Planning a trip to Switzerland around 19 Nov

Hi
I'm planning a trip to Switzerland with my 2 young children (5 and 7 years), my hubby and my parents (aged 62).
Was dismayed to read about the apparent bad weather during this period. It seems even residents of Switzerland want to get out during Nov period. But I don't have a choice of changing my vacation dates.

If so, what else is there for my group of 6 to do when I'm there? Could you suggest a possible itinerary? I do not want the children or old folks perpetually caught up in cold fog and end up staying at the hotel the whole time. Perhaps there are other parts of Switzerland that are less affected by the cold fog?

Or should I leave Switzerland out of my Nov holiday plans? Or perhaps visit in Dec instead?

Would appreciate some opinion and advice.
Thanks!
Genie

HAVE VISITED IN NOV. ON 3 OCCASIONS, WEATHER HAS BEEN EXCELLENT TWICE AND RATHER DREARY THE OTHER TIME. WENT IN MAY 2010 AND IT RAINED FOR 2 WEEKS, THIS YEAR IN MAY TEMPS WERE SUNNY AND WARM[70's]. YOU JUST DON'T EVER KNOW FOR SURE. I USUALLY STAY IN INTERLAKEN, GOOD ACCESS TO THE ALPS AND HIKING AND 50 MINS. AWAY BY TRAIN, BERN HAS AN ARCADED DOWNTOWN SHOPPING AREA. I STAY AT A CHRISTIAN YOUTH HOSTEL, ALSO SUITABLE FOR FAMILIES, EXCELLENT FACILITY[WWW.VILLA.CH][INTERLAKEN.CH] DEPENDING ON TRANSPORTATION USE A SWISS CARD WILL ALLOW CHILDREN UNDER 16 TO TRAVEL FREE ON RAIL. ONE LAST THING, USE YOUR TOURIST OFFICES FOR TRAVEL TIPS, THEY ARE EFFICIENT AND EXTREMELY HELPFUL. I AM A SINGLE TRAVELER SO I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH OF THIS WILL BE RELEVANT INFO. THE CITY OF LUCERNE HAS A WONDERFUL TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM THAT IS AT LEAST GOOD FOR A HALF DAY. ANY FURTHER INFO I CAN HELP WITH PLEASE LET ME KNOW

those fogs are related to the way the lakes equalise their temperatures to the winter norm, they're basically losing heat and vapour. It condenses very quickly reach any height. So, if you find yourself trapped in a fog you need to go upwards and it should clear.

In fact, here's some photo's of an October day just like that, a little light snow on the ground, cold air higher up and the plateau just filled with cloud. If you add a little imagination you can see what Switzerland was like in the last Ice Age, the ice would have been 1500m high here which is about the same height as the clound, so back in the ice age all this cloud would have been snow and ice.

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Stunning pictures, SwissMountainLeader! Thanks for adding them, and for your explanation on the fog.

Hi Rahman and Swiss Mountain Leader
Thanks for sharing your experience and the stunning photos.

I am wondering that in case the weather is foggy as your photos show, what can my group do? In Nov, if there is no fog, is it advisable to hike? I wonder because it could be very cold and the weather could change very quickly and we don't want to be caught up in fog when trying to negotiate some hiking trails (even the simple ones).

If there is fog, other than admiring the scenery and taking photos, there is not much we can do outdoors am I right?

I really wanted to go Switzerland for the outdoors and it seems like Nov is not really the period for it.

If I go in Dec instead and don't do much winter sports, I presume then there's nothing much our group can do outdoors as well? Should be too freezing cold or dangerous to do any hiking?

Thanks

As soon as there is snow on the ground we switch to snowshoes, if you can walk then you can snowshoe! I'm am International Mountain Leader (UIMLA) & snowshoe guide which means I'm trained in winter safety and safe travel in areas of avalanche danger and am allowed to take people into the mountains when there's snow on the ground. I'm also a writer for Snowshoe Magazine (some of my articles about Switzerland www.snowshoemagazine.com). On snowshoes we get to explore parts of the mountain that alpine skiers can't get to and we find places where's there's no pisted trails or lifts to spoil the natural landscape.

Here's someone near Fribourg on December 4th last year :

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November last year in the Jura, just over the border in France looking back at Switzerland and the Alps :

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& Julie having a "powder day" in November a couple of years ago :

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& my niece just messing around

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Some more info about snowshoeing on my site swissmountainleader.com/snowshoeing/ and swissmountainleader.com/snowshoeing-outdoors/