Hotels in Switzerland

50 years ago, we were always able to book accommodations at each train station when we arrived...

Like you said, it as 50 years ago and a lot has changed since then. All depends on where you are going.

Many folks here are reporting significant pent-up demand for European travel, post- COVID, with increased prices and diminishing availability. Are you feeling lucky? Perhaps Google some hotels ( or use booking.com) in your prospective areas and check availability, and keep tracking that availability. Hope it works out.

Thanks, but are there help desks at the train stations that will book for you?

If you are flexible on location, price and hotel rating, you will probably find availability. I would not count on a help desk at the station to book a room for you. On the train ride, use booking.com to find your lodging. If nothing is available to your liking, check at the next town.

I am not aware of any help desks at stations for booking rooms. With the internet & smart phones it seems a bit old fashioned to have this type of thing now. And depending on where you plan to go you may already have difficulty in finding mid-May accommodations.

Thanks, but are there help desks at the train stations that will book for you?

You are going to have to up your game from 50 years ago! It's very unlikely that you'll find much support for this outside the main cities. Most people booking on line or via an app these days.

I'm retired and used to regularly decide to go off for a few days and just book last minute before the lockdown. That really is not possible any more unless you are willing to go to out of the way places of the tourist tracks. For May, I'd say you better get your skates on and book otherwise it could be expensive even if you do find something.

Well dang...I appreciate all the feedback and was hoping for an easy option without being online all the time searching for a bed. I miss the old days...

We did this in 2019 and were lucky to find last-minute Swiss accommodations, often at a discounted price, as they were eager to fill the rooms. Don't count on always finding something cheaper. We exclusively used booking.com for our last-minute room searches, and they would usually list whether it was a discount. In fact, back in October we did it for a random one-night stay in Milan and found a significantly discounted room which was very nice. Get the app on your phone, and go on your computer and look around. Set up an account there as well.

A different perspective on this: Switzerland is not a large country. You can see a lot of places by train from a single base for a few days, then move to the next base.
That way, you can keep as much flexibility as you want in your sightseeing, while not having to look for rooms on the go.

As an example: Thun or Spiez can be used as a base for a good chunk of the western half of the country.

if you really traveled that long ago, you remember using the TI that was in every town. Older episode of Rick's show have him using them quite often, but they have gone the way of dial phones and travelers checks.

You did know about traveler's checks, right?

Of course I remember traveler's checks, but I can't remember the last time I had those...