Alps area with a car?

Are Krispy Kreme and Burger King OK with you?

you may find a McDonalds from place to place but Starbucks highly unlikely.

Depending on where in the Alps you are you are likely to run across villages where cars are not permitted. You will park the car in (an expensive) carpark and use the highly organized and perfectly timed trains, postbuses, cable cars and gondolas.

We too enjoy renting a car, but found it unnecessary in Switzerland. The train system was very efficient, and enabled us to travel to all of the sites that were of interest to us without locating and paying for parking. Our stay included some of the car free villages. You may want to consider researching the various Swiss travel passes and the Berner Oberland Pass to see if f those would meet your needs.. Then compare it to the cost of car rental, parking and fuel.

Driving a car is fantastic in Switzerland. You'll love the freedom that comes with stopping at any vista or mountain lake that appeals to you. We used Europcar. Picked up at Basel airport, and drove to Bern, Stechelberg (long term parking while we went up to Murren), Luzern and Chur. Bern and Luzern would both be good bases. Both have easy parking.

We rented a car in Switzerland and enjoyed having it during our trip. We picked it up in Geneva then spent a few days in Montreaux before staying on Lake Thun. On the way we drove by Bern and got lost driving through a Nature Preserve we didn’t fully understand. We stayed in the cutest Airbnb in Oberhofen. One day we drove through Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and took the gondolas up to Schilthorn. It was one of the best travel experiences we’ve had!

You can navigate by train, but we had more freedom in our car. We weren’t there too long, but Interlaken is probably a pretty decent home base for driving around the alps.

It depends on where you want to visit. There are lots of scenic places, such as Wengen/Murren and Zermatt, that have banned all car traffic. I suggest you use the trains.

Ditch the car. By the time you end up paying for gas, parking, and speed cameras you’ll realize that traveling by train is much less stressful.

And word to the wise, avoid the Swiss Travel Pass. Look at utilizing the Half Fare Card.

I used the Swiss Travel Pass for two weeks of travel and found it very convenient. My daughter chose the Half Fare Card and figured we came out comparable price wise.

Cars are destroying our beautiful towns and villages. Please use public transit. So that your children and grandchildren will have a chance to enjoy beautiful Switzerland as well.