swanny65

Thanks for those names, Sue. I appreciate it.
Another quick question to the Fodors gang. (Maybe I should start a new thread, but I'm here now.) With 14 nights left to divide between Wengen, Lucerne and Basel, how would you do it? I was going with 5, 5 and 4, but I'm now wondering if I should lengthen my nights in Wengen to 6 and trim from Lucerne or Basel. Thoughts?

PalenQ

I think 5 days is plenty for Wengen and 5 too much for many for the other two- maybe chose another base?

Or stay in Interlaken a few days and do boat trips on either or both lakes bookending Interlaken- could do from Wengen but about 40 minutes each way down. And Interlaken is a nice town too once you get off the beaten path.

neckervd

SBB SITE, OEBB SITE, DB SITE?
For Western European timetables (not for fares), they give all more or less the same information.
For fares, very local buses or traffic informations (closed lines, delayed trains,strikes, etc.) it's bst to go to the national timetables.

Melnq8

I think your 5, 5, 4 night itinerary is a good allocation of time (five nights is only four full days after all), but I'm one of those people who never runs out of things to do and I personally prefer longer stays with day trips vs moving from hotel to hotel. If anything, and it were me, I'd reduce the number of nights in Basel, but I'm not a city person so take that with a grain of salt.

There are just so many day trips one can take from all of these places. If you have trouble filling your time in Basel for instance, you could always head to Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany.

PalenQ

And from Basel, Colmar France (Alsace Wine Center and nice old town) and fabulous Strasbourg are short train trips away.

kja

I don't think any of us can answer that question meaningful -- I think you need to decide what you want to see and do, including what day trips you want to take! For a first visit and assuming you want to cover the places most commonly considered highlights of each, I can't imagine that you would want to trim your time in Wengen -- but I could be wrong! The problem for me is that you've already told us that you prefer using bases, and you have so very many options for day trips from each of these locations!

PalenQ

She is thinking of adding not trimming time in Wengen.

PalenQ

From Wengen there are not that many different day trips - again I suggest maybe staying in Interlaken which has some really cute areas and do day trips on the lakes or perhaps the fantastic Three Pass Postal Bus excursion from Meiringen and going to say the William Tell Playhouse at night or the casino to replenish dwindling trip funds, etc.

I am the exception here but I really love Intertlaken and you really have to stay there and explore its many neat areas to appreciate it. One of Fodor's veteran contributors recently posted that she did just that - stayed several days up in Wengen and then some in Interlaken too, using it as a base.

PalenQ

Zermatt 5-7 days - hope you're into lots of hiking - Zermatt too far up in hills for easy day trips out if foul weather sets in - in nice weather take train and bus to Saas-Fee another swell Alpine resort without the mobs of foreign tourists Zermatt attrats just because of the Matterhorn.

I'd maybe also stay in the Crans-Montana area as a base - lots more day trips besides Alps - like Sion and its neat old castles.

swanny65

More great advice. Thanks, everyone!
The little research I've done on each of my stops so far seems to suggest there are a good number of hikes either on foot right from each town or a cable-car away, so I'm hoping I won't feel the need to do bus or train trips every day.
This trip will be an experiment to see how it feels to settle into a place for at least five nights per stop. I know it will mean sacrificing seeing some towns, but I'm hoping it'll bring its own rewards, like taking the pressure off and enjoying some quiet moments. It will follow a 16-day trek around Mont Blanc, so I think we'll be ready to slow down a bit.
As always, I'm very grateful for all your comments and feedback. Thanks so much.

PalenQ

Ok after that Mt Blanc trek you may need some urban walks!

neckervd

....or some walks in the nature without crowds!

PalenQ

Even in places like B O you can take walks in nature without crowds. Like when we walked down from Kleine Scheidegg to Meiringen -lovely walk - we saw few others.

neckervd

.....may be from GROSSE Scheidegg (literally translated: big watershed) via Rosenlaui and Reichenbach Falls.

PalenQ

Yes and that was a gorgeous walk not featuring awesome glacier-girdled mountains but a morfe pastoral landscape like OP wants - and Reichenbach Falls is so so neat. Grindelwald bus I believes goes over this route so can return to Grindelwald by bus. Actually the Meiringen/Innerkirchen area has lots of similar walks not inundated by others who stick to the more famous treks.