We have a short home exchange arranged in Bern and want to see more of Switzerland (June 2013). I understand we can easily see some cities by train from Bern, but what would be another good base so we can cover a good deal of the country and allow us to visit the mountains? We will be flying to and from Brussels and rely on public transport. Maybe we could enter and leave Switzerland at different airports. We would probably stay 5 days to a week and rent an apartment at the second location. Also, how do we find a vacation apartment there?
Posted by
Havre, Montana, USA
12 posts
I'm planning a trip through Southern France, Switzerland, and Germany for next year and I've found the site with the most rentals in that area of the world is HomeAway.com
Posted by
Abruzzo Mountains
1088 posts
Airbnb.com has been getting a lot of great press this year. My parents and I are both going to try it this year on our separate trips to Europe. I obviously don't have first hand experience yet but I've heard and read so many good things. Check out the site and maybe others with personal experience will chime in. My choice for a second location in Switzerland would be the Lake Constance (Bodensee) area. We were there in 2010 and loved it. Try Schaffhausen or something near there. We are also doing a home exchange near Bern, in July 2013. Hope you enjoy your trip!
Posted by
Tulsa, OK
355 posts
The Berner Oberland area is wonderful. There are several towns from which to choose. Lauterbrunnen, Murren and Wengen are most central. We stayed a week in Lauterbrunnen and loved it. It is very central and you can get anywhere in the area by train or gondola.
Myswitzerland.com is a great website. To search for apartments, just enter the name of the town you want to search and you will get a number of choices for accommodation. Homeaway and VRBO are also good choices. The Slow Trav website has reviews - I think I reviewed both apartments we used while there on that site.
Posted by
Bern, Switzerland
1046 posts
Switzerland is a small country and if you are going to be based in Bern, then you should be able to do it all from there, epically in summer when the days are long. For instance you can easily do the Golden Pass Route in a day and return to Bern in the evening. Other trips like the Glacier Express could be done with an overnight somewhere such as Chur, returning to Bern the following day.
Posted by
OP
Victoria, Canada
18 posts
To clarify - we have free accommodation in Bern and will need to pay after that. We figured since we must move on, we might as well go to a different community.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32352 posts
Robin, A few suggestions for places to visit in Switzerland..... As you want to visit "the mountains", the Berner Oberland (outside of Interlaken) would be a great choice. Although you'd have to pay for lodging, spending one or two nights there would allow you to have a brief look at the area. Some of the popular towns in that area are Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Wengen, Grindelwald or the small community of Gimmelwald. I was just in Lauterbrunnen and found it to be a great "hub" location for exploring both sides of the valley. If you'd prefer a larger city with easy access to Bern, you might have a look at Lucerne. It's beautiful and while there you could take cruises on the lake, visit Mt. Pilatus, the Museum or Transport, see the famous "Lion of Lucerne" or just enjoy the town. One caveat regarding Switzerland - it's expensive! Happy travels!
Posted by
Truro, NS, Canada
3941 posts
re:airbnb...we used it for 5 stays on our trip last month...they were all with people tho, no apartment rentals (tho hoping to do that if we get to NY next year...)..pleased with all our stays...great prices, nice hosts...like anything, you have to read the reviews...all of them...I passed over a lot that were well priced, but people disliked location/noise/unclean...etc.