Best central town in Switzerland

Although a small country, exploring Switzerland by daytrips isn't really that feasible. The Alps, impose a significant barrier to rapid travel. What may look like a short trip on a map could take hours. I once made the mistake of planning for a relatively short trip from Zurich to Interlaken. WRONG! Nominate some of the areas you may like to visit, and perhaps we could suggest a few separate home bases.

Bern is almost dead center in the middle of Switzerland. But this strategy isn't really practical for Switzerland. For any visit to CH you'll be spending most of your time in the Alps, and the mountainous terrain makes travel a bit time consuming. Don't get me wrong, Switzerland has an excellent transport system that can easily get you anywhere you want to go, but the terrain slows things down.

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Hi Jim, we suggest taking a room in a hotel in a small village on Lake Lucerne, such as Vitznau. You can commute from Vitznau to Lucerne's RR station on lake steamers. Many people living in those lake villages depend upon those steamers to commute. Both the scenery and the steamers are gorgeous. Steamer fares are reasonable. Above is a web site which includes transit information. Vitznau is at the foot of Rigi mountain, a prime tourist attraction in itself. Have a great trip! P.

Bern really is centrally located. From there, cities from Basel to Zermatt as well as Interlaken, Laussane, Geneva, Luzern and other cities are within 2hrs. Many are closer. Some cities such as Chur, St. Moritz and some of the great scenic train rides like the William Tell Express and Bernina Express are somewhat more distant. They are not really close.