Texas & you will develop them!

Thanks to everyone who helped me re-think our itinerary. Your help was INVALUABLE. Getting suggestions from people living as far away as Lausanne & Australia was such a delight!

Here's what I finally came up with:
(Ascona & Lac Leman will have to wait til another trip)

Night 1&2 - Appenzell - Hotel Appenzell
Night 3&4 - Lucerne - Hotel Des Alpes
Night 5,6&7 - St Moritz - Soldanella
Night 8&9 - Zermatt - Allalin
Night 10,11,12&13-Wengen- Hotel Caprice
Night 14 - Zurich - Hotel Wellenberg

Thanks for all of your websites PalenQ. We decided to get two 15 day 1st class Swiss Saver passes for $428 each.

QUESTION: WHEN do you suggest that we make reservations for the Glacier Express?

Which other trains might reservations be necessary?

In a March 9, 2006 posting, CICERONE listed a book that is no longer in print. I've tried Half price books, etc - & no one has it. Is anyone willing to sell me their copy of:

SWISS BERNESE OBERLAND: A TRAVEL GUIDE WITH SPECIFIC TRIPS TO THE MOUNTAINS, LAKES & VILLAGES BY PHILIP & LORETTA ALSPACH?

I love to read about hikes and day trips in advance so that we can maximize our activities with several options for each day depending on weather & energy levels. For me, planning is part of the fun of travel.

I've emailed wengen.ch for brochures, but don't know how much detail they'll have.

Any ideas?

Bookmarking - planning Swiss trip for parents in a year.

Are you locked into St Moritz? You have two other mountain areas and, if you substituted Locarno/Ascona for SM, you'd not only get more variety and experience the beauty and unique italian/swiss ambiance that is the Ticino region.

Wekiva: What is bookmarking?

JN: So you think I should take out St Moritz and put in Ascona. I could be convinced with more info...Tell me what Ascona has over the SM/Pontrisina area? It's really hard to get a feel for these different places from a book.

Rhodes
I can only speak of the Locarno/Ascona area and what I perceive to be the diversity it would add to your trip. The food, the relaxed italian ambiance melded with swiss efficiency, the lakeside beauty of both Locarno and Ascona, the arcaded buildings of Piazza Grande and the Citta Vechia in Locarno all will be in sharp contrast to a mountainous, ski resort region. Since you already will be in two such areas, the Ticino might be a very nice counterbalance.

Hi rhodes97,

For what it's worth, the Engadin Valley (St. Moritz, etc) is very different from other mountainous regions of Switzerland. Instead of the brown-wood chalets, you have houses made of stone blocks, decorated with colorful sgraffiti. The valley itself is very different, too, with more sunshine than any other area of Switzerland. And the best part of all is that relatively few Americans have discovered this valley, compared to Zermatt & the BO.

I would sooner drop either the BO or Zermatt before you drop the Engadin. I guess you are taking the Glacier Express between Zermatt & St. Moritz, but I don't think that's such a good idea. In a time-crunch like yours, wasting an entire day on a train is a bad idea (the train ride is 7+hours long). I always prefer to be out ON the mountain rather than watching it slip by my train window.

So basically you could do Appenzell - Luzern - St. Moritz - Lugano (by Bernina Express) - Zurich. Or Appenzell - Luzern - Wengen - Lugano - St. Moritz (by Bernina Express) - Zurich.

Just to whet your appetite, here's a current article on the Engadin valley from Conde Nast magazine --

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/...rticleId=10670

Good luck!

s

rhodes97

By posting a response to a thread you make it a lot easier to find at a later time. If you look at the top of the page you will see your name. When you click on your name you will be taken to a list of all threads you have contributed to. You can post anything in a thread...BOOKMARKING seems to be a popular thing to say when....well when bookmarking.

The book you are searching for, SWISS BERNESE OBERLAND: A TRAVEL GUIDE WITH SPECIFIC TRIPS TO THE MOUNTAINS, LAKES & VILLAGES BY PHILIP & LORETTA ALSPACH is available at Amazon.com. I am planning a trip to Switzerland and I just ordered the book today. Good Luck.

bookmarking

bookmarking

bookmarking

Altho you may have come and gone by now, you are missing a wonderful experience by skipping Gruyere.
It is in between Geneve and Lucerne and after being other places like Zermatt, it was unique. I also figured how to get to my Grandfathers' birthplace from Lucerne and found everyone very helpful in the planning right at the tourist info. in the train station. I went to Altdorf and Schattdorf and it was so pure and seemingly untouched by the usual tourist traffic. It is the birthplace of Wilhem Tell and one train and a bus (free with train ticket) to get there. The locals have better travel ideas than any brochure or planning one does on their own.

Bookmarking too