Planning a trip in early September and will have 3 days free to take day trips by train from Basel. Planning to go to Lucerne one day and to Colmar another day.,Suggestions for the third day? Will be visiting Freiburg and Strasbourg and German towns along the Rhine later in the trip, so would like to spend the third free day somewhere in Switzerland
Posted by
1 posts
Zurich's an easy hour on the train and the old town + lake is lovely, plus the Kunsthaus if you're into art. I actually think Bern edges it out though, similarly about an hour away, and the old town is just gorgeous (UNESCO listed)
Posted by
Poland
29 posts
I visited Lauterbrunnen before and really loved it. It’s a bit farther from Basel, but the scenery is amazing. If you enjoy mountains and quiet villages, it could be a great trip. Hope this helps.
Posted by
557 posts
You have allowed a day for looking around Basel as well as these 3 days, haven't you?
Posted by
OP
11 posts
We have a day and a half set aside for Basel itself, and then 3 full days for day trips elsewhere. Will look into Zurich and Bern and the Lauterbrunen Valley. Any thoughts about the area around Lake Neuchatel?
Posted by
Switzerland
516 posts
Any thoughts about the area around Lake Neuchatel?
Here is the tourism website for this area
https://www.j3l.ch/en/Z10488/neuchatel-tourism
Neuchâtel is interesting - there is the church, old town and lakefront with a really nice promenade. There are a lot of vineyards all along the lakes of Neuchâtel and Biel, usually at their most beautiful in October when the leaves are a golden yellow...although there have been news articles lately saying that the harvest might be early this year due to the hot dry conditions that we are currently experiencing.
You can also take a boat on these two lakes plus the lake of Murten...and Murten itself is interesting.
If you enjoy cycling, this is a very good area for that. There is also the watch museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds or you can tour the chocolate factory Camille Bloch
https://www.j3l.ch/en/P32329/things-to-do/culture-museums/museums/chocolats-camille-bloch
But, in my opinion, this area is not as scenic as Luzern or Bern and definitely less scenic than the Jungfrau Region (where Lauterbrunen is).
What are you most interested in seeing? I would start there, and since these are day trips you can have a few plans and then check the weather and webcams to make your final decision. There are city webcams as well as the mountain ones, this will help you a lot to choose the best option on the day.
Use the MeteoSwiss app (or website). In the app you can save 5 locations and this can help you get a really quick overview of any specific day, or look at the country map.
You can also check out Stein am Rhein or the Rhine Falls - again using webcams and weather app to help you decide.
Posted by
557 posts
A curved ball.....
What about La Chaux de Fonds, quite high up in the Jura mountains? Centre of swiss watch making, but also can be reached thorugh some glorious scenery by train on a routing that few tourists see. I did it on a mostly sunny March day, in September it ought to be even better. This is not the fastest route so you have to specify it to get schedules and tickets. Go for Basel SBB- Moutier- Tavannes-Le Noirmont- La Chaux de Fonds. For trhe fastest way back just delete the middle routing points.