Picking a destination

Switzerland is wonderful, especially for outdoor types. There are mountain trails, and experiences throughout the country, as well as quick rail acess to Northern Italy and Germany.

Rick did a show back a ways about Switzerland, I think, and you might want to check it out.

My very favorite city is Lucerne. Absolutely beautiful with a lot of sites to see and experience. Plus, great food and good wine.

Enjoy!

From a purely cost perspective, both countries are among the more expensive in Europe. But if you have place to stay in Switzerland for free, that can significantly reduce your costs. Prepare for sticker shock, however, when you order your first bowl of fondue, or plate of raclette.

"We already plan to learn some French and German" Don't bother with the German. "Schweizerdeutsch" is almost completely incomprehensible to standard German speakers. I speak very little German, but even when I traveled with someone who was fluent in standard German, she at first thought it was Norwegian when she heard it over the radio. On the other hand, there's little difference between standard French and the Swiss dialects.

Kimberly,
I have been to both countries. I vote for Switzerland any time of the year! Bern is my favorite city as well. It is a very expensive country to visit and you are lucky to have a great home base where you can stay for free. I traveled by train to Basel, Zurich and Lucerne, maybe 2 to 3 hours away at the most. Don't miss the Chagall windows in the Fraumunster church in Zurich, my highlight of the country. So many things to see in Switzerland, so do your homework if you choose it over Ireland.

Happy Travels!

Sticker shock over a pot of fondue? Ha! My husband almost had a heart attack and I was back to cooking for the whole week we were there! Fortunately the chalet we stayed in had both a raclette and a fondue pot for us to borrow, so we could eat traditional meals without losing our life savings! We also enjoyed trying their frozen dinners (alpin macaroni and such). But hey, add a bottle of Swiss wine and you won't even remember doing the dishes.

Switzerland will forever be the land of the 26 franc club sandwich for the husband!

http://greetingsfrommattandlaura.blogspot.com/2009/01/food.html

For an Alpine experience without the high elevations (or high prices) of Switzerland, go to the Oberallgäu in Germany. That's the region in the SW corner of Bavaria, against the Alps, just up from Bodensee. There has been some recent discussion on this site.

Oberstdorf is a major ski resort in that area. It's only at 2200', but the mountains around it go up almost 6000', more than any ski area in this country. I know of Germans who go there for 3 weeks every years, just to hike in the Alps.

Bern is a really nice place. I rhink you have a good plan and Switzerland is so central that if you wanted to go to another country it's easy. There are so many places in Switzerland that are nice to see.

I totally recommend going to Lucerne - it was so pretty and a nice town.

Also try to go to Zermatt where you can see the Matterhorn but make sure you stay a few days - sometimes there are so many clouds you can't see the Matterhorn. It was such a quaint nice town and very pretty.

It was interesting that in one area of Switzerland - Italian was the spoken language, and in another it's French and another it's German although different from what is spoken in Germany.

We decided several years ago that Austria is like Switzerland at about half the price. That was before the euro conversion but it is still less expensive and the scenery is just as spectacular. We have particulary liked the Stubaital and Zillertal valleys.

Kimberly,

A few comments to add to the mix. First of all, you mentioned "7 countries in 14 days", but you didn't really specify the length of your trip? If it's long enough, you might be able to visit both Ireland and Switzerland?

Also, it would help to have some idea of what kind of budget you're working with? If you're on a really tight budget, having free lodgings in Bern will certainly be an important factor.

Like many of the others, I also tend to "lean" towards recommending Switzerland. One of the big advantages is that you will have the option of taking short trips into Germany, Italy or France which will probably make the trip that much more interesting.

As you've noted, Switzerland is somewhat "linguistically diverse". I believe Bern is in the German-speaking section, so learning "some French and German" may not be much benefit. Also, the German spoken in Switzerland is a bit different than that of Germany, which is the version that will probably be taught here. You'll probably find (as most of us have), that learning a few of the common polite words (please, thank you, etc.) will be adequate. The Europeans are very clever with languages and English is very common (although you may encounter a few situations where no one speaks English).

Be sure to schedule some time to visit the beautiful Berner Oberland and Gimmewald while in that area (it's a big favourite with many here). If you spend a night or two there, you'll be able to do some hiking, perhaps some Paragliding and take the Cable Cars to the top of the Schilthorn (a bit pricey but a great view!).

With a bit more information on your plans, it would be easier to make more specific suggestions.

Cheers!

Thanks all. We plan on being there 12-14 days, which is why we want to stay in one general location and take a couple side trips. I haven't figured out my whole itinerary, but I know for sure I want to hit Montreux and probably some time in the Interlaken area.

One other thing I'm trying to figure out is where to fly into. The cheapest airfare is to fly into Paris. Second to that would be Frankfurt. I've always wanted to see "Mad" King Ludwig's castles, so I thought about flying into Frankfurt, doing a few days in Germany, and then train to Bern. Then maybe flying out of Geneva? It seems like a feasible plan, but I just started studying train routes, so advice would be good there. I just started looking into the open-jaw flights after reading stuff here. It's not bad to fly into Paris and out of Zurich either; going that route we'd probably spend a few days in the south of France before hitting Bern.

This all gets so confusing, because there is so much we'd like to do...but we don't want to kill ourselves trying. Plus, we're pretty inexperienced. So the free lodging in Bern, and the fact that Switzerland ranks as a pretty safe place to visit have made it attractive. We know it's expensive; my cousin said to estimate $100 a day, not including trains or lodging. We're planning early, so our budget is pretty open. We're not wealthy, but with the time we've got to save, we can get a pretty healthy travel budget built up.

I'm getting really wordy again, sorry. I fully intend to do an RS phone consult too, but would like some basic advice so I have some itinerary to start with. Thanks!!

Kimberly,

As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door to begin with. That will provide a lot of information on things like Itinerary planning and especially rail skills.

Don't spend too much time working on train schedules yet. You need to work out your flight arrangements first, so that you know which cities you'll be flying into and returning home from. Just for your information, there's a train departing Munich at 07:12, arriving Interlaken Ost (east) at 13:57 (6H45M, reservations compulsory, changes in Zurich and Bern, runs daily). I used an arbitrary date of Apr. 30 to check that route.

I don't know what flights are available from your area, but given the information in your last post you might consider flying into Munich and home from (perhaps) Zurich. You can spend a few days in Munich, get over jet lag, visit the Castles and then head into Switzerland. Interlaken is the "gateway" to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, so it's good to hear that you plan on stopping there.

When you're planning your Itinerary, keep in mind that you'll normally arrive in Europe the day after you depart, so you'll actually have 13 days for touring. On the trip home you'll normally arrive the same day you departed Europe. This depends to some extent on the timing of flights, but that's generally true in most cases.

Cheers!

Kimberly

I have been to Switzerland twice and once to Ireland. Both are great places. Switzerland slightly more expensive than Ireland, but both pricy. Having free accommodation makes a difference. As some have said, Lucerne is a lovely town in a beautiful setting. Spent an enjoyable week in Lugano, but that is a long way from Berne. If you decide to fly out of Geneva, I would not spend any time there. We found it a cold (not temperature), unispiring place. It may be because there are so many international agencies no one actually "lives" there. Lake Geneva (or Limon) is beautiful and you can see it from Montreux. Be sure to visit Chillon Castle and take a bot trip on the lake.

This as a tongue-in-cheek aside:
We Austrians like to say that Swiss (German) is not a language, but a throat disorder,
and that Switzerland is not really a country, but a business with its own flag and stamp.
On the other hand, the Swiss are quite fond of saying that Austria is really already part of the Balkans, and that our laissez-faire attitude is proof of it ;-))

Switzerland IS terribly expensive, there are no two ways about it! As much as I love it, I have been staying far away from it, because of that reason.

Corinna,

I enjoyed reading your observations on the "linguistic differences" between the two variations of German - LOL! As I don't speak either version, I'm sure I wouldn't know one from the other.

Regarding the costs in Switzerland, it is expensive but the "Celtic Tiger" economy in Ireland can also be a bit pricey. I'm not sure how the current world "economic difficulties" have affected either country?

Despite the cost factor I will hopefully be making a short return visit to Locarno this spring (really looking forward to it!).

Cheers!

"We Austrians like to say that Swiss (German) is not a language, but a throat disorder". Funny, people also say the same thing about Dutch.

Hello Kimberly. If you will be over there a total of 12 days, and if you decide to go to Switzerland, I recommend going to Switzerland only, if you can afford to travel in Switzerland. You mentioned places in Switzerland that you want to go to : Bern, Montreux, Interlaken area (Lauterbrunnen valley and Gimmelwald and Murren and Wengen), and I guess you will go to Lucern which was recommended to you. If you go to Montreux, you will also want to go to Laussanne (at the north side of Lake Geneva). And there is the walled medieval town Murten, and the small French town Gruyeres, and Locarno at the north end of Lake Maggiore is a good town. And Rick Steves recommends going to Appenzel in eastern Switzerland. If you read the books "Rick Steves' SWITZERLAND" and the Lonely Planet book "SWITZERLAND", you will see that Switzerland has enough places to keep you busy for 12 days, or 14 days. I am aware that people going on their first trip to Europe desire to go to more than one country. But, in a first trip to Europe, travelling to more than one country can be complicated and confusing. Just fly to and from Zurich. In Switzerland you can experience three cultures : Germanic, French, Italian. There are many friendly and wonderful people in Switzerland, and many of them can talk in the English language. In your next trip across the Atlantic Ocean, you could go to England and Ireland. If you attend classes for learning to speak some German, that will be helpful for you when you are in Switzerland. Swiss people can understand American people talking in standard German. And in Switzerland you will see many German words. The official written language of the government in Switzerland is German.

Bonjour Kimberly,
A comment to follow Ron's post....French is also very helpful for the western region of Switzerland...Montreux, Vevey, Lausanne although many people do speak some English.
I think a Switzerland only trip would be wonderful too--there's so much to see there and the people are wonderful! (I'll be flying into Zürich in May and taking the train immediately to Maienfeld, a beautiful little town just north of Chur.)

Kimberly : if a traveler will be at Europe 14 days, I think going to two countries can be good. You could fly to Zurich, and when you leave Switzerland go (in trains) to Fussen in southern Germany for you to visit Neuschwanstein (castle of King Ludwig 2). I recommend being in a hotel in Fussen two nights. That would give you one whole day for visiting both of King Ludwig's castles, and riding in a cable gondola up the Tegelburg mountain (it is near Neuschwanstein) for a good view of Bavaria. Fly from Munich to the U.S.A. Read about Fussen and Munich in the book "Rick Steves' GERMANY".

I think you would be happy either way. A local connection is always a nice way to learn about the culture and meet people. I would probably go to Switzerland.

As has been said even people who think Europe is expensive are surprised at how expensive Switzerland is.

Ireland didn't used to be so bad but it has earned a reputation as an expensive destination now.

As far as language goes. It always pays to learn some polite terms: please, thank you, hello, good bye, excuse me, Mr., Mrs., and recognize some basic vocabulary that you will see on signs and menus.

In Switzerland most people will understand your English and German even if you can't understand theirs. I don't speak any French so I can't comment on that but I find German gets different as you go South just like English (or American?) changes in our South vs North.