Swiss base apartment
 

Three people (one with three visits to Switzerland 20-30 yrs ago) thinking of spending 1-2 weeks based in Bern, or possibly Thun, Spiez, Brienz or (??), in an apartment rather than a hotel and close to train station for wide ranging day trips. Any reviews of apartments much appreciated. Also, agency recommendations please. Aware of myswitzerland site ; vrbo appears to have very limited Swiss listings.

Try this link to Brienz and surrounding area:

http://www.alpenregion.ch

Click on your language, then accommodations, then city. Comprehensive lists of hotels and apartments.

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful Brienz!

Many thanks kopp. It's early days yet, but the lack of other responses on this site thus far suggests that when it comes to apartment rental in Switzerland it might be best to check with the Germans.

My abode is Chalet Horner in Lauterbrunnen. Most Swiss vacation apartment owners want to rent for 7 day periods, Saturday to Saturday.

Chalet Horner does not run that way. Because of its location in the Lauterbrunnen Valley it is a little more expensive, but the convenience to many destinations, both mountain and lake, is very good.

Also some apartment owners tack on a final cleaning fee that can go as high as day's rent. Again, that is not the practice at Chalet Horner; the cost is built in.

Why do I go back to Chalet Horner?
I like it there and now that I am established it is an easy rental to make, IF!! I sign up in time!!
Procrastinate like I did last year and I get second or even third time slot choice and not in my preferred unit.

Dont go through an agency browse the web for independent listings and deal directly with the apartment owner where possible. Most of them speak enough English to get the job done.

Knowledge of only English is absolutely no barrier at Chalet Horner I might add.
That is one reason I return.

Thanks a lot Bob - in my short time in this forum I've come to really appreciate your advice, as many others obviously do.

You can try this website for apartments:

www.interhome.ch

I booked through them many times and it has always been perfect.

Another idea is www.thunersee.ch They have plenty of private apartment owners listed.

Ingo

We stayed in this holiday house in Brienz for 8 days in June.
www.jobins.ch They have several on the site but just click on the English flag and Brienz then you have a choice of several different options. We rented the holiday house, it had one master bedroom with a king size bed and a wonderful view over the lake and one bedroom with 2 singles, a living room with french doors to the balcony with an outdoor setting and umbrella. A small but well equipped kitchen, meals area and bathroom.
While we did look at Bob's suggestion of Chalet Horner too we were very happy with our choice. Irene and Marcel spoke fluent English so no problems there.

But be warned it is an uphill walk to the chalet but the view was certainly worth it. To get to the station we had to walk passed the Coop (supermarket) so it was easy to pick up food and water for the day and also dinner makings on the way back. The ferry stop is also next to the station. Brienz is about 1/2 hour by train to Interlaken.
Good luck with your research.

We just returned from a two week stay in an Untours apartment in Kandersteg and we loved it. www.untours.com In April we will be in an Untours apt. in Leiden, Netherlands, and hopefully return to Switzerland and stay in or near Lungern in 2009.

You can see their apartments on their website.

On our trip to Switzerland in April 2006, we stayed here:

http://chalet.casagrande-beo.ch/inde...ge=brienzersee

and my parents stayed in the apartment upstairs:

http://chalet.casagrande-beo.ch/inde...tpage=bellevue

Both were basic, but comfortable and clean, and had beautiful views of the lake from the balcony. The company was easy to work with, and very accomodating when we had some problems transferring funds for the deposit. The only thing I disliked about our apartment was the bathroom. There was no shower, and the tub was located under a sloping ceiling that made it impossible to stand. That was not an issue in my parents' apartment.

In addition to those 2 apartments, the company lists several other apartments in the Brienz/Interlaken area on their website.

Good luck!

Many thanks to everyone for the further recommendations, which should be very useful to me and others favouring apartments. The smaller locations, especially Brienz, are right up my alley, but the others in my party, having a predisposition to retail reconnaissance even in the most inappropriate circumstances, are more likely to favour being based in Bern (but we'll see about that). Just in case, has anyone had experience of a convenient Bern apartment?