Winter holiday : 4 days in Switzerland !! :)

mj from Spore (there's a new one for me) I can't answer your other questions, but when you ask for pro advise are you aware that this helpline is contributed to by fellow traveler volunteers? As far as we know none of the professionals from ETBD or RS himself ever contribute here.

Hey Nigel, Thanks for your message. Of course i'm well aware of the 'pro' contributor here :) Whoever reply is consider a 'pro' to me based on their experience. They might not have the best solution/advise for me..but as long they are willing to share opinion..it would be much appreciated. lol...certainly we cant expect Mr RS to reply here as i suspect even so he would probably ask me skip Switzerland for such a short stay :p

Not good angle for sunrise in Murren or Wengen, but fabulous views nonetheless. And very tiny ski towns up in the mtns (Wengen a bit bigger), so wouldn't expect New Years celeb to be more than hanging in a small bar/disco. Jungfrau is a long day's trip, changing from cable cars to trains to cogs, etc. Personally, I found it not worth the time and $ in the summer. The Shilthorn peak delivered to me. But, Jungrfrau is for altitude junkies, and the winter photos are spectacular. Check to/from Interlaken (the larger train station in this mtn region). I doubt direct to Paris. But, trains are so easy here, even when needing to change.

To bad you are not going in summer. Murren is wonderful but I've only been there in summer. Check out Hotel Alpina website, recommended by R.S. Not much to do in a celebratory fashion there, but if looking at bountiful Snow drinched peaks is what you are looking for, Murren is for you.As one poster suggested, do Schilthorn for sure. Like one of the posters, you might want to skip Jungfrau, a little costly and too time consuming. Lucerne is beautiful, but this is based on summer trip with Lake ride to Mt.Pilatus. Was disappointed with fondue meal in Murren. We took the special train from Interlaken to Geneva(Hotels are VERY expensive) and caught a cheap flight to Paris, but you may want the thrill of a train ride. ANY trip to Switzerland will MAKE you want to come back. If you are a skier, you'll need others to help you.

A couple of comments. Mt. Pilatus cog railway is not open in th ewinter, so you can not go up that way. The cablecar is open all year, however. If you would like to spend the night on a mountaintop and see the sunrise, you could do that on Pilatus. There is a hotel up there, open all year. Details are on the Mt. Pilatus website. Or you could shoose nearby Rigi, which is a gentler mountain but also covered with snow. It is famous for the sunrise views (including a great story by mark Twain). The hotel there is called Rigi Kulm, and their website shows they are open only the week leading up to New Year's. http://www.rigikulm.ch/index.php?id=6 Wengen and Mürren hotels may have 3-night or longer minimums over the holiday, as it is ski season. Many even have a week stay minimum. but you can try looking. I don't know which would have the better celebration for New Year's. WE have been in Mürren for their summer festival (Dorfest) and they do seem to know how to throw a party. WEngen lists a "surprise" at the ice arena for Dec. 31 on th eevent calendar: http://www.myjungfrau.ch/en/event_calendar/index.cfm#results

Thanks Ash. Jim & Lola for the infos. I'll do more searching based on your recommendation and advice. Cheers :)