gradyghost

Hello su:

You asked about Zurich, but I didn't see much information offered. Try this one:

Piccoli Accademia
Rotwandstrasse 48, Zurich
Phone 044/241-42-02

I began visiting this now great Italian restaurant 30+ years ago and it has graduated. Fabulous. Good luck. Gradyghost

suze

oops, sorry to hog the conversation(!)... anyone to help with Neuchatel, Bern, Wengen, and more on Zurich??

Cicerone

OK here are some reccos for the Engadine. The list is much smaller because I generally do full board at hotels there, as I usually am in the Engadine for skiing or walking; and in any case, usually eat on the mountain and am too tired to venture out much at night for dinner. Also, there are not a lot of free-standing restaurants in the area, most are in hotels. In St Mortiz you can find some, but mostly you will find restaurants to be in hotels (perfectly fine ones, however).

CELERINA

The Cresta Palace Hotel hotel has several good restaurants, including a good Italian restaurant (http://www.crestapalace.ch/default_english.htm). The little town here has some stand-alone restaurants along the main street as well, and some hotel restaurants fronting the main street that would be fine as well I am sure, esp for lunch if you are here during the day. I think Celerina has lots more charm than St Mortiz, by the way, and is flat and easier to get around. Sameden has lots of scraffito buildings and is also worth a stop.

KLOSTERS

I don’t think Klosters is technically in the Engadine, but you can take a train here from the St Mortiz valley easily and it is a very pretty ride. It is just over an hour from Pontresina or St Mortiz to Klosters. There is also a very, very good walk down through the Bever valley near Klosters, which is mostly under and/or in view of the famous Landwasser train viaduct, this walk is about 10 miles. (The part of the train route is the Bernina Express route.) This walk is easy, is mostly on a road and is downhill virtually all the way. You take a train to Filisur, and then walk between Filisur and Davos From Davos, you can then take a train to Klosters in about 25 minutes.

The reason for going to Klosters is to eat at the Chesa Grischuna. It’s in Patricia Schultz’s book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”, and is indeed excellent. I don’t know that you would be welcome in walking clothes in the evening, but for lunch if you get an early start on the walk, casual walking clothes would be fine. (If you do go to Davos, leave some time to go up the Schatzalp Bahn funicular and have a drink in the all-white lobby of Hotel Schatzalp and take in the really divine view. Pretend you are Thomas Mann recovering from TB. I suppose you could eat at the hotel as well if you did not feel like going to Klosters. I have never eaten there, it looks like an OK hotel. They have a little stubli further up the hill that is good for lunch, but its no Chesa Grischuna...)

Chesa Grischuna
12 Bahnoffstrasse
Tel: 81-422-2222
http://www.chesagrischuna.ch/index-english.html

Expensive, even for lunch, but IMO very well worth it. Niether Davos nor Klosters are charming little Swiss ski villages, however, so don’t expect much. The restaurant is not far from the train station it’s a tiny town.

MADULAIN

Tavolino
Hotel Stüva Colani
7523 Madulain
Tel: 81- 854-1771

Maudlin is a tiny village near to Celerina and very close to Zuoz. There are hardly any tourists in the village. This is a very good casual Italian restaurant, there is also a more formal restaurant. It is in a lovely scrafitto building. Its only 15-20 minutes by train from Celerina, Pontresina or St Mortiz. This is a good town to walk to from Pontresina or any of the other towns, its along the valley floor, and there are some great views.

PONTRESINA

Saratz Restaurant
Hotel Saratz
Tel: 81-839-4000
http://www.saratz.ch/

Mediterranean as interpreted with Grabunden flavour. Actually a very good mix. A pretty dining room. Expensive.

Coloani Stubli
Steinbock Hotel
Tel. +41 (0)81 839 36 26
http://www.steinbock-pontresina.ch/

This hotel is the 3-star hotel run by the people who operate the 4-star Walther hotel. The restaurant is a good casual stubli. Moderate price. The more expensive formal restaurant in the Walther is also good. (hotelwalther.ch)

Cafe Puntschella
via Mulin

Moderate price, sandwiches, Swiss specialties plus salads and other fare. Great pastries. Good views.

Chalet Alp Languard

At the top of the Pontresina cable car. Great views. Excellent for lunch (I think they do breakfast as well. ) There is very good walking from here, including the very easy and popular walk to Muottas Muragal, where you can then take a funicular down the mountain. (This can also be done in reverse.) There are several mountain huts on the walking paths up here, many have stupendous views, and those I have been too offer good basic food.

SILS-MARIA

Waldhaus Hotel
http://www.waldhaus-sils.ch/

Very good formal restaurant the Arvenstube. In the summer they serve lunch on the very nice outdoor terrace. This is one of my favourite htoels in Switzerland.

ST MORITZ

Hanselmann
Via Maistra 8
Tel 81-833-38064

Cafe/bakery. Moderate to even inexpensive, good for breakfast or lunch. I don’t think they serve dinner. In a scraffito building.

Any of the restaurants in the Kulm Hotel (http://www.kulmhotel-stmoritz.ch/) are good, the Grand Restaurant and the grill (Rotisserie) are very good, albeit expensive and a jacket and tie are required in the evening at the Grand for sure. The Kulm is an elegant old hotel. The restaurants in the Suvretta house (suvrettahouse.ch) are also good, but unless you have a car, that hotel is a bit outside of town and not really reachable by public transport as far as I know. Suvretta house does operate several good restaurants up on the Corviglia mountain behind the hotel, so you can take the Suvretta charilift up for walks or views from there, any would be worth a stop for lunch, and I believe in summer some are open for dinner as well.



If you find some good restaurants, please post them. I may be in the Engadine for Christmas. FYI, if you like a restaurant, write down the address, or better yet, get their card; every restaurant has a business card, just ask. The comment above about the restaurant in Vevey “on main street, look for lace curtains in the windows” just made me lay down on the floor and howl with laughter...there are about 5 “main streets” in Vevey, and more importantly EVERY self-respecting restaurant in Switzerland has lace curtains....!!!

suze

^

suze

Just got off the phone with Switzerland!

OK- you spell it "salee" with a forward accent over the first E which I do not know how to make on the computer.

She also recommended (as already mentioned above) Hostellerie De Geneve an italian restaurant with rooms on the Place de Marche (main square) in Vevey. She'd put her folks up there when they visited. With the disclaimer that during the summer it can be noisy in the mornings, especially Saturday when the market sets up in the square.

For Montreux Pensione William (on the side away from the train tracks) and Hotel Helvetie were were suggestions.

suspire

Suze, thank you! And thank you to Switzerland for talking with you on the phone!

suze

My pleasure. Her other tip was a local cafe, also right on Place de Marche, called Cep d'Or ("mushroom of gold&quot.

It has a terrace for coffee and pastry, then a dining room, and in the far back a cocktail bar. She said the older women bartenders were real characters, and it's a place you can get a glass of wine any time of day.
suze

mvor

Suze, you're so kind to get us the correct spelling of Salée--now I can search out recipes. Thanks again to you and "Switzerland" for your help and hopefully one day I can repay you both with a glass of crisp Swiss white...and, of course, a tart!

suspire

Suze - I am going to be arriving in Vevey before the rest of my group ... I think I have just figured out where I'll spend my time waiting for them! Cocktail bar with some pastries ... here I come!

suze

the Swiss are a truly brilliant people in their own special ways imo.
;-)

suspire, yup my dear friend was worried since you will be attending the Vevey Market on a day when no wine is being served. hence her creative suggestion of Cep d'Or. She spelled out each & every word & recommendation for me long-distance. whadda gal... enjoy!!!

suspire

Hello again!

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out if the following makes for a reasonable day in Vevey/Montreux:

Start out at 7:30 in the morning at the cheese tart (salee) stand at Tuesday open air market

Take the ~9:00 train Vevey to Chexbres, walk the path back down.

(Where do we end up, and how long does it take?)

Take the funicular Vevey to Mont Pelerin for lunch.

Return to Vevey, head to Chateau de Chillon for 3:30 tour.

Return to Vevey, wander town, find homemade ice cream, have dinner, etc.

Does that sound like a reasonable day, or too much? I'm really stymied about the wine part. Are there wineries along the way where we can stop and taste? We won't be walking the full 32 km, but perhaps 2 to 4 km. What would be a good route? Any tips on where to stop to make that part of the trip go smoothly would be much appreciated!!

swandav2000

Hi suspire,

The route from Chexbres through the vineyards takes about 45 minutes, and it ends in the village of Rivaz. If you have the time, stop at the Auberge de Rivaz for a snack or lunch.

From Rivaz, you can either take the ferry to Vevey or to Chillon, or the local train to Vevey.

Ferry schedules at www.cgn.ch.

There are caves in Chexbres, Rivaz, and in St. Saphorin -- but usually they don't open until about 17.00. Take a look at www.lavaux.ch.

Have fun!

s

jumper22

Re: Wengen, one of my most memorable meals was at The Caprice. I believe it was chicken with morels, which I had never had. The whole thing was dreamy. We topped it off with a late night cocktail out in the lounge.