spring trip to paris gimmelwald and italy

Fran, this sounds more manageable. My only observation (not criticism) is that you will not see much of Rome at all.

It looks good. I just hope that you are flying into Paris and out of Rome. I would offer a hint that you really don't need 6 days in Florence unless you are day-tripping out. We were there 6 days and saw every museum and every sight in 3 days. Everything is so close in the historic area, you just walk from one sight to the other in 10-15 minutes. For the other three days, we both took a 1-day Tuscan cooking class and day-tripped to Assisi 1-day and Siena 1-day. If you don't plan on day-tripping, you really don't need 6 days in Florence. Also, there's a great train from Paris to Bern. From there you can transition Gimmelwald. Note that you may need to take a bus from the Lauterbrunnen train station to Schtechelberg (about 5 miles) to pick up the gondola to Gimmelwald.

I would say I have to agree with Larry about Florence. I would suggest taking a day or two away from Florence and adding to your time in Rome.

I can't comment on the Paris/Florence sectors, but I spent a fair amount of time in Gimmelwald a few years ago.
Are you planning on doing much hiking, are you planning on using the local transport to visit nearby attractions, or are you planning on sitting on the balcony watching the mountains grow?
There are options for all 3, so if you can provide some idea of what you plan I can help out with ideas as to what's possible and what's not.

In addition there are two ways of getting to Gimmelwald, I'd recommend using one to arrive, and the other to depart to get the most out of your travel.
1) The most direct route Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg by Post bus and then cable car to Gimmelwald - Great views from cable car back along the Lauterbrunnen Valley and you get to see many of the waterfalls in the valley from the bus (depending on season)
2) The alternative is Lauterbrunnen (Cable car) to Grutscalp (Train) to Murren (Walk down or cable Car) to Gimmelwald
(Forms a loop with 1)

Two comments about Gimmelwald: spring may not be the best time to stay there, depending on when you plan to visit. The town's small tourist infrastructure is essentially closed during the shoulder season. There may not be any place available to sleep. The town isn't empty, but most of the citizens are heavily engaged in the cattle industry during this period. Likewise, Murren becomes a virtual ghost-town, and not much is open in Lauterbrunnen either. And with the spring snow melt-off, hiking options are limited at this time of year.

Second: Staying in Gimmelwald is a good option if you spend most of your time hiking in the mountains. However, using it as your home base to make daytrips throughout the Berner Oberland is not very practical. The cost of transport to and from Gimmelwald is significant (like everything else in Switzlerland).

So, although Gimmelwald is charming and worth a visit at any time of the year, staying in Interlaken is sometimes a better choice.

Spring can be quiet, yes. Thats either a blessing or a curse depending on what you are looking for though :)
You don't mention what month you are looking at - March will still have snow on the ground, May there might still be patches of snow, but most of the easier walks will be open by then (some of the more difficult ones will probably still be impassable for those not willing to try ice climbing).

As for using Gimmelwald as a base, it's practical if you know the transport system - there are region passes for example.

Are you booking complete travel through an agent, or doing it yourself? If yourself, look at the Swiss Card which includes round trip from the airport or the Swiss border to Gimmelwald and half price travel on the Swiss rail/bus network (including the cable car as far as Murren) This may be cheaper and/or more convenient than the single trip costs and allows you to move around the region (relativly) cheaply

The swiss card allows your exit from the country to be a different point than arrival, so could be Swiss border to Gimmelwald on arrival, and Gimmelwald to a different Swiss border on departure.

As for accommodation Esthers Guesthouse and the Mountain Hostel should both be open, Walters (Hotel Mittaghorn) may (depending on groups/and what month of Spring), Olle & Maria's B&B I think is also year round.

I agree with the previous posters that cutting off Florence/adding onto Rome or adding day trips out of Florence would be a great change. Rome would be a tight fit in only two days!

And, sorry to post a question in a response, but I was wondering what the best time is to go to Gimmelwald? Are there good views and hiking opportunities by late May/early June?

Hi Fran,

I was in switzerland end of May in 07 and this was a beautiful time to see Gimmewald. However I do have a recommendation for you...Gimmewald (although it is a beautiful place) I think 4 days is too long. I would recommend you stay somewhere else close to there for 4 days and just visit when you go up the mountain. There is maybe 1 restaurant and is a very small town (maybe like 50 people max life there). We stayed in Interlaken for 3 nights and then during the day would take the gondolas up the mountain and did hiking and felt like this was perfect. Then at night we would have dinner and relax down the mountain.

Have fun!

We stayed in Gimmelwald 4 days and it was perfect. We could have stayed longer. I most loved staying up IN the mountains. It's a lot closer to the things we wanted to see like Murren, Wengen, the trails and the two peak destinations than way back down in Interlaken. If you really want to be central Lauterbrunnen would be the most central but it is down in the valley. You don't see the mountain range as well or at all from there as you do up in the mountains.

We stayed at Esther's in Apartment B--the one upstairs with it's own private ((large) balcony. Apartment A is on the ground floor and it's patio is a public space. All the other rooms are just small bedrooms that adjoin a very large kitchen and dining room area. We LOVED staying there and hope to do it again.

Don't know which Spring month you are talking about, but we were in Gimmelwald and Murren in May and they were virtually closed. Gimmelwald would be an expensive home base (because of the number of cable car trips) if you wanted to go up the other side of the valley, to The Top of Europe for instance. For us, Lauterbrunnen was a good central location for going to Gimmelwald, Murren, Schilthorn, Jungfrauhoch, and more.