My husband and I would like to travel to Switzerland this summer. We would like to stay somewhere where the views are beautiful and where there are some hiking trails. Any suggestions? <BR>

He Eva. My wife and I spent 14 full days walking up and down the Alpine trails last summer. <BR>I have posted in various places earlier. <BR>If you will email me directly, I can tell you what we did. Basically, we got an apartment in Lauterbrunnen and visited everything we had the energy to see around there. Then we went to Saas Grund, near Zermatt, and repeated it. <BR>There are some classics around there that is for sure. So dial me direct at my ginger account and I will tell you what I know. <BR>

Hi Bob. <BR>We were thinking of staying at Wengen but I noticed you stayed at Lauterbrunnen. From the map it is obvious that Lauterbrunnen is at the crossroad of all major destinations. Is this convenience offset by the lack of scenic view or character in the town itself?

My wife and I stayed in Lauterbrunnen because, as Greg surmised, it is indeed a crossroads. From there we could hop on the 7:26 train for Grindelwald and see all of the highlights on the trails from First (a gondola terminus) and other places. We could jump on the early train for the Jungfrau. We could go up Murren, up to Wengen and easily come back in a day. We even took the 7:26 for Luzern and Interlaken and could have done Bern and Kandersteg except we ran out of gas after the 5th day of constant going. (I don't have the stamina I did at 60.) <BR> <BR>We also had a good apartment -- for 2 people who get along well together -- a one bedroom studio with a separate entrance, a patio with chairs, eating area, equipped kitchen, and bath with a shower. Very quiet setting, except for the church bell which was to us pleasent and part of the atmosphere. We shopped the markets and bakeries for food and had a great time doing it. We stayed at Chalet Horner, run by Teresa Staeger who speaks English with a British accent. <BR>(Not too surprising; she was born and raised in London.) The total cost with all taxes was moderate in that we paid a little less than 600 CHF for 7 nights, which today would figure out to about $62 per night. (The building has two larger apartments that are a little more expensive.) <BR> <BR>Murren and Wengen are perched up on the hillside and give good views. But we could see the falls from our place; and, when walking around the town, the mountains up valley were in constant view. I decided against the latter two because once there, you are sort of hemmed in. <BR> <BR>For example, to get to Wengen, you have to ride the cable car lift up to the end station and then take the little train. <BR>Or take the Post Bus to Stechelberg and take that gondola car up the hill. <BR>The Swiss pass is valid as far as Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, so that played a role in the decision, too. <BR>Would I do it again? YOu bet. <BR>And I think I could run myself silly again.

You might wish to consider Triesenberg, halfway up the mountains in Liechtenstein, which is just east of Switzerland and may as well be part of it. Hotel Kulm is marvelous. We had a huge room with a fabulous bathroom on the corner of the hotel with a wrap around deck perched on the side of the mountain, overlooking the river. The rate was well under $100 including expanded continental breakfast (but may be higher in summer, I just don't know). From there, we toured all over Eastern Switzerland, by train, and by car, and it was incredible scenic everywhere.

Staying near the Grindewald are makes for convenient travel either up the gondola that takes you part of the way up and hike the rest or of course hike your way up to the Jung Frau train. For a weekend, however, we spoiled ourselves with a suite at the Hotel Regina (I assume it's still there) for $350/night. You're right in the center of Grindewald/train station, etc. It had two bedrooms/bathrooms, a full living room and a balcony that overlooked the Eiger. We hung out on the balcony one afternoon drinking wine and watching the pink glow of the sunset on the Eiger before heading out to dinner. I was quite happy with that evening.

We too are thinking of going to Switzerland this summer. We want to be able to hike so are looking at OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel). These tours are for people 50 and over. We travelled to Turkey with this company last May and it was great, only small groups 16 max. They offer a 12 day hiking tour of Switzerland. Their phone number is 800 221 0814