First Trip - Traveling over New Year

Hello everyone :)

I have a 9 day stay booked for Dec 26th-Jan 5th. I was planning on staying in Basel with a friend but that has since fallen through. I have never been to Switzerland andI'd love to see as much as I can, and would like to see some of the Alps if possible. (Also if wanting to beginner ski, is rental (clothing included) possible?)

Arriving in Basel, leaving from Basel

I'd rather stay based in only two or three towns (hotel changes) during my travel and want to be somewhere fun for New Year's. I'm open to any suggestions and advice you can offer! I'm also traveling on a budget so any advice on cheap lodging/cities would be welcome.

Welcome to MySwissAlps.com, mbrown44883! It's great that you get to spend this special time of the year in Switzerland.

Let's take a look at your wishes. First of all, you should explore regions and towns and find out what appeals to you most: www.myswissalps.com/wheretogo. Since you want to explore as much as you can, I suggest you pick one or two central towns that allow you to travel in several directions. Please see www.myswissalps.com/centraltownsalps for centrally located towns and www.myswissalps.com/cities for the most important cities. If you like to spend some days in the mountains too, consider to add a town like Wengen, Mürren, Zermatt or St. Moritz.

You should realize you're traveling in high season, so whatever town(s) you choose, it's wise not to wait too long searching for hotels and arranging for your bookings. Cheap lodging is listed at www.myswissalps.com/hotels/budget.

Depending on your exact itinerary, a rail pass will help you save money. Here's how to decide which one is best: www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/chooserailpass .

Please find tips for day trips here: www.myswissalps.com/activities. Note that not all are available in Winter. You can still visit quite some mountain tops though and make beautiful scenic train journeys. Beginners' ski classes are possible too, including rental gear. For more information on this subject you can best visit the tourist website of the town(s) or region(s) you've picked.

Further guidance on how to create your itinerary is at www.myswissalps.com/plantrip/doityourself.

I hope this gets you started!

Thanks for all the great info!

I think I will base out of Basel and do day trips for the most part. And do one overnight in the mountains somewhere.

I plan on Being in Basel for the New Year and trying to get to Colmar in France one day so the days I can city hop are limited. If I could only pick two (maybe three) other cities to visit during the day what would you suggest? I want to see what I can but also need to feel relaxed and enjoy my visit.

For my overnight I was planning on Interlaken so I can do the night time toboggan run rather than ski as I have never ski'd. though some have told me Interlaken is too tourist filled? Thoughts?

Thank you again, you guys are so helpful!

You're welcome! Well, you can have a look at the towns listed here and see what attracts you most. The city of Bern is beautiful, and not that far from Basel. You can visit it on your way to Interlaken. Interlaken is filled with tourists, but more so in Summer. The town is not really pretty. I would rather call it "convenient" because it's a great base to cover the region, with many train connections, and plenty of shops, restaurants and hotels. See the Interlaken page for details. In Winter, the towns closer to the ski slopes such as Grindelwald, Wengen and Mürren are more popular. Probably also more expensive.