Switzerland in early October.
We will be leaving Germany Oct 7th. Plan had been to make one stop in Switzerlan (by train). Interlaken and head to Wengen. Then on to Milan. Our flight home is Oct 12th.

It seems we are hitting the closed season for hotels/restaurants in Switzerland at this time of year.

Not sure if anyone can suggest an itinerary. From Milan had hoped to go to Lake Como area for a few days of R&R. Not sure if that area also has a slow period in October. Welsome all suggestions. We will have had a pretty busy travel schedule for 2 weeks in Austria & germany. Just want pleasant surroundings, and good meals for those last 4-5 days.

Nothing in the Swiss Alps is closed in early/mid October. some places popular with Swiss families are rather crowded (school holidays).
BTW: Lake Como (Lake Maggiore too) is between Switzerland and Milan. It might therefore not be the best idea to go to Milan first and to backtrack then to the Lakes.
MXP airport is very close to Lake Maggiore.

Both Wengen and Lake Como area will be very quiet in mid October. You'll find some open hotels and restaurants, but many will already be closed.

In this time of year I would probably prefer Grindelwald over Wengen - this was just discussed (beaten to death, I'd say) in another thread. And although I favoured Wengen there, I do recommend Grindelwald in this case.

I would exchange Lake Como for Lake Maggiore. Simply makes more sense logistics wise - Stresa area e.g. is most likely to be more lively than the towns on Lake Como. And MXP is really close to Stresa. Also, it's much shorter from the Bernese Oberland via Brig to Stresa than to Lake Como.

In October seek the lower elevations - even Interlaken, a town I love but many do not seem too but it is at a much lower elevation - could be ice and snow at higher ones like Wengen or even Grindelwald.

But staying up in the hills is so so neat - with dreamy views from your hotel balcony of soaring glacier-girdled peaks.

The do as Ingo suggests - stopping buy Stresa and Lake Stresa (a k a Lake Maggiore) and heading right from there to Milan Airport.

I have stayed in Stresa and love it - the three famous Borromean Islands lie just off shore and each of these small islands has a different treat.

2 nights and 1 full day would be perfect for Stresa.

As for trains you may want to investigate the Swiss Card, which gives you a train trip from any border point to any place in Switzerland and then a train trip out from that place to any border point in Switzerland - in from Germany and out to Italy and in between those two trips you get 50% off just about everything that moves in Switzerland - check it out as it could save you lots of money over just buying tickets as you go

Once in the Grindelwald area you will probably be taking several aerial cable ways, mountain trains, etc and you'd get 50% off on most if not all of them.

For lots of great stuff on Swiss trains and the Swiss Card (do not consider other passes as you are not traveling enough for them - the Swiss Card offers everything the Half-Off Pass does but also includes the two longish train trips, making it I think a better deal than just the Half-Fare Card - check out these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.swisstravelsystem.com.

Lake Como is IMO nice but no nicer than Lake Maggiore and as Ingo says is a detour off the main Interlaken area to Milan rail route - a major detour that would take several hours longer I think.

Usually October is the best month to visit the alps. There are times when it will snow during the first week of October (as seen in the past) but then the days warm up again and we can even have an indian summer.

I've hiked in t-shirts til the beg. of December so one never can predict the weather, however, the beginning/mid October is usually a fantastic time to be in the alps.

I agree with Ingo concerning Lake Maggiore: much better solution if you come from Bernese Oberland and if you go to MXP airport afterwards.
But I don't agree with this crazy presumption that anyting accept ski lifts should be closed in the Jungfrau area in early October.

Kleeblatt is right: "the beginning/mid October is usually a fantastic time to be in the alps" most of the time drier than summer months (although Bernese Oberland is always wetter than Valais).

In October, Wengen has more sunshine than Grindelwald.

Thanks all for the input. So we are now thinking Train from Lindau, Germany to Interlaken and then local to Grindelwald. Still searching for place that will be open in Grindelwald. Several hotels we checked wer not taking reservations for that time or were very expensive even in this off season.

Then can anyone tell me what train line would take us from Grindelwald or Interlaaken to Stresa?

Also, once in Stresa is there direct transportation to the Milan Malpensa Airport? We have a 11;00 am flight out?

From Interlaken Ost the train is about 5 hours to Malpensa with 3 or 4 changes travelling via Interlaken-Brig-Domodossola-Busto Arsizio-Malpensa. As I recall it stops in Stresa where you can spend some time then take a later train into Malpensa that afternoon which I would suggest since you have a morning air departure.

A couple of years ago I took the train from Locarno-Domodossola-Arona (just beyond Stresa) and it was a fairly slow regional train.

morning air departure the next day.

Grindelwald-Malpense train:

Take train from Grindelwald to Interlaken-Ost
change
train to Spiez - regional train - about every half hour

There are some direct Spiez to Milan trains - stopping I believe at Stresa - try to get one of these to avoid another change at Brig/Visp

Stresa train to Milano Centrale

change to airport train or airport bus whichever is most convenient - there are some gaps I believe in the train service.

If you have a Swiss Card or Pass use it to Domodossola - buy a Domodossola-Malpensa ticket in Switzerland ahead of time or at www.trenitalia.com so you need not get off the train if you have a Swiss Card, which seems to be the best deal for you.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...fasScrollDir=1

www.bahn.de/en - the German Railways online schedule site for all European trains indicates that on most days there is only a direct Spiez to Milan train at 8:05 and then the next at 14:00 - all others require a change at Brig - with about 30 minutes in between trains there.

Also, once in Stresa is there direct transportation to the Milan Malpensa Airport? We have a 11;00 am flight out?>

public transportation not direct but train to Milano Centrale and then airport train or bus from there. There used to be a direct bus from Stresa to Malpensa but I think that was scrubbed - but there probably are airport shuttle vans - the way the crow flies Stresa is very close to Malpensa - closer perhaps than Milano Centrale. Maybe a taxi would not be too unreasonable?

Once again: October is NOT off season in the Bernese Oberland. Therefore prices are high and some cheaper hotels may be fully booked.

If you have to be at MXP around 9am, check the following trains of buses:
Domodossola dp by train 6.51 - Gallarate ar 7.57
Gallarate dp by bus 8.25 - MXP T1 ar 8.58
or
Domodossola dp by train 7.20 - Gallarate ar 8.33
Gallarate dp by bus 9.00 - MXP T1 ar 9.25

Since you insisted again, neckervd, I checked hotel closures in Wengen. I found these hotels to be open in October:

Schönegg
Alpenruhe Kulm
Berghaus

These hotels close on last September weekend (28 September):

Belvedere
Caprice
Parkhotel Beausite
Wengener Hof
Victoria-Lauberhorn
Sunstar
Bären

These two close on 6 October:

Silberhorn
Jungfraublick

And this one closes on 17 September:

Sunstar

Besides, rates drop considerably in September already. The few hotels that are open in October do not raise the rates. It is true that October is not totally off season in the Bernese Oberland. But it seems it will be very quiet except for daytrippers.

Well Wengen in October and November promises to be more dead and quiet than ever - ditto for Murren - like ghost towns - in these months consider staying in Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen where more things will be open. Even one mid-September I saw ice on the sidewalks of Murren - another reason to head for lower climes.

I just checked with www.booking.com and found the following for the random period Oct 12th - 19th:

"Wengen is a top pick amongst travellers on your selected dates (33% reserved).
18 out of 39 properties are available in Wengen"

But I agree with Palen that EVERYTHING will be dead in November (at Grindelwald too).

booking.com is not reliable, it seems. Or they outright lie. The Belvedere is definitely closed in that period - have a look at their website. And it smells that you cannot book it on booking.com, eh?

Also, out of those 18 available properties, only 4 are hotels (plus the smelly Belvedere, which is NOT available.) The rest are apartments. Top pick if only 41 % are booked? LOL, the whole hotel business would go belly up if that's a "top pick".

Wow. You guys definitley are trying to outsmart each other. Humbly, I am just trying to figure out if we got to Grindelwald, will we be able to find food to eat, and cable/train cars up to visit the higher altitudes If I sort through all of this,
1. I think we will have a quiet stay (not a problem as this is our last 5 day period of 3 wks of travel)

2 If a hotel takes our booking, it should be open. And it would be wise ot pick a hotel that has a restaurant.

3. Trains are still running most places , and we should be able to get trains/cable cars to higher altitudes since even in Wengen some hotels are open and train is the only way to get there.

Did I get this right??

Did I get this right??>

Yup.

All major lifts will be open.
If your hotel takes your reservation, it will be open.
There are still plenty of restaurants open.

Many people go to BO in the fall. I'm quite shocked that many hotels are already closed the first two weeks in October. October is high season for hiking and when the mountains can be at their best.

You'll be fine.