Best city to stay in to see the Alps

Hi Cindy,

Definitely agreee with Kent with staying in the Berner Oberland area. You can stay in Lauterbrunnen but we stayed in a village (Murren) right in the Alps. It was a hotel located right in town on the edge of a cliff with the valley floor 2,000 ft below us...such a thrill standing on our balcony and looking down. The whole area is absolutely beautiful! We took the 6 am train from Varenna to Milan and then on to Murren. We had 1/2 that day and a complete next day before flying home from Lake Zurich the following day. Having the day & a half was a little rushed but we did all we wanted including taking the train to the highest point in the alps. If you are coming in one day and having to leave the next, it's not enough time. If you have any more questions, please ask.

Cindy, I have to say that this is way too big/loaded/complex of a question to answer. It all depends on what you want out of a place. Do you want charm, big city, slow paced, fast paced, very small town, easy access or anything else like that? Where are you coming from and where are you going to? We need more information to be able to help you out.

The Berner Oberland would be my choice. I have stayed in Lauterbrunnen and have visited all other towns and villages there. As mentioned above, Muerren or Wengen is so scenic. So much to see and it's reasonably close to Italy. Zermatt is also a suggested area.

Another option is to take the train from Varenna, Italy to St. Moritz. Rick explains in his 2008 Italy book "you have fantastic access to the Bernina Express scenic train to St. Moritz." He goes on to write that you first take the train to Tirano and then transfer to St. Moritz. It takes 4-5 hours with the transfer. From St. Moritz it's a short train ride to Pontresina which is a beautiful smaller village situated in the Alps. If you like hiking it's an incredible place. I stayed at the Hotel La Collina and hiked on a different trail everyday--one day, for example, I hiked to St. Moritz and made the return trip by train. June/July would be a perfect time to be there!

Pontresina, Switzerland

You will not believe the train from Tirano to St. Moritz. We did it off season and the engineer let me ride in the cab part of a two card train. what a view! what a trip! We followed that with the Glacier Express the next day.