[Anonymous]

26 October 2018 at 18:36:38 #818806

Hi,

I am planning a 7-8 days trip next year along with wife and our 5 yo. While I am yet to work on the itenary, tentative dates of visit are in the second half of April. However, would it be better in May? We want to go when the weather is warm. The warmer and sunnier the better. but we don’t want to hit during the peak tourist season, to avoid the crowds and, mostly, the higher expenses.

I am considering changing the dates to May. Is that the start of the peak season?

Thanks!

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[User]

Reply 1 of 8 • 26 October 2018 at 19:18:34 #898410

Hi Enigma –

The weather depends on altitude. May will definitely be Spring in the lower areas, such as the main cities and the farmlands.Late April will have gos signs of Spring , along with generous rain fall on some days, and bright sun on others.

May will be the tail end of Winter in the Alps. At about 2000 meters, where some of the best trails are, enough snow will be left to prevent safe hiking, but skiing will end in early to mid-April. High trails won’t open till mid June. Thos ayt lower altitudes will be passable in May. Late June is best for planning good acess and full services.

So, much of the cableway transport and many but not all hotels and restaurants will be shut down from mid-April to early June in the famous Alpine regions, for between seasons work or vacations.

So, to answer your question better, we need to know where you plan to go in Switzerland.

http://www.myswissalps.com/be sttimetovisit

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 2 of 8 • 26 October 2018 at 21:18:12 #898411

Thanks for your response, Slowpoke.

We would be in Lucerne first, then cover the Interlaken-Lauterbrunnen-Grindelwald region, followed by Zermatt(Glacier Express most likely), St. Moritz/Chur, and lastly Zurich

[User]

Reply 3 of 8 • 27 October 2018 at 8:48:34 #898412

Hi Enigma –

Zürich and Luzern (German spelling, which is what you will see on the signs in the places you are traveling in the German-speaking regions) can be quite nice in May, or even late April. The other three regions are in high alpine areas, and will still be cool or cold in May. If you do not plan hiking at the higher altitudes in each of those regions, you can still have a a pleasant trip. However, many ( but not all) tourist facilities…restaurants, cableways, hotels…… will be closed.

So, it is important to think in terms of altitude. The higher, the colder. Thus, Interlaken is at about 560 meters above sea level and will be relatively warm. Lauterbrunnen is at about 800 meters, Grindelwald at about 1030 meters, Wengen at aout 1270 meters, Kleine Scheidegg ( the high point of the cograil train between Grindelwald and Wengen) at2060 meters, and, of course, the Jungfraujoch at 3450 meters. Zermatt is at 1616 meters, but Gornergrat, a popular view point is at 3100 meters. St. Moritz is at about 1820 meters, and a popular destination (Muottas Muragl) is at 2450 meters. The funicular to Muottas Muragl typically is in service from about June 10 to October 20 +/-.

Your dates completely avoid the peak tourist season in the High Alps, which become active in the last two weeks of June, are fully open in July and hit their peak in late July and August. Activity tapers off during September, a nice month to visit because of lower tourist density, and, on average, good sunny weather, and by the 3rd week of October, the mountain cableways mostly shut down.

Weather:

While bright sunny days at high altitudes can have intense sunshine, otherwise they will not be warm in May. And, many of the cableways and funiculars will be closed until June.

http://www.worldweatheronline .com/lang/en-us/ski/st-moritz-weather-averages/ch.aspx

http://www.google.com/search?q=annual+weather+inter laken&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab

Here are some good data for Zürich at about 400 meters. Luzern will be similar:

http://www.holiday-weather.com/zurich/ave rages/

For St. Moritz:

http://www.holiday-weather.com/st_moritz/ averages/

For Grindelwald:

http://www.holiday-weather.com/grindelwal d/averages/.

Slowpoke

PS- a search in Google by asking for annual average temperatures by city name will give you simplified results. In my case, they come up in Fahrenheit, since I am in the USA… Probably, it will give you Celsius if that is the norm for your region.

[User]

Reply 4 of 8 • 27 October 2018 at 15:16:42 #898413

Hi Enigma

If you can travel in any month, I’d pick September or mid to late June. You’ll still get warm weather and avoid most of the tourist crowds. Everything will be open in September and most everything opens by about mid-June.

If you can only go in either April or May, I’d go as late in May as possible for the possibly warmer weather. Also mountains that close for the winter, like Niesen (http://www.myswissalps.com/ni esen) and Harder Kulm tend to open about the last week of April or first week of May.

[User]

Reply 5 of 8 • 28 October 2018 at 21:41:15 #898414

Thanks for the response, Slowpoke.

We do not plan on hiking. We are more keen on exploring the villages and scenery (Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Murren). However, we do plan to do Titlis, Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn.

Hope none of these are closed in May?

[User]

Reply 6 of 8 • 28 October 2018 at 21:43:54 #898415

Thanks for the response, Lucas.

September was my first choice too, but as school vacations are only in April & May, we have no other option. So we will travel in the last or second to last week of May.

Harder Kulm was one of the places I had on my itenary. Good to know it will not be closed when I visit.

[User]

Reply 7 of 8 • 28 October 2018 at 22:15:02 #898416

<<“We are more keen on exploring the villages and scenery (Lauterbrunnen,

Wengen, Murren). However, we do plan to do Titlis, Jungfraujoch and

Schilthorn.”>>

The villages will not be closed, after all, people live there year round, but some hotels and restaurants will be.

These links will help you with closing dates for the mountains –

http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti tlis

http://www.myswissalps.com/sc hilthorn

The cableway from Wengen to Männlichen begins operation on June 1st.

The alternate, from Grindelwald, has limited service in late May.

http://www.maennlichen.ch/en/ summer-timetable.html

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 8 of 8 • 29 October 2018 at 6:54:05 #898417

Do note that the mountain attractions on our website note any seasonal closures. Click on the mountain and then click on its route tab for details. http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/naturalsites