First visit to Switzerland

We are two US couples, ages early 60's who want to plan a trip to Switzerland. We are wondering if it is feasible to stay in a central location and take day trips by train to visit the entire country or is it better to stay in multiple locations. We plan to stay about 12 to 14 days.

Hello jbauman,

In my opinion the best way is to stay in one place and travel through Switzerland from there, but of course that's a matter of personal taste. During our (many) visits to Switzerland we always stayed in one place and we used a rail pass, like the Swiss Pass. This pass really comes in handy if you want to do a lot of traveling. But depending on your plans you may also look into the Swiss Peak Pass, or one of the other passes.

If you're looking for a central location, staying in or around Interlaken (Lauterbrunnen, Wilderswil) may be a good plan. You're like a spider in a web there and train connections to all directions are great.

Is it your first trip to Switzerland? Have you made any plans yet?

I hope this helps and I will be happy to answer more questions, if you want.

Wandermann

This would be our first trip to Switzerland. Is the end of August or beginning of Sept. a good time to go. Since we would be staying for two weeks, does it make sense to look to rent a house or apartment on Vacation Rental By Owner. Any suggestions on must visit cities or sites. We also thought about visiting parts of Austria. Is there good train service to there as well.

Hi
We have used www.interhomeusa.com and it has worked out well for us. Especially if there are two couples. We always ate breakfrast at home, lunch when travelling, and a mix of home and restaurants for evening. It is fun to shop in the local supermarket or bakery. Language is no problem. Train is the best way to travel but make sure the apartment or home is not to far from the rail station. The Swiss Pass is the best to use, It has many more features than a Eurail Pass.
The rail system in Austria is good on the east west axis (Innsbruck-Sallzburg-Vienna) but is not nearly as good if you want to go up in the mountains
Dick

Hello jbauman,

I don't have any experience with Interhome, apart from that I completely agree with Dick, we always did it the same way and it worked out fine for us. There are many ways to find a nice apartment, or, if you prefer, a hotel.