Ok, I have asked for help on a previous post concerning my itinerary, and I have researched lots of places; however, I still can't decide on which two cities/towns in Switzerland to visit during my five-week first-ever trip to Europe in October.

I have narrowed my list down to Interlaken, Zermatt, Montreux, and Lucern. I am looking for a place with that Swiss charm and natural beauty, yet still has things to do, like cafes, but is not too touristy. I'll hike a few hours each day, but not a lot. Also, I'm not into ice sports (I'm from Florida).

If anyone has visited one or more of these four places, please elaborate and indicate where you would visit if this was your first time.

Thanks much ;-)

I have visited Montreux/Vevey five times in the past ten years (I have friends who live there). But I haven't been to any of the other places to make a comparison.

Montreux is not stereotypical "Swiss charm" IMO, it's not up in mountain, with cows, goats, or chalets -LOL. But it is amazingly beautiful, with a unique setting on a small peninsula on Lac Leman.

It is in the French-speaking part of the country, which is reflected in both the people and the food. While I know many people visit from all over the world, it does not have a "touristy" feel to it. But it is a busy little city. There's good day hiking by taking the tram Roche de Nayes up the mountainside from the train station. Or walking on the flat along the lakeside promonade, is incredible, and you can go a long ways. Walk out to the Chateux de Chillon is not far either. There are also walks in the vineyards nearby in the canton of Vaud.

Hope this helps. Bonne chance.

Zermatt, Montreux, Interlaken, and Luzern are all touristy. They are fine places to visit (I haven't been to Zermatt) but they do not match your criteria of "not too touristy."

First, you don't need to do both Zermatt and the Berner Oberland. Pick one region to get your mountain fix and focus on it. If you want to avoid excessive tourism, then from what I've read the Zermatt area may not be it. However, there are some low-tourism places in the Oberland that are great. Murren and Gimmelwald are great little towns not nearly as overrun with tourists as Interlaken or Zermatt.

Weggis is on the same lake as Luzern. In fact, it's just a couple of boat stops down, in the shadow of Mt. Rigi. It's a fine low-tourism alternative to Luzern. But I really like Luzern, too. Lots of fun night life, a great bus system, neat transportation museum, and a casino.

Hi Again rocklit,

Well, I've been to all the places you named, and here are my thoughts:

Montreux (like suze, I've visited there a lot, but for purely personal reasons, not for Swiss charm or mountain views) has great lakeviews and the cafe society you want but lacks that chalet-style charm. Montreux is a city of about 25,000 folks, and of course is in the French section so most design elements are Belle Epoque, not chalet-charming. Montreux is about two hours from the mountains, though you can see them clearly and gloriously across the lake.

Interlaken is pretty much a city with traffic and modern architecture, and it sits in a valley, so all your views will be UPhill -- you'll have to ride 20 or 30 minutes to get to the charming villages. Wengen, Muerren, or Grindelwald will give you the charm and the views, but you'll lack that cafe society.

Luzern is a beautiful place, but again it's pretty much a city with all the traffic and modern architecture that it implies. It does have charming sections though -- and of course it'll have the views and the cafe society.

Zermatt is charming, has views, and I think has enough going at night to keep you happy. But I wasn't bowled over by it -- it does have the brown-chalet architecture, but it's really over-built (I've heard it called the Manhattan of the mountains).

So -- to make matters worse, I'd like to suggest another place: Gstaad (www.gstaad.ch), between Montreux and Interlaken. Gstaad sits at the extreme western edge of the Berner Oberland, so it has wide, sweeping views (no jagged peaks, unfortunately, but great mountains nevertheless). Gstaad has a pedestrian-only center, and its architecture is brown-wood chalet. It also has a nice cafe-society feel, courtesy of its jet-set residents like Elizabeth Taylor and Roger Moore. Of course, it's a bit expensive, but there are some reasonable 2- and 3-star hotels. There are also dozens of walks and hikes you can take from there. I spent last Christmas there, and I thought it was lovely.

I think your best bets will be either Zermatt or Gstaad. Take a look at www.webshots.com and do a photo search for each place to get more of an idea what each is like. We can probably help you find lodging once you narrow down your choice.

Have fun deciding. Of course, I think you can't go wrong; you'll love it wherever you end up.

s

Interlaken is touristy, and I can't say there is any charm, leave alone Swiss charm.

Yes, lots of tourists in Zermatt, but mostly on the main street. I'd stay there again. Compact village with 2 train lines.

Lucern - spent only several hours there, loved this place! River, lake, mountains, shopping, restaurants, hiking - it has it all.

Lucerne is beautiful - nice situatin , lots to do in the town, good day trips etc - but it is a good sized town - not a small village. So you would have to go to the outskirts for any sort of hiking.

As for ice sports - the only ice sports you will find in Oct is on the glaciers at the top of the mountains - it's too warm everywhere else - not ski season yet.

Thanks so much for elaborating on your picks. I appreciate it.

Swandav, exquisite details ;-)

I'm certain that Luzern will be one of my pics, based on what I have researched and due to the feedback I have received. As for the other town, even though I have doubts, there is something about Gimmelwald that keeps pulling me to it. I guess I could stay in Murren and go through Gimmelwald. From what others have mentioned, it's the same area.

In my blog (AKA) trip report, I have some photos from the Berner Oberland (we stayed in Grindelwald and loved it as a base). Skip past the Germany and Alsace portion of the report. The Switzerland part is next (also stayed in Montreux). The scenery is fantastic in Berner Oberland. It takes about 30 seconds for all the photos to load.

http://travelswithmaitaitom.typepad.com/travels/

I think the most charming Swiss towns are those high up in the mountains. The most authentic ones I've reached were via hiking trails. Villages with one medieval church, a few homes and one or two cafes. The ones that are reached only through the post-vans (not big enough to be regular-sized buses because those are too-large to make the hairpin turns up and down the mountains). My favorites: Osco and Anzonico, in the Ticino region.

Aschie has hit on what floats my boat. I've been to all the towns you named, but by choice I have stayed in a neighboring village that indeed did give me more a feeling of the "real Switzerland," whatever you perceive it to be.

My suggestion is to segregate Switzerland into several areas based on your choice (language is one, topography another) and then find a small village near one of the well-known "touristy" towns such as those you named. You will like it a lot more, I Guarantee..

What about staying for two nights in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, venturing up the mountains during the days, visiting the towns like Gimmelwald, and then leaving and staying in Luzern for two nights?

Maitaitom, your photos and journal are awesome - I bookmarked it! The part about the guy contemplating jumping is hilarious - I would have had the same kind of internal dialogue as you had

Your photos are so clear and perfect. What kind of camera did you use? Also, you mentioned the tramway being expensive - what is the tramway? Are the cable car rides expensive?

Thanks much.

Thanks for the nice comments. Although I usually shoot digital here, my digital camera is pretty large, so I took my little Olympus 35mm that shoots film and can fit in my pocket.

When I returned I got both prints and a CD with all my photos. I then put them into I Photo on my MAC to crop. I was so happy with them, that I think I am going to bring the same camera, although there is a Canon 1S2S digital camera that looks pretty cool to buy.

Switzerland put a dent in my pocketbook. Tram rides and the trip to the Jungfrau are not cheap, but they are well worth the expense. If you leave real early to the Jungfrau and return before noon, you get a steep (pun intended) discount). There are Switzerland experts on the board who can probably tell you how to get a cheaper price on some of the trams (combo ticket, maybe).

The tram from Grindelwald to Mannlichen is great and so is the one that goes from Lauterbrunn (sp) Valley to Murren. The first part of that journey is where it seemed like we were going straight up. Adrenaline rush, for sure!

Also good is tram from Grindelwald to First (try that bad Abbott and Costello pun there. the cows love it). Have a great trip.

Keep in mind many hotels in alpine villages and some mountain excursions are closed in October. You'll want to do some research so you're not disappointed. For instance, there's only one hotel open year round in Murren - Hotel Alpenruh.

I've been to all the places you mentioned, although I don't remember much about Montreaux (too long ago). Interlaken would never be my choice as a place to stay, and I'm not as enamored of Luzern as other posters on this board, but I'm not a city person.

To me, Swiss charm and natural beauty = alpine villages.

I feel that the BO and Zermatt are both good places to visit as they're both spectacular in their own right, but if you only have time for one, I'd choose the BO - more options.

Personally, I love to visit Zermatt in the off season. We made the mistake of visiting Zermatt during the summer season one year and it was a mob scene.

Have fun.

I just returned from Switzerland and I will post a report and my photos, but that's going to take me a week or so. You asked about staying a couple of nights each in Luzurn and in the Lauterbrunnen valley and I think that would be good. Luzurn is a small city, but has fabulous medieval (and later) architecture, beautaiful bridge over the river,and a lake. The old town section (which is all you ever need see, as the train station is right there) is beautiful. There are mountain views in the distance. There is a section of the old town walls (ramparts) that you can climb for great views of the town the countryside. Lots of cafes.

For the Berner Oberland stay, I actually liked the town of Lauterbrunnen though most people stay up higher in one of the mountain towns like Murren or Wengen. Both of those are beautiful and have a selection of hotels and restaurants. Lauterbrunnen is the furthest you can drive to so you need to take trains/funiculars to get to the other towns. I didn't like Grindelwald, seemed like nothing but hotels and postcard shops. And Gimmelwald is really very very small. One hotel and one youth hostel (both of which are full of Rick Steves followers, not that there's anything wrong with that). But there is certainly nothing to do there other than hike. The hike from Murren to Gimmelwald is beautiful, downhill, and only about a half hour. Wengen is slightly bigge than Murren, but still just a tiny village. When someone came up with the expression "tidy as a Swiss Village" - they were thinking of Wengen.

isabel, what a nice description. I can't wait for your trip report and photographs. Welcome back. J.

We stayed in Lucerne in 2003, during our trek from Amsterdam to Zurich. Took the lake cruise as far as Weggis and had a look around... very quiet small town overlooking the lake, sound of cow bells drifting down the mountain. There was a chair-lift but we didn't spend time doing it (did one in Boppard a few days before)...

Lucerne is a very picturesque town (not a tiny one, though) situated on a river and lake, ringed by mountains (not high Alps but peaks nonetheless), and has an interesting old center.

We stayed at a plain-but-clean hotel called the Goldener Stern (<b>http://www.goldener-stern.ch/hotel_e.htm</b
about 1 block behind the Jesuit Church on the other side of the river, and near the other wooden bridge. Our twin/dbl was about $90, including some breakfast. It is across from a small church whose bells ring a couple times an hour. My husband thought it bothered him, but now he says he'd go back to same hotel should we revisit.
We stayed there during October, left our window ajar for coolness and were not bothered unduly by traffic. Very plain rooms but clean and serviceable. They run a restaurant on the ground floor, where breakfast is served. Didn't eat dinner there but I'm sure it would be good. Breakfast was breads, juice, coffee...maybe cheeses and cereal.
We walked to the hotel from the train station - it's about 800 meters or 1/2 a mile. We easily walked to the old town area, up along the Museggwall, and all the way over to the Lion Monument. Lucerne is quite compact and good for walking.

Our photos from this trip (Amsterdam, Germany, Basel/Lucerne/Zurich) can be viewed here, if you are interested:

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=ch4vgx4...0&amp;y=75r72h

(no need to 'sign in' - just click on the picture, then &quot;(1 album)&quot; so you can skip down the thumbnails to find Lucerne...)