Switzerland: Final Itinerary Questions
 

First, a HUGE thanks for everyones help on my Switzerland post last month.

We now have finalized all train/lodging reservations and now will ask if anyone has any special recommendations for restaurants or a "must see" favorite museum/place where we are going;obviously tons in the guide books, but looking to see if anyone has personal experiences in any of these locations they'd like to share to help narrow down my choices. We are: parents & two kids 20 and 23/ love everything from the adventurous to casual to fancy.

Arriving Zurich: (12/23) train to Luzern. Have 3 hour layover before we train to Interlaken and onto Lauterbrunnen.
?: Playing it by ear in Luzern: walk city and lunch: any particular favorite sites/eats where we have small window of time? Have been told easy to store luggage in train area while we walk, yes?
12/23-27: Lauterbrunnen: 4 dys/ Wengen, Murren, Shilthorn, perhaps Jungfrauhoch, Grindelwald. Walk, ski, eat, drink, hang.
12/27 Train to Bern/ also spend the 28. any favorites to eat or special place not to miss?
12/29-1/2: Train to Basel: Planning on museums, day in Colmar, perhaps to Freilburg: ? any fav restaurants to museum? Have New Years Eve rezzie @ hotel/overlooks fireworks on river.
1/2-1/4: Train to Konstanz, Germany : settling son in for his month long stay/ just getting acquainted in the city. Any restaurant recs?
1/4 Train to Zurich Airport and home.
Any ideas welcome. And again, thanks thanks thanks to all of you who were incredibly helpful in my previous post deciding on itinerary/train/etc. Did use BETS for train and they were, as recommended, amazing to work with and most helpful esp in choosing correct pass for our plans. Have already rec'd rail passes, maps and even xtra photo copied articles on areas we are visiting.

Hmm. The transportation museum in Luzern is wroth a visit. What to cut?
I would cut time in Bern.
Having seen both, my vote is to the museum.

I think you will be slightly jet lagged by the time you get to Luzern, but that should not be a major factor.

If you don't get going, you will not get there. At least that is my practice.

Near Brienz - the Ballenberg folk museum is a must-see. This is an easy thing to do on way to Lauterbrunnen from Luzern. Can also be done as a day trip from Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen - I really enjoyed bike riding and hiking, but since you will be there in December those may not be feasible. Trummelbach falls are a must-see (although I missed it). I thought Jungfraujoch was overrrated given the time and money cost, but I'm in the minority on that one.

Try to weasel your way into a Christmas day invitation to a local family's house to get a great insight into Swiss culture.

Bern - haven't been there, but Murten is an easy day trip from there and is a neat medevial town.

Avanches - in turn is an easy 10 minute train from Murten. Even cuter than Murten. There is a good museum of Roman artifacts there along with some decent Roman ruins. This was the capital of the Roman province of Helvetica.

I am glad you'll spend some time in Bern. I love this small city. I am sure you'll also enjoy strolling under the loooong arcades in the old town. Don't miss to see the Münster church with its famous western portal full of sculptures and the stained glass windows inside. I also liked the Historical Museum very much. Recently the Paul Klee Centre opened in a very modern building - probably well worth a visit if you like his works.

My favourite restaurants were the one near the bear pit where they brew their own beer (sorry, cannot recall the name, it is something like "Old Tram Depot" or so) and the Kornhauskeller (fine dining, located in the cellar of the Kornhaus).

In Basel don't miss the Kunsthaus (if you like pictures). What I liked in particular (and it is off the beaten path) was the orphanage in an old convent (Kleinbasel, right by the Wettstein bridge). You get a key and can visit the medieval church with frescos and two beautiful medieval rooms, panelled with woods.

Don't miss the Cafe Schiesser at the Market square. Finest pralines!

Bern has a group of fascinating painted fountain figures to seek out as you walk the arcaded streets. If you get restless, you can always train back a bit to visit Thun with its nice little castle. (Hi Ingo). J.

Make sure you research the train through Bern to Interlaken, as a back-up plan. When I researched different days for the train from Luzern to Interlaken, I noticed that there were weather related delays at times, and outright cancellations at others. It doesn't mean that you can't plan to go that way, just familiarize yourself with the alternate, "in case". :-"

viaggio-sempre: I already purchased Swiss train passes and rec'd them - the leg of my trip from Zurick to Luzern is on any train out of Zurich, my trip from Luzern to Interlaken is aboard a dome train/first class...would you assume if for some reason that train is not running on the 23rd that they would put me on one of the other trains going from Luzern to Interlaken or that they would know that when I go to train in Zurich and instead have me go through Bern and what, refund me part of my money?

Grüezi Escargot,

There has to be a break in the line before a train cancels. This summer, because of the flooding and mudslides, trains were cancelled. When this happens, they use a bus to substitute the train service when possible. The Swiss are very good at finding alternatives quickly.

I checked the SBB.ch for Dec. 23 and everything is running fine. I wouldn't worry about not catching a train unless we get REALLY bad weather again.

Sorry, didn't want to appear alarmist. Hope that your travel goes very well.:">

I needed a Swiss fix, so I looked in at this thread and then went to the Swiss webcam shot of Rothenthurm. You folks appear to be fogged in, schuler? J.

Yes, it finally came in. It's getting colder too.

Weaseling into a Swiss Christmas invite, would put me in doubt to the 'true' Swissness of the invitee. Just saying, unless they are already family or good friends, it would be unusual to get such an invite.