My husband and I are planning on a 14-day trip to Gimmelwald next September. We would like to stay there for 7 days and then travel to another part of Europe. We stayed in Gimmelwald in May 2007 and then headed to Lake Como. We have been to Italy a few times and would like to branch out to other areas. We will most likely be travelling by public transport and not by car. Any suggestions?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
689 posts
Have you been to Paris? We just did a Paris and Murren trip. You can take the TGV between Basel, Bern and Lausanne to Paris so it's an easy train trip.
Austria would be another good pick. It's easy to travel by train to Salzburg and Vienna.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Tracy,
Seven days sounds a bit long for Gimmelwald, but if you're avid hikers and like to take day trips, you should be able to fill in the time quite nicely.
Have you decided on a place to stay in Gimmelwald yet? If you need suggestions, post another note. As Steve mentioned, the Pensione has new owners so that's one option (the previous owners departed in Oct. 2006). Esther completed a significant renovation at about that time also.
Regarding other places to see (since you'll most likely be travelling by rail), one suggestion would be Stresa on Lago Maggiore. While there you could tour the Borromeo Islands and take a day trip to the town of Locarno, CH via the beautiful Cento Valli railway. You can travel one way by rail and return by Ferry. Stresa is about the same distance from Milan as Lago di Como/Varenna.
Another possibility might be Lugano as it's also in that general area. From there you might take a trip on the Bernina Express to visit that part of Switzerland.
Good luck with your planning!
Posted by
OP
Minneapolis, MN
3 posts
Thank you for your suggestions. We stayed at Esther's when we were there last time and we'll probably stay there again since we absolutely loved it. I know seven days seems like a long time, but we are avid hikers and when we were there two Mays ago, we gambled with the weather and lost, so pretty much our whole trip was doing day trips to lower altitudes and different cities since it was either pouring rain or snowing while we were there. My goal this time is to climb the Schilthorn!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Tracy,
If you're hiking to the top of the Schilthorn, be VERY careful on the last stretch as it can be treacherous (and it's a LONG way down).
If you're adventurous and have a "generous" travel budget, you might also consider a tandem Paragliding trip either from Murren or the Schilthorn.
Happy travels!