Does anyone have experience with how fully booked hotels and B&Bs are in Switzerland in September? My husband and I will be spending two weeks in Switzerland in September, largely following the itenerary reccomended in the Switzerland RS guidebook. We would like to stay flexible, moving from town to town based on the weather and how it feels when we get there. In your experience is it reasonably easy to find accomodation without reservations?
Posted by
St. Louis, MO, USA
1 posts
I booked a reservation for one night in early September at Hotel Oberland in Lauterbrunnen about one month ago. Some of the other popular hotels were booked and unfortunately, I was not able to be flexible on the date. Also, some hotels require a 3 night stay for an advance reservation but may have vacancies for those who inquire in person.
Posted by
Yakima, WA, USA
14 posts
Sarah, We will be in Switzerland in mid sept for a week as well and had some trouble securing reservations in Gimmelwald (but were able to get them) and am still having trouble finding one in Appenzell. As much as it is nice to be flexible you may have to take what you can get. But that is all part of the great adventure. Wave if you see us! Good luck. Cris
Posted by
OP
Illinois, USA
46 posts
Thanks for the very helpful replies, and specific reccomendations. I think I will try to book the first few nights, the other Saturday nights and in the Berner Oberland but play the rest by ear.
Posted by
Everett, WA
1288 posts
You might want to research and have a few places in mind before you go. Then call a day or so ahead and try to book a place. I have done what your are doing in September and been ok. Just be advised that most the places in the Rick Steve's guidebook will be booked up and have some back ups in mind. I also ended up at Hotel Oberland on that trip. It was about 10 SF a night more than Hotel Staubbach (the RS recommendation) but was a great hotel. The owners are very nice. You may pay a little more and have to look a little harder, but that is the price of flexibility. (for the record, I make 90 percent of my reservations from home. On the above mentioned trip, we left open a 10 day window to visit the Berner Oberland so that we could watch the weather and go on the best days. It paid off for us. The first 4 days it rained and we went over western Switzerland and Chamonix. The other 6 days were sunny and wonderful.) My last trip I did what Brad advised and we rented an apartment right in Lauterbrunnen. We were 2 couples and paid less than $60.00 a night per couple (65 swiss france-130 SF for the apartment) We did book that ahead though.
Posted by
Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
124 posts
Just make sure you either call places ahead of time or make sure you arrive during normal hours (they may vary) since many smaller places are not open 24/7. Sometimes people forget that many hotels/B&Bs are small family run operations unlike most hotels here in the US.