I'm traveling with my 23 year old daughter and her boyfriend, who's of Swiss heritage but never been to Switzerland. We're staying with a friend in Freiburg and renting a car for 3 days to do some day trips to Colmar, Strasbourg and Switzerland. Need help determining what is best to do in one day in Switzerland. We plan to leave Freiburg early, thinking we could be in Bern by 8 or 9 a.m. I've looked at Lake Thun. That time of year, is it worth trying to head up into the Berner Oberland area? I was there decades ago about the same time of year, but the Alps were hidden in the fog. If this was your one day in Switzerland, what would you do in early December? (If you have advice on places to eat in Bern and other areas, would love names.)
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
"That time of year, is it worth trying to head up into the Berner Oberland area? I was there decades ago about the same time of year, but the Alps were hidden in the fog. If this was your one day in Switzerland, what would you do in early December?" If you keep a flexible schedule, and pick a clear day, yes, that's a reasonable daytrip. Keep a close eye on the weather conditions, and monitor a website like this. The first day you get clear skies, get an early start and go. There's no guarantee that the clouds won't move in by the time you arrive, but outside of staying in the immediate area for a few days, that's your best option.
Of course, Switzerland is more than mountains. You could also consider Basel or Bern if the weather never cooperates.
Just one more head's up- you'll need to purchase a vignette sticker to drive your rental car in Switzerland. You can purchase it either at the last Autobahn rest stop before the Swiss border or at the border itself.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32350 posts
diane,
"If this was your one day in Switzerland, what would you do in early December? "
My suggestion for towns to visit would be Lucerne, as outside of the Berner Oberland that's one of the cities I most enjoyed. While there you could visit the incredible Museum of Transport, walk across the famous Chapel Bridge or see the famous Lion of Lucerne (among other attractions). If you're dressed warmly, you could check with the T.I. (which is in the station) to see if they're operating walking tours. I'm not sure if boat cruises will be a good option at that time of year, and whether you'll have time to go to Rigi or Pilatus will depend on what other touring you decide on. Switzerland is very pricey and you can get an idea of that by "window shopping" at the posh Bucherer jewelry stores, which usually have a few CH$ 10,000 Rolex watches in the window (there's a store close to the river in Lucerne, as I recall).
For driving in early December, keep in mind that you'll also have to contend with winter driving conditions, which could be either fine or challenging or somewhere in between. As the previous reply mentioned, don't forget to buy the Vignette for Switzerland, as hefty fines without it!
If Lucerne looks appealing, another option you could consider would be to travel by train. The trip is about two hours in each direction, with at least one change at Basel SBB. For example, there's a departure from Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf at 08:02, arriving at 10:05. I didn't check return times, but you can see all the details on the bahn.de website.
Posted by
Los Angeles
4853 posts
Be aware, if you didn't know, there is also a city in Switzerland called Friborg (not sure that is the right spelling). I was looking at a map and I chuckled thinking how often those 2 must be confused.
Here's a place NOT to eat in Bern - Verdi's. It's a lovely space, highly recommended by our hotel, and it turned out to be very slow service, so-so food, high prices. Well the latter is true everywhere, get used to that. Dining in Bern is a challenge, we never managed to find somewhere we liked.
As far as weather, it's so much easier now to know what to expect. The Schilthorn site itself not only has live webcams, they have weather forecasts. And there are sites like Accuweather and Weather.com that will tell you what to expect. We had perfect weather for our trip up the Schilthorn, but just to be safe I had built a schedule with 2 or 3 possible days to go up there depending solely on weather.