Melissa,

We just arrived home last night after a week in the Berner Oberland. We were on the first (we think) flight out of Zurich yesterday morning, Delta 67 nonstop ZRH to Atlanta.

After our arrival in Atlanta about 3 p.m. we had the five-hour drive home to Alabama, so if I am not making sense with this post, there is a reason why!

Europe was in a (completely justified) state of ash cloud hysteria all week, according to the BBC channels and CNN, but we were up in Lauterbrunnen where nobody seemed concerned in the least.

I know this information will not apply to your trip, since you are traveling in the summer, but April and May are really the "dead" season for Wengen and Murren. Almost (if not all) the hotels there are closed right now, which is the reason we decided to stay in Lauterbrunnen (Chalet Horner).

Murren and Wengen are so close together that I can't imagine staying in both, but that's just my opinion.


The area is so beautiful and there was plenty to keep us busy.

I wouldn't worry about the volcano. Anything can happen, of course, but probably won't! Don't take a chance on missing Switzerland!

Byrd

I love Murren but it is just too isolated to me - takes a lot of time just to get down to Lauterbrunnen to get anywhere - Wengen to me is much more accessible.

Byrd: Welcome home! I'm so glad to hear you had a good time and arrived home in one coherent piece out of the ash cloud! Your reply, written so soon after getting home, is actually very helpful to me.

Palenque: I have put together a vision of Wengen and Murren from everyone's impressions. I think I would love Murren which sounds more peaceful. But I also need to get from either Murren or Wengen to Interlaken to attend the reenactment of the William Tell story in the evening and also we might do the folk park in Ballenberg as a day-trip from Wengen or Murren...And it sounds like Interlaken is a bit more convenient from Wengen. That is part of the reason why I am still considering splitting our stay between Murren and Wengen, even though they are so close together you can see one from the other apparently.

To make things more complicated my original itinerary was assuming we could fly into Zurich and out of Geneva, or vice versa. However it turns out we are most likely booking a round trip nonstop to/from Zurich. So I need to shuffle things around just a little bit. Now it is more challenging to choose only 4 hotel "bases" from among these spots:
Murren
Wengen
Lucerne
Montreux or Vevey or Lausanne
Bern
The first and last "base" hotels need to be convenient to the Zurich airport.

When I get to a puzzle that is challenging like this one, I sometimes just look for the friendliest accommodations that are most enticing to me, and that becomes my "base"! All of the above areas seem like good bases to me but I only want 4 bases. (We don't want to change hotels more than 4 times on this 2 week trip. We have 15 nights in Switzerland (plus a night on the plane.)

Before going down to the Tell thing check how late trains run between Lauterbrunnen and Wengen and the cable-car-train goes up to Murren - not sure they run really late for either town.

Doing a loop from Zürich, you could go Luzern---Wengen or Mürren---Montreux or Vevey---Bern.

From either Bern or Luzern it is about 1 h 20-30 min. back to the airport (slightly less from Luzern, actually).

And I think it's a great idea to find the friendliest accommodations, and choose between Wengen and Mürren (and Montreux vs. Vevey) that way. That works well for us.

Palenque: Yes I did check the train schedule and it looks like it runs late enough to Wengen so that we would be able to see the William Tell reenactment in Interlaken. The show starts at 8:00 pm. thanks for the suggestion though. We will keep an eye on the time while at the show.

enzian: Yes I think we will be doing a loop similar to the one you describe. I am looking into completing the hotel bookings still. One thing is I continue to want to stay in BOTH Wengen and Murren! Even though they are relatively close together I can see advantages to both. Wengen is more convenient for our day-trip into Interlaken to see the William Tell reenactment. Whereas Murren seems quieter and I love getting away to quiet and scenic areas. I also like both hotels, one for Wengen and one for Murren!

I'm trying to select a nice quiet room near Montreux or Vevey...also wondering if we will need airconditioning in that area in late June... We don't usually use A/C unless we are desperate, as we prefer the fresh air by opening a window when possible.

Ok really bedtime how does it get so late when I am on the computer?!

Though i believe the Lake Geneva area is warmer than most of Switzerland due to warm winds up the Rhone Valley (i've heard that explanation but not sure) i would think after having been there several times in summer i think anything over 75 would be rare - so it depends on your level of tolerance of heat - late June should be even less a chance i would think that latter in the summer.

Melissa5---I understand completely. We usually stay in both Wengen and Mürren ourselves.

Yes though in some ways Murren and Wengen are Swiss peas in Swiss pods - in being sweet smallish quiet (car-free) remote towns they are very different as well - mainly IMO from the very very different views - Murren smack opposite the ice-girdled Jungfrau Massif and hovering smack above the deep narrow Lauterbrunnen Valley

and Wengen, also overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley but from the other side - and you Murren you can see Wengen and from Wengen Murren

I rather enjoy the idea of splitting time and staying in both

But for me and my tastes i always stay in Interlaken - i'm the type who likes cities as a base to return to and all their amenities

I am easily bored in a place like Wengen and Murren at night

So these remote quiet car-free places are not for everyone - some will really love them - many i think but some will think them too too 'susshhhh' quiet for their tastes.

Palenque and enzian, I am enjoying hearing everyone's viewpoints on Wengen and Murren. I think we will stay in both, and balance that by staying in a busier spot before and after Berner Oberland. Lucerne seems bigger and busier than Wengen and Murren, and yet it is still well-located for day-trips.

Palenque, I also appreciate knowing the Lake Geneva area does have some mild weather in the summer so we might get lucky.

I have to interrupt my Swiss planning for a little getaway to Austin, Texas! So I'll be back on-line planning our Swiss trip late next week when we return from Austin.

Well this response will be awaiting your return - i think Lucerne is a really smash up great base - for boat rides around what to me is Switzerland's most idyllic lake - the fjord-like Lake Lucerne - taking boats especially to do the ascent of Rigi -which once at the summit offers, arguably, the most fantastic viewpoint in all of the Alps - a lateral one from the far east over most of the spiny ridge of central Switzerland - the Alps!
And of course Mt Pilatus but also easy to take trains to Engelberg - an Alpine wonderland on par with the Jungfrau region and Zermatt.
And Bern and Zurich are really short trips by train.

To get between Interlaken and Lucerne you have two choices - the fastest and longest route goes via Bern but the much more scenic route goes via Brienz and the Brunig Pass to Lucerne (part of the Golden Pass scenic train route) and takes about an hour longer i believe but still only a few hours.
From Interlaken-Ost this narrow-gauge mountain-climbing train rolls right along the northern shore of idyllic Lake Brienz to Meiringen, where the train reverses itself to start the ascent of the Brunig Pass - at points having to use cogs and cog wheels to help it climb and, similarly, to descend after cresting over the pass.
On the way up you get nifty views over Lake Brienz and on the way down to Lucerne the train rolls by a string of sublime Alpine lakes.
The only mainline narrow-gauge train run by the Swiss Federal Railways it is also the SBB's only cog-assisted train.
You'll know when the cog-assisted portion comes as the train ever so slows down to engage the cog and cog wheel and then you hear the sound of cog wheels rolling over the cogs.

Schuler - the weather forecast weblink http://www.neuheim.ch/fileadmin/reda...schmoecker.pdf
is not in English. Anyone can suggest English-language website on Switzerland weather, either forecast or past record would be helpful.

You may want to make a special post for that and i am sure you'll get an answer - but being buried here you may not.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weath...we=Switzerland

We have our airline tickets! Woo-hoo! We are flying nonstop from LAX to Zurich, round trip, and we have exactly 15 nights "on the ground" in Switzerland. (not counting flying time)

I have brain-freeze now. Now that we are flying roundtrip into and out of Zurich, I have to tweak my itinerary a bit. Now it's harder to visit Lake Geneva. My husband says since I am so slow we need to spend our last night in Zurich so we won't miss our flight home! (He is right I think. )

So now I'm thinking I might need 4 "base" hotels plus a final night in Zurich. But that is too much moving around for me. (I do better without so much packing & unpacking.)

Does anyone see how I can still fit everything in, and only have 4 hotel changes instead of 5?? Here is what I came up with but this plan has 5 hotel changes:

<b>Fly</b> into Zurich (late June)
<b>Bern</b>: 3 nights (with day-trip to Chateau de Chillon & Gruyeres)
<b>Wengen</b>: 4 nights (time for day-trips including Ballenberg)
<b>Murren</b>: 3 nights (wildflowers! Peace & quiet)
<b>Luzern</b>: 4 nights (time for day-trips on lakes & mountains!
<b>Zurich</b>: 1 night
<b>Fly</b> home Zurich to LAX (July)

Hi Melissa5,

There are a few ways to cut down on hotel changes.

One would be to make that tough choice between Wengen and Mürren and not sleep in both. They are about 40 minutes apart by train, so you'll really lose more time moving bases than you would with just commuting.

Another way would be to stay in Luzern the night before your flight. There are a few trains every hour that run directly (0 changes) right to the airport, and they take an hour. That's really pretty quick.

Anyway, good luck!

s

But Zurich IMO offers a far different type of city from all the others - it does have its plusses - the nice Old Town - a lovely lake with lake boat rides - sweet walks for miles along the lake, hill-climbing trams into forests and the Bahnhofstrasse, called by some the world's swankiest street because it is lined by fancy offices of major banks, jewellers, etc.

The train takes you right into the basement of the Zürich airport so you might not need to change hotels.

I would stay in Lausanne, Montreux or Vevey before staying 3 nights in Bern. Much more atmosphere on Lac Leman and more to do.