Frommers lists the best of these as Appenzall, Wengen, Sion, Andermatt and Morcote. We're trying to choose a place to go to after Lucerne and Innsbruck; maybe in place of Innsbruck. During the summer. We just want something charming and picturesque. Photography, shopping, eating, walking. Any thoughts?

Sue

Andermatt? That's not a quaint Swiss town. I'd personally skip Andermatt. Appenzell is very quaint. Morcote is very quaint. Wengen is very nice because of the views. Haven't really been to Sion, just through it.

There are so many quaint villages all over Switzerland. Wallis has beautiful wooden chalet villages. Engadin has beautiful white houses with arched doorways and small windows. Tessin has some beautiful villages back in it's valleys. Emmental has some great small farming villages where you feel like you've stepped back in time.

For the ultimate "quaint" village, I'd go to the Ballenberg open air museum. You can walk through the beautiful old houses and see how people lived 100 years ago.

Evolene in Valais. It's lovely...

www.evolene.ch

Hi sjde53,

The villages you list are really very different -- in the mountains in the German area to an Italianate one on a lake. So, first, perhaps you should try to decide what kind of ambiance you want. After Luzern & Innsbruck, do you want more mountains & German atmosphere, or do you want to change it up with Italian or French atmosphere? More mountains, or rolling hills or lakes?

And also, it doesn't help that there are dozens (hundreds??) of beautiful villages that are charming & picturesque.

My favorites are Villeneuve on Lake Geneva and Gstaad/Saanen on the edges of the Berner Oberland. Others I liked are Guarda in the eastern section, Weggis near Luzern, and Brig (though a town, not a village) near Zermatt. Spiez is also worth a look.

Good luck!

s

Funny, I've never heard Sion mentioned as a destination. I know the name only because it's a main train transfer point. But maybe I'm missing something (been known to happen!).

We loved our week in Mürren in the Berner Oberland. Its a lovely car-free village. You take a cable car up to a nearby train station to get there.

It is a wonderful place to enjoy the scenery and you can get to other towns quite easily by train and cable car. It is the departure point for the Schilthorn and is a great base if you want to do any hiking or walking the Alps. Don't expect many quaint shops but there are a number of good restaurants with traditional Swiss menus (i.e. fondue and lots of cheese and potato dishes).

Views of the Jungfrau mountain are absolutely breathtaking from this village.

Appenzell may be quaint but when I was there I didn't find a whole lot to do IN the town itself.

I found more of interest in nearby St. Gallen and along the lake (Constance).

I agree with Swanday..wait here long enough and you'll hear about oodles of villages that people liked.

Other than the BO beauties my tendency would be to steer you toward a place along Lake Leman...but then again theres the Engadine...good luck.

Stein am Rhein.

Zug. It is on a lake close to Lucerne and a 30 minute train ride to Zurich. Has everything you are wanting such as good shopping, eating, walking and is very charming and picturesque.

Recommend Hall in Tirol instead of Innsbruck. Much nicer Old Town. Check out www.hallintirol.at.

Also, last year we stopped in Murren on the way up to Schilthorn. The views from there are beautiful. Also enjoyed the time we spent in Spiez on Lake Thun.

A place we passed by but would love to visit on our next trip is Lungernsee (Lake Lungern). Don't know much about the town of Lungern, though.

Our favourite village is Brienz on Lake Brienz. It has some lovely old chalets dating back several hundred years,overlooks a aquamarine lake, to the Giessbach Falls. Behind it stands the Rothorn mountain with its steam rack railway trundling to the top.
Boats including a paddle steamer ply the lake visiting all the villages dotted around the lake, on the way to Interlaken. Restaurants line the promenade along the lake with their outside terraces. And the locals are friendly and helpful. All this surrounded by towering mountains - what more could you want?

Sion is defnitely not a "small village". It is the capital of Wallis/Valais and as such, quite a busy town with lots of traffic. I think it is worth visiting too, esp. because of the two fortresses on the riocky outcrops above the city and the excellent wine growing around it. Just don't expect something like Mürren.
Grimentz on the other side, in a side valley to the south, fits the description perfectly.

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We're just back from a week in Wengen--a great place if hiking and scenery are what you're after. We stayed at the Alpenrose. Murren would be my second choice.