Help! We will be driving in from Fussen on July 1 and arriving in St. Gallen area of Switz. near Lake Constance for a day of buisness for hubby. Then we have 2 days before we must leave. Where would you go in that brief time with a car?

Hi grebbs,

Sorry, but it's not really relevant where *I* would go -- I would go to Montreux but for mainly personal reasons.

For our advice to be helpful to you, can you tell us what *you* are looking for? Are you looking for quaint mountain villages -- then go to Grindelwald; are you looking for picturesque cities -- then go to Basel or Luzern; are you looking for lakeside resorts -- then go to Interlaken or Thun or Spiez or Vevey or Montreux. Do you want history, scenery, culture??

Topping.

s

Some nice sights are:

Lindau, Romanshorn, Appenzell, Stein am Rhein, Schaffhausen, Insel Mainau.

All are great. Appenzell takes you into a very picturesque country. There's a cute museum in Urnasch.

Hi. If you're flying out of Zurich, I wouldn't try to venture far with only two days. Maybe Rapperswil on Zurich's lake -- beautiful views across to the mountains, and a daytrip to Lucerne? (The train route cutting across from R to L is lovely. J.

I'm no help... like swandav, *I* would hightail it to Montreux and Vevey.

Sorry you're not mind-readers just savvy travellers...would love to see the mountains and enjoy a hike for half a day and not sure if a days trip to Interlochen would allow us to do that. How far by car is it to Interlochen?

If you'll be in the St. Gallen area, consider instead going to the Pontresina/St. Moritz area to see the mountains and hike --plenty to do there and a reasonable drive.

Much closer would be the Höhe Kasten in Appenzell. You can take a cable car up and walk along the top of the mountain chain and then take a nice hike back down. It's beautiful and not far from St. Gallen. That would also offer you a nice drive to Appenzell itself with it's gorgeous countryside and houses.

Here is the hiking route:
Hoher Kasten-Plattenbödeli
Hoher Kasten (restaurant) - Kastensattel - Plattenbödeli 1279 m (restaurant) - (Sämtisersee) - Brülisau 922 m, 2 1/4 hours.

Hi Again grebbs,

Wow, what a great response from schuler! I'd probably take his/her advice if I were you!

But just fyi, you can get route directions & times from sites like www.mappy.com and www.viamichelin.com. Also fyi, the drive from St Gallen to Interlaken is 2h33 (256.4 km), from St Gallen to Luzern is 1h38 (145.2 km), and from St Gallen to St Moritz is 2h17 (140.3 km).

I think if you wanted to go beyond Appenzell, you should check out Luzern, a small city that sits right at the foot of mountains spilling into a group of lakes. You can hike the peaks of Rigi or Pilatus from Luzern; info at www.luzern.org, www.rigi.ch, & www. pilatus.ch. Do a text search here too. Some folks prefer to skip Luzern because it can fill with tourists.

Have fun!

s

Usually I would think it would be a good idea to go to Rapperswil but we are having the Jazz and Blues festival from the 1st to the 3rd of July so it will be full of people (and I mean full)!

Since you have a car and it is summer I would suggest a drive over a mountain pass. You could drive from St Gallen to Glarus and then to Altdorf over the Klausen Pass, this is one of my favourite drives. You could then spend the night at Fluelen or Altdorf, small towns but Fluelen especially is very prettily located. The next day you could take a trip on a boat on the Vierwaldstatter See, the lake that Luzern is on, or drive around the area, it is lovely. You may have time to take a trip upthe Rigi or Pilatus mountains and spend the night in Luzern.

Lynn

Thankyou so much for all this fantastic advice! Interlochen we will save for another time , insted enjoy the closer area and hiking there although my husband is a Blues fan.... thxs again.