we are planning a trip tis fall for a week.we would
like to know some of the best places to eat,sleep,
shop.in zermatt,interlaken,st moritz.also what not
to miss on sightseeing.thanks.

My favorite hideaway in Switzerland is Gimmelwald
in the Jungfrau. It's a tiny hotel perched on the
side of the Alps with a view to die for. It's the perfect
place to take a vacation from your vacation. It is
inexpensive (for Switzerland) with great rooms for
about $80 a night, including breakfast. Walter is
the owner, and his dining room is the only game in
town. When you call for a reservation (a day or
two in advance) you'll need to make reservations for
dinner as well. It's served family style and the
menu is whatever Walter is in the mood to cook.
For more information, check out the travel books on
Switzerland by Rick Steves. He gives the best
information on this spot. Try to fit Gimmelwald into
your travel plans. The beauty of the place will
make you want to yodel.

Don't miss the Interlaken area of Switzerland. My daughter and I spent about 4 days there and it was not enough. A highlight was going to the top of the Jungfrau mountain to the highest rail station in
Europe. The train goes THROUGH two other mountains
to get there. At the top you are actually ON a glacier. There is also a display of all kinds of ice carvings. On the way back down we had a nice alpine hike from Kleine Schidegg to Wengenalp (about 1/2 hour). Loved the meadow we passed through. On the gate was a sign in three languages: Please close the gate! Caught our train back to Interlaken again at Wengenalp.
This trip we want to go up to Gimmelwald (don't confuse it with touristy Grindelwald) as we have heard so much about it. You could also take a gondolo up to the Piz Gloria, a restaurant at the top of the Schilthorn mountain where a James Bond movie was filmed. Forget the name of the movie, but he is chased down the mountain on skis by a host of beautiful, dangerous spy women.
Our boat trip on Lake Thun was gorgeous. We got off at a beautiful castle and took the bus back. This time we want to take a boat ride on the other lake-
Brienz - to the village of Brienz. It's a woodcarvers village - even street signs are squirrels, etc. carved in wood. There is also the Ballenburg Open Air Museum in Brienz, which has historic swiss chalets, etc. from all over the country which were moved here; craft demonstrations, etc.
Interlaken West train station is right across the street from a good Migros grocery store. You'll need to stock up on food if you go to Gimmelwald (no grocery stores in town!).
Interlaken has lots of shops and swiss-army knife stores. Good place to browse in the evenings. You can also watch the hangliders, who left from the top of the Schilthorn, land in a field near the lake!
This is a "don't miss" area of Switzerland. It's called the Berner Oberland, so request info on it from the tourist office before you go for details.
If you're hosteling, Balmer's Herberge in the town is famous!
Have a wonderful time!

Hi, great idea to visit switzerland. I've been living there for more than 19 years. All the others sent you to Interlaken. It's for sure not a place to miss. What I would suppose you to visit is the Engadin. It's the valley of St. Moritz, Silvaplana, Celerina, Samedan and a lot of other beautiful villages. The tree lakes in the middle of the valley are very nice to swim in, surf on or just to enjoy the view. St. Moritz itself is quite expensiv, but if you're staying in the other places it's cheaper.
You really should go there it's a very nice place to stay!!!
Enjoy your trip. Marije

In October, you should be able to find a room in any of the places you mention without worrying about advance reservations. If I were you, I'd just show up, get a hotel list from the tourist office, and see which hotel looks most appealing or is most conveniently located.

Specifics:

St. Moritz is a tourist town and can be very appealing during the summer and winter tourist seasons, when the hotels are filled with people and excitement is in the air. But during October, it's like out-of-season resorts everywhere: i.e., deadly quiet and boring. Save it for another trip.

Zermatt: There's less to do there than you might think. If the weather is decent, you might catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn, and you can hike around the trails in the vicinity. But I don't know that it's worth a special trip at that time of year.

Interlaken and the Junfgrau Region are a better bet. There are lots of things to see in a small area. You can ride mountain railroads and funiculars, take cruises on lake steamers (up until late October, anyway), and head for larger towns like nearby Thun and Bern if the weather turns nasty at higher elevations.

For illustrated travel articles on several of these destinations and topics (including Thun, lake steamers, and the Jungfraujoch Railway), and for annotated links to Swiss tourism sites on the Web, visit "Switzerland for Visitors" at http://goswitzerland.miningco.com. Another site worth visiting is "Travelzine Online," which has a collection of "Travels with Ed & Julie" pages on Switzerland at http://www.qni.com/~enj/zineswiss.htm.

My wife and I stayed in Zermatt the first week of October three years ago and had an absolutely relaxing wonderful time. We hiked for hours on the extensive trails. I don't know what the other previous writer's experience was, but we saw the Matterhorn clearly all week - Zermatt is practically at the base of it. We stayed at the Hotel Malva and really enjoyed it. About $95US which included a wonderful breakfast. I think we were in Room 17 - you can lie on the bed and look up at the Matterhorn. If you want the phone number, email me. We would go to the little grocery store and pack a lunch of grapes, cheese, bread and apples and just hike for 3-5 hours, sometimes catching a ride back down on the ski lift transports. Zermatt is incredibly beautiful and has extensive hiking trails. If you're into nature and gorgeous scenery, don't miss it. Have fun.