We land in Switzerland on a Sunday morning and will have a few days to spend in there. We plan on heading to Cinque Terre on Tuesday afternoon/evening. I'm trying to decide on the best place to spend our time while we are there, while trying to minimize our train ride on Tuesday. Does anyone have suggestions? We are trying to avoid the big cities and the really touristy places...
Posted by
toronto, canada
34 posts
I would head to the Alps. Interlaken is a good choice. About an hour or so by train from Bern and Zurich.
Posted by
coral springs, FL, USA
15 posts
MUST go to Interlaken and go mountaineering..the scenery is spectacular and the little town is quaint. interlaken!
Posted by
OP
Louisville, CO, United States
5 posts
Any suggestions on where to stay? We are looking for something moderate, not super fancy or expensive. Thanks for the reply.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17442 posts
Interlaken isn't really "in" the Alps, it's on the edge, and it is very touristy. Plus it leaves you a pretty long journey to Cinque Terre.
to minimize your travel time to Cinque Terre on Tuesday, you need to get as close to Milan as you can, while still staying in Switzerland.
The first place tht comes to mind is one of our favorite places, Bettmeralp. You can see photos of the village and the area at www.bettmeralp.ch.
This is a car-free village perched high above the Rhone Valley, looking across into Italy and west to the Matterhorn (distant view). Behind the village is the Aletschgletscher, Europe's largest glacier. You can hike to see it and/or ride a cablecar up to a peak for amazing views.
Bettmeralp would be 6 hours 10 minutes from Monterosso al Mare (if you make the right connections), most of which would be travel in Italy. You can easily reach it from the Zurich airport in under 4 hours; the last leg of the journey is a cablecar.
Another possibility, closer to Milan and Cinque Terre but a much different place, would be Lugano. This is a big city on a lake and accommodations are expensive, so I wouldn't really recommend it. There are some small villages close by on the lake which many people like (Morcote, Gandria), but again this is a lakeside area, not in the Alps.
Zermatt is another possibility, but this would leave you a 7.5 hour journey the next day, about the same as coming from the Berner Oberland area (the mountain region south of Interlaken).
So. . . the shortest would be Bettmeralp, and if you like the idea of a smaller less-frequented place, it is a great choice. Hotel Panorama (where we have stayed many times) has double rooms starting around 170 CHF, which is very good for Switzerland. For slightly less (150 CHF) you could stay at Garni Slalom, and for even less (90 CHF) the Alpfrieden, but that may be a room w/o ensuite bath.