Suggestion for road trip France to Switzerland

Hello All,

Me and my friends are planning for a road trip to Switzerland from France. We are planning to start the trip on 22 of December and finish it on 29 December. This will be done by car. As currently we are at really scratch stage as not knowing the places to visit in December. So if anyone can suggest us few things which can help us in deciding the places and make it a very good trip. We are travelling from Nantes, France. Here are my questions:

1. top places to visit in December?

2. Staying places which are not that much costly.

Hi ketaki1191, and welcome to MySwissAlps!

1. Top places depend on what you're interested in, varying from skiing (if you can ski) to museums, to city trips, scenic trains, etc. Can you provide a bit more information? For ideas, please click "What to do" in the top menu.

2. If you avoid the real popular winter sport resorts like Zermatt and St. Moritz, there should be affordable accommodation in most towns. Having said that, you are traveling in the busiest time of the year so prices may reflect that. Staying in a valley will in general be cheaper than in the mountains. See our "Where to sleep" section for ideas please. Once you have selected towns, feel free to ask for accommodation advice in the accommodation forum.

Regarding traveling by car: December is not the best season for a "road trip" in the sense of exploring Alpine pass roads. Many will be closed, but perhaps that's not what you have in mind. December can be pretty wintery, so your car must be equipped appropriately and you should know how to drive on slippery roads and on mountain roads, if you plan to go there. In general the train system is the best and safest way to explore Switzerland, even more so in winter.

Does this help to get you started?

Thank you very much for your reply. We want a mix trip which concerns little bit of snowy ski trps and city trips(main concentration) also. So it will be kind if you can tell us few places to go in Switzerland.

According to you whether coming by car to Switzerland is not a good option in december is not a good option right?

Hi ketaki1191,

Bern and Lucerne are wonderful cities to consider. Lucerne is near the mountains so you can visit those too from there. You can consider Zurich as well. If there's enough snow late December (it will probably be alright), the choice of winter sport towns is nearly endless. Not too far from Bern and Lucerne are Engelberg, Mount Rigi and the Jungfrau region (Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren).

I'm not sure I understand your last question, but whether a car is a good option also depends on your driving skills and whether or not you have winter tires on your car. But, a car is not a necessity in Switzerland. The train system is excellent and all the suggested places can easily be reached by train. In the larger towns a car is more like a hindrance than an advantage. Wengen and Mürren can not be reached by car.