whitey

Hi,
With everyone's great help, I have my Swiss itinerary pretty well set, I will summarize or see here for detail http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...en_name=whitey
In a nutshell, a driving tour with stops to: Lake Geneva - Montreux or Vevey, Berner Oberland - Wengen, Engadin -Pontresina or nearby, and Italian lakes -Varenna, Ascona. My two time windows now are May 20 - June 3, or June 10 -June 24. I would appreciate the help if anyone has visited these areas during these times and has some insight.
Thanks, Whitey

FainaAgain

I was in Switzerland on a tour last 10 days of May 2005 - it was snowing in Murren and raining in Interlaken.

Of course, I'd never pass an opportunity to visit the country any time of the year, but in my opinion, June's weather should be better.

But: there is another thing to consider - May is still off-season, so the prices (and the crowds) will go up in June.

This is one tough decision

bob_brown

I was in Switzerland last year in mid to late June. The weather was unusually hot - like 90 degrees in lower areas.
I thought it a good time to be there.
There was still snow on the high passes, but the roads were open.

I never thought it a bargain to pay lower prices to experience lousy conditions.

Rain, however, can come any time.

Edward2005

I was in CH May 24-June 3 and had perfect weather, as my picture will attest. Just one day of rain.

http://spaces.msn.com/members/goflah...mp;_c=blogpart

Ingo

No doubt, June is better for the mountains. In late May villages can still be almost shut down, many hotels/restaurants may be closed and many cable cars not running yet.

LLindaC

We were there June 18 last year and noticed that the only groups of tourists were USA students and Japanese groups (lots of cameras) Most of the European tourists show up in July, evidently. If you go in May, the US kids would be in school. Still, we never thought anything was overly tourist-infested at that time.

whitey

Thanks for the input everyone. Ed, Wow, great pics - it looks like you had fabulous weather! At this point I'm leaning toward going in June, the only thing holding me up is the airfare. May19 -June3 is $1860 for the three of us. June 13 -25 is $2561. I'll just have to keep looking..
Whitey

Edward2005

whitey, the air fare difference is typical. End of May marks the beginning of the main summer travel season so fares go up. I had also debated whether to go in mid-June, but the $350 difference in air fare made the decision easy.

whitey

I got fed up with June airfare, and I just booked myself, my wife and daughter for $1642 total, Sept 9 - Sept 23, Boston to Paris. I can keep my itinerary the same, but with the money I saved, I can stay in nicer hotels!