Switzerland in May
 

My wife and I are thinking of visiting Switzerland for around 7 - 8 days in mid-May. I have read a couple of threads that seem to imply that this is a slow season in at least parts of Switzerland and that we might experience large number of places and/or rides closed at this time. Can anyone provide some thoughts on what our experience might be like. We were generally thinking of a few days each in Lucerne, Interlaken and Zermatt?

Recommendations on places to stay in these locales?

Based on readings I'm assume train travel is a lot more practical and easier than renting a car?

I go during May nice shoulder season less crowds
seat61.com/switzerland train around regional trains
like a local always saves me over pass booking.com
eurocheapo.com hotels based on budget. Car rental
eurpcar.com last there for me nice in rural areas
but a liability and costs more in big cities so
I usually just train.

Have fun!

qovadis doesn't like passes but in Switzerland if you are travelling a lot on the trains you can save money but you need to do the maths first check you fares by going to the Swiss rail website www.sbb.ch/en for the English version. I like the Swiss Pass because you're not queuing at ticket offices and you can change your mind when you're on your travels and you get extra discounts free entry to many museums and local transport in many towns and cities. With the exchange rate at present it may be a consideration.

May should be pleasant and everything open. (April tends to be used for reconditioning and sprucing up - or perhaps November.)

We always drive in Switzerland since we prefer not to be tied to train schedules - although there are a few small towns in the upper valleys that you can;t reach by car.

As for hotels, the franc is at the moment very high against other currencies - so expect hotel prices to be very high. Knowing how much you want to spend and what you expect will allow people to make specific recos.

The Balances, where we have stayed in the past, is showing a cheapest rate of about $300 per night quite a bit more than what we paid a couple of years ago.

> May should be pleasant and everything open ...

Just for the record, "everything open" part is not correct (depending on what the poster meant by "everything"). As OP read May (and April) is a low season in Mountain Areas between winter ski season and summer hiking seasons. It's too early for most hiking routes, there are still closed, snow covered or too wet/muddy depending on the altitude. That's why, for example, many hotels in Grindelwald/Wengen are closed until around mid/end May. And 5* Zermatt hotels re-open only beginning mid June. Other tourism dependant business in the areas should somewhat follow those closing dates. For the cities, of course there is no problem. That said I do like visiting mountains in that period, can be sunny, warm, quiet and uncrowded. Easy for me to pick nice days as I live Switzerland (city).

I usually travel to Switzerland the last week of May/early June to maximize the number of mountain lifts which have reopened.
Weather is quite pleasant (even HOT a few years ago in the cities).
When in Lucerne, the lifts up to Mt Rigi open May 1st, so no problem ascending there.
In Zermatt, the Gornergrat opens after maintenance on May 2nd and the Sunnegga-Rothorn option opens May 23rd.
I believe that the Jungfraubahn is open year-round, but high hiking paths may still be closed or quite muddy.
Depends on whether you had 'serious' hikes in mind or just ascending for views or mid-level ambling about.
I think early June and September are optimal, but May has often been a good 'go-to' given my work constraints.
You will enjoy!

The Ticino is a beautiful place to visit in May (nobody has mentioned it yet, I'm just tossing that out as an option). We've been to Gstaad in May when many restaurants, etc were closed or keeping shorter hours.

As for what things will be like in May this year, I'll be checking the weather closely. There is a lot of snow up in the mountains and if it keeps coming down and then we get a sudden and/or prolonged warm spell in spring, watch out for some serious flooding. The Rhine is already burbling along at a higher level than usual, at least where we are.