travelinow

My husband and I will be in Switzerland late Sept to Early Oct for about 10 days. Besides Einsiedeln (hoping to find family there) and Wengen, we plan to spend 2-3 nights around the Lucern area. Can anyone help with the areas Meggan, Weggis, Kriens, Hergiswil or another area as homebase; and near train or cable car to get around since we won't have a car. Looking for around $125 USD p/nt.

Travelnut

Are you intentionally avoiding Lucerne itself? (since there is a train station there)...
I can recommend Hotel Goldener Stern as a clean budget hotel.
110-150chf/76-105€
www.goldener-stern.ch/hotel_e.htm

swandav2000

Hi travelinow,

A few years ago, I spent four nights in Weggis. The village is absolutely lovely -- small, quaint, and very picturesque. Here's a link to my Weggis photos at webshots:
http://community.webshots.com/myphot...ecurity=nJmnyK

Transportation may be inconvenient though. I was there in November, and the ferries were on a reduced schedule. Other than the ferry, Weggis is linked to Luzern by a bus & train combination as there is no train station in the town itself. On Sunday, my hotel's restaurant was closed for a private celebration, no restaurants in the village were open, and of course no grocery stores were open either. So you can see the inconvenience -- I would check the ferry schedules for Sep (www.lakelucerne.ch) before committing to Weggis.

I think I would choose to stay in the outskirts of town next time. Either Hergiswil or just the edge of town.

Have fun!

s

travelinow

Hi Travelnut,
We want to see Lucern, but thought it would be nicer to stay on the outskirts, maybe cheaper too. We still need to be close to transportation (Wed-Fri, Sept 27-29). I will check out Goldener Stern. Thanks for the info.

jmw44

http://www.hotel-roggerli.ch/

Hi, travelinow. I see that swandav recommends Hergiswil as a possibility, so I'll jump in here to say that my friends stayed in the above hotel and were very pleased with it. Its location is somewhat elevated, but they said that once they checked in, they were shown a shortcut path to walk downhill to the train station. You can check train schedule times and convenience by going to the sbb.ch site (click English), and then try out some destinations. Hergiswil is under 15 minutes from Lucerne's main station. You can ride the lakeboats from Hergiswil's dock, as well. J.

kleeblatt

Hi Travel,

You aren't a Kälin are you? Lots of them come from Einsiedeln. I live 10 min. from there.

Weggis is actually very nice but a bit inconvenient without a car. You have to catch the bus to Küssnacht am Rigi and then take the train from there.

Hergiswil might be better for you but I can't recommend a hotel.

Travelnut

http://www.hotel-roggerli.ch/

That is an oft-recommended hotel in Hergiswil... I don't know it so please do some research before accepting the suggestion.

jmw44

My friends loved eating dinner each night on the terrace with that spectacular view. The website used to include the menu, but it doesn't seem to be available just now. The rooms with the sea-side balconies are very nice, but a bit more expensive than those facing other directions. The hotel website has photographs of the restaurant and the two types of rooms. The only slight inconvenience was the elevated position, which upon arrival, was a bit tricky with luggage. I think they took a taxi, but once checked in, they used the walking path to reach the station and the boat dock for all their daytrips. I cannot say that Hergiswil compares with the more reknowned Weggis and Vitznau, but my friends chose it for the rail connections. Hope you find the perfect place. J.

LarryJ

I too have stayed at the Goldener Stern in Lucerne and liked it very much. I would definitely stay in Lucerne as it is storybook pretty.

Larry J

travelinow

Hi Schuler,

I am so glad you posted; have seen many of your posts here and thought you would have info on the area, but better yet the Kalins. Yes, my grandmother Meinrada Kalin was from Einsiedeln (born 1890) came to USA about 1905. She married Joseph Reichmuth (died 65 yrs ago), he was from from either Oberiberg or Unteriberg. My mom (M. Schmidt) is their daughter who lost contact with relatives once my grandmother died 30 yrs ago; she couldn't write in Swiss. I understand there are some stores in town that are owned by Kalins. We have reservations at the Sonne for our first 2 nights upon arrival in SZ. I would love to hear from you with any possible info that might connect me to the Kalins just to see where my grandmother was from. I haven't done to much research yet, but nothing has panned out either. I just need to get all my reservations first! Please email me [email protected]

travelinow

Thank you all for the info. I will check out all the suggestions, was hoping to hear from SloJan too. Wish I had more time to spend in SZ, but we have planned a 12 day cruise to Italy and Greece. Any suggestions of good cruise ships, comparable to Princess (for 7 day Med cruise?