Ric and I are shifting our plans from mostly revisiting favorite places with new locations sprinkled in to more discovery of new-to-us locations with maybe a fave or two on day trips. Places we do not want to go as we’ve been so many times, the Lauterbrunnen Area/Great Jungfrau Region, and the Val Gardena (which isn’t served by train anyway).
We are looking at fall, mid-Sept to late October, 6-ish weeks with 2 weeks in each of three places. Our criteria are
- Town or village directly served by train
- No car rental if possible, but may be open to a short rental period if inspired
- Suitable activities and day trips within 60 to 90 minutes
- Easy walks and hikes, flat to undulating, no more than 500 feet of gain, no rocky surfaces (the realities of aging)
Under consideration, and this is where I need guidance, are
- Samedan in the Engadine. We’ve stayed in Pontresina twice but not explored much beyond the immediate area and a bit of St. Moritz. I see reasonable (for CH) rentals, lots of walking potential
- Somewhere outside of Basil, Switzerland. Mulhouse? A small German town? Suburban to Basel? We want to use the area as a base to go to Alsace (spent a week in Colmar once), Freiburg, Neuchatel and more in CH.
- Lucca as a base for parts of Tuscany, the coast, maybe a foray into Liguria
What other locations might you recommend from personal experience? Are these good locations given our criteria? I love to be in Italian speaking locations which is part of the draw of Samedan and Lucca.
Not planning for the UK nor Ireland as we’ll be there in the spring.