Short time in Switzerland

Basel is a city and not near the Alps. For mountains head to the Berner Oberland region: Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen/Gimmelwald/Grindelwald/Murren/Wengen. Rick's excellent and informative Switzerland guidebook has all the details. Here's a taste: http://youtu.be/nUD5a0y7Q3E

Base yourself in Interlaken... you won't go wrong!

Chur, with trips to Arosa for some walks or into the Italian speaking part on the trains. Jim (Switzerland)

We just spent 3 weeks in the Valais canton of Switzerland. If you want to avoid big cities but have a great experience in Swiss culture with a side of beautiful mountains then I can highly recommend this area. We loved the medievil town of Sion. Beautiful town in an orchard and vineyard filled valley dotted by two hills that are topped with a spectacular ruined castle and an ancient church that hasn't been ed in 700 years. Gorgeous old town center that is not touristy but very well preserved. Zermatt is close as well as many other valleys with outstanding peaks and views from the top. Mont Fort was one of our favorites - views for 100 miles! You can put your car on a train and be in Kandersteg (Berner Oberland) in about 45 minutes to see a different side of the alps. You can be in Chamonix, France in about an hour or to the top of the St. Bernard pass in about the same amount of time - see the original St. Bernard dogs and see where both Caesar and Napoleon crossed the alps. Fruit stands everywhere in this valley, lots of castle ruins, great food, friendly people. Didn't see another American the whole time we were there. Worth looking into!

Michael, "We want to see mountains and get a feel of the culture" I've found that the culture differs a bit between the various Cantons. It's a bit different in the west than in the Berner Oberland than in Chur (Canton of Graubünden) and Appenzell. With only four days, you'll likely only have time to sample the culture in one area. A great area to consider for "mountains" and incredible scenery is the Berner Oberland and the Lauterbrunnen Valley, just outside Interlaken. It's close enough to major cities like Zürich, Bern or Lucerne and has some fantastic scenery. It also has some interesting and unique sights such as the Jungfraujoch (highest station in Europe at about 12K feet, quite an achievement since the rail lines are carved through solid rock, a process which started in 1896). There's also the famous Schilthorn and Piz Gloria, which was featured in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which was partially filmed in the revolving restaurant. You could certainly stay in Gimmelwald or the nearby village of Mürren, but you could also consider Lauterbrunne, Wengen or Grindelwald, depending on what type of location and lodgings you're looking for. I stayed in Lauterbrunnen on my last visit to that area, and really enjoyed my time there. Good luck with your planning!

You can't see the Alps from Basel (but you can see the lower Swiss Jura mountains), although the culture there is probably more representative of modern Switzerland than some guy being paid to yodel in an Alpine restaurant. What time of year are you visiting? That would greatly affect what activities are available.

I really appreciate the responses and should be more specific, since I didn't realize that I would get this many. Since this is our first time in Europe we liked the sound of Paris and Switzerland. We would like to travel by train as our primary mode of transportation. Our itinerary is to take a train from Paris to an area in Switzerland (destination unknown) on a Monday June 16th and fly out of Zurich on Sunday the 22nd. Any place in Switzerland in-between this time frame is fair game. We are interested in seeing the mountain with country side and experience a feel for the culture. I mention Basel is because a friend of mine went there and loved it. Stated that it was representative of the old Switzerland and a unique piece of the culture. Others say that it is not recommended. We would like to visit the Interlaken area. Rick Steve's mentions it and highly recommended it. The two places recommended to stay are Lauterbrunnen and Murren. Keeping in mind above with the itinerary in mind I would like your ideas as to stay when we enter Switzerland from Paris, towns to stay in with the dates in mind to view, and when to end up in Zurich (I guess only one day).