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Hotel flexibility in early December

Posted by (Vancouver, BC) on

Flights booked to fly from Canada to Zurich December 5 . . . my adult daughter and I will handle some family business in Luzern first, but we are coming home Dec 15 so will have some days to travel. I was thinking of doing day trips out of a base in Luzern, but now my daughter is wondering if we could go to Annecy, France, which I'd like to see too, but it seems very far away and with COVID, I'm not sure about crossing the border. We've both been to Switzerland twice and have seen quite a bit, but somehow neither of us have been to the Lauterbrunnen area, which we will definitely visit this trip.

My question is: do I need to pre-book every hotel for the whole time?, or can we get there and see how it goes and book a few days out? I used to travel that way, but haven't for years. We just don't know what will be going on with family, and also weather. I realize that anything near Lauterbrunnen will be the most booked.

My daughter is also wondering if Basel is worth a visit (I'm thinking it's a fine place if you have a reason, but not to just go there)

Posted by
27063 posts

I don't know what's happening on the ground, but you can monitor lodging availability and rates on booking.com. See what's available today for towns and cities where you might want to stay on your travel dates, then check every day to be sure the number of affordably options isn't plummeting. I tend to be a lot more cautious about booking well in advance when I travel to comparatively high-cost areas --which for me include London and Edinburgh; I haven't been to Switzerland since the early 1990s.

Posted by
2303 posts

A quick look at booking.com for Lauterbrunnen for 11/29-12/2 (just as an example) shows availability at:

A) 3 hotels rated 8+ but all have shared bathrooms
B) 3 hotels rated under 7 with private baths
C) Lots of apartments for roughly twice the price of the hotel rooms

So if you’re not picky about ratings or sharing a bathroom with strangers, and budget isn’t a concern, there seem to be options. Those options may be fewer later in December due to peak skiing season.

Posted by
6113 posts

Hotel bookings in many places this year seem high for early December, particularly for weekends. Maybe people think more restrictions are coming so will travel to see family and friends before Christmas or people are using up their holiday allocation from work.

The post above shows that accommodation can be limited - personally, particularly in current times, I wouldn’t stay anywhere with a shared bathroom and the first thing I do on Booking.com is filler out anything below 8!

You may have more peace of mind booking in advance.

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