6 days in Switzerland

A few days ago, just outside Luzern, we went up to Mount Pilatus. Went there by bus first, then a gondola up the mountain, long slow ride, the views are to die for, then came down back with a cogwheel train, most incredible slow ride, and then you have a choice to come back to the city by boat or train. The city of Luzern is most beautiful and very welcoming, so relaxing and very easy to be in. Superb shopping, too.

swuan,

If you're staying in Lauterbrunnen, day trips to Gimmelwald (one of Rick's favourites and mine too!), the Schilthorn and Murren would be a good way to see the area. The view from the Schilthorn is incredible and stopping for lunch in the world's first revolving restaurant is a nice treat too.

If you're really adventurous, you could try Tandem Paragliding from Murren. That would really give you something to remember of your first visit to Switzerland!

There's so much to see and do around Lauterbrunnen, I'm not sure you'll have time for too many other spots.

Happy travels!

Of course the Jungfrau has snow caps. So does the Shilthorn and hundreds of other Alp mountain peaks. Look out the window of the Jungfraujoch and you see Europe's largest glacier. It's why you go up there. It's the top of Europe. For the Jungfrau, you want to go to the Jungfraujoch. This is a massive facility at almost 12,000 feet. It has 5 restaurants that will feed 700 people and several shops. It also houses the Ice Palace. You only go out into the snow if you want to. From Lauterbrunnen, you take the cog train up. Those crazy Swiss have bored a tunnel right through the Eiger. Unbelievable. It takes 2hrs to go up and 2hrs to come down. Full fare equals $130 per person. Swiss passes will only cover 50%. For the Shilthorn, you take the bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg and gondola up. About $84 full fare. Again, Swiss passes only cover 50%. Murren, at 5,300', Wengen, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg will all be free of snow in September. Lauterbrunnen is thousands of feet lower than these places in the lower valley.

You said you had plans to visit Interlacken. Unless you have plenty of it, I wouldn't spend much time there, other than to use it as a transfer point for a train or boat. If you don't yet have Lauterbrunen accomodations, I recommend the Staubach Hotel. Reasonably priced, comfortable and staff very helpful. RS also recommends it.

RS was recently spotted at the Staubbach. However, I recommend the Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen. It's 500 feet from the train station and off the main street. Their fine restaurant is covered by RS but not the hotel. I believe that he doesn't cover it as the prices might be a tad higher than he likes. However, it's a wonderful stay. As seniors, we find some of RS picks to be a bit rustic and we stay in alternate places. The Hotel Silberhorn is one of them (not to say that the Staubbach is rustic). You can see it on www.silberhorn.com. I also agree with transiting quickly out of Interlaken.

I highly recommend going to Murren and taking one of the hikes/walks that RS recommends. The one we did was the highlight, for me, of our whole month in Europe. Sorry, but we hated the Jungfraujoch. Very expensive to get there, takes all day, and huge waste in our opinion. We liked Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France much more. But we did love being in Murren where we stayed, and the whole area. It's beautiful beyond words. My son paraglided from Murren down to the valley floor (5,000') and loved every second of it!

Susan,

Your comments about Paragliding from Murren brought back fond memories of my trip last fall. I also did that (even at an age of 50+) and it was absolutey one of the highlights of my entire trip! Next time I might be a bit more adventurous and try the one hour Paraglide from 10,000 feet at the Schilthorn.

One other highlight of my trip was a Segway tour of Paris.

One question though - why didn't you try Paragliding?

Cheers!

Interlaken isn't bad, and maybe worth a short visit. However, if the weather goes bad in the mountains (which happens often), there is enough to do in Interlaken to keep you busy. But by all means, spend as much time in the mountains as possible.

Hi Ken, I didn't try paragliding because I was too scared. My son is much braver than I am. We'll be in Chamonix next July and my son plans to paraglide again, from even higher as you wrote. I wish I were brave enough! We did Mike's Bike Tour in Paris and my son wanted to do the Segway tour but I couldn't get the hang of it. Seems to me my son would have a much better time in Europe with you! You're both way more adventurous than me :)

I would like to know which lake is better in terms of view and attractions? (Lake Thun and Lake Brienz) How long should the visit to the lakes be?

swuan, there are plenty of wonderful places to go to, as day trips from Lucern. The book "ROUGH GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" highly recommends going to Mount Titlis. It says the road toward it is through a valley that is equally as beautiful as the Lauterbrunnen valley. If you do that as a day trip from Lucerne, leave Lucerne early in the morning.