Travel tips for November / early December

Hello,

We would like to kindly ask you for some travel tips and also share our experience with the forum members.

Since we moved to Switzerland (just for 2 months though) we've already seen/done:

• Zurich, as we live here. We would like to recommend the old town, Kunsthaus (free on Wednesdays), Wiedikon and Binz neighbourhoods (if you want to see some city life), Uetliberg, Zurich west (the other side of the city, not only on the map), Sukkulenten-Sammlung (it's awesome and free!), Pavillon Le Corbusier (!), Zurich lake and many more. It's a really nice city and a great place to live.
• Guarda - beautiful mountain village.
• Schatzalp / Davos - we stayed in Berghotel Schatzalp - a hotel which inspired Thomas Mann to write one of the greatest novels ever written - "The Magic Mountain". It was wonderful!
• Sankt Gallen -one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
• Ascona and Monte Verita mountain (+ great Bauhaus hotel) - awesome lakeside town.
• Gotthard Panorama Express + boat from Flüelen to Luzern (+ Luzern itself, espiecially Sammlung Rosengrat as they have lots of works by Paul Klee on display).
• Mustair (Convent of St John) + Postbus drive through Swiss National Park (would love to come back to do some hiking!).
• Sankt Moritz, Sils Maria (we truly recommend Hotel Seraina, great staff, perfect location, very tasty rösti!), Maloja Pass.
• Bernina Express - awesome train ride.
• Chur - nice museums and old town.
• Golden Pass Line from Luzern to Montreux - this was really a jaw-dropping experience, if you start early (we started at 6 am from Zurich) you can enjoy the sunrise in the mountains, it's absolutely wonderful, the views are stunning and the trains very comfortable. Speaking about trains - Golden Pass Classic between Zweisimmen and Montreux is pretty cool!
• Montreux (Queen Studio Experience! You can visit the studio when they recorded a couple of their most important records, including the last one + you can mix two songs by yourself which is really fantastic!), Veytaux (Hotel Masson - another Swiss Historic Hotel - very beautiful), Chillon Castle, Lavaux vineyards (Vinorama in Rivaz is a good place to taste and the movie is really interesting) + Mont Pelerin, Vevey (if like us you're into photography, don't miss their great photo cameras museum!).
• Jura - Neuchatel + La Chaux-de-Fonds (the birthplace of Le Corbusier; you can visit the so called Maison Blanche - first work by LC which is amazing).

What we plan to see:

• Bern (as we only took a short walk through the old town in the evening, coming back from Jura to Zurich; that's a nice option BTW, if you have a travel pass). We would love to visit Paul Klee Zentrum and maybe the Fine Arts Museum.
• Basel - museums + Fondation Beyeler.
• Winterthur - musems (Fotomuseum, Fotostiftung, Museum Oskar Reinhart).
• Ruinaulta - Swiss Grand Canyon - and here is my first question - we would like to hike there next Sunday (www.myswitzerland.com/ en-ch/senda-ruinaulta-the-swiss-rhine-gorge-route.html?lc=en&cc=ch), could you recommend something nice to see/do nearby? Any train trip / out of the beaten path village or sight?
• Glacier Express route - we planned to take the Glacier Express itself but because of the seasonal break we want to do the same route taking regio trains.
• Zermatt + Gornergrat Bahn (Matterhorn).
• Fideris - we really love Graubunden so we decided to come back again and sleep in Tuermlihaus. Any ideas about hikes / places to see nearby?
• Maybe - Rigi bahn to Rigi mountain.

Could you recommend us any other places for November / early December which are really worth visiting? Thank you in advance for any tips!

K. & A.

Hi K. & A., welcome to MySwissAlps!

So you're temporarily residing in Switzerland? That's great! You've already been exploring the country thoroughly. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with other forum members here, they're very helpful. It's obvious that you've been combining tourist highlights with remoter areas so far, which is an excellent choice. I fully understand your love for Graubünden; it's a wonderful canton with lots and lots of hiking options, atmospheric towns and splendid nature to explore. Now, as for your further plans: the links I've inserted provide information about the sites/routes you've mentioned. Here are some more answers:

• the hike you linked, or part of it, could be an option for your visit to the Rhine gorge next Sunday. Note that, depending on your point of departure, it takes a while to get to the starting point in Laax. But I assume you're familiar with the timetable by now and that you can estimate whether or not a trip is too much for the time you have available. Alternatively you can walk parallel to the rail tracks and river, e.g. near Versam-Safien. An overview of all trails can be found here. Whether they're still well accessible depends on current weather and snow circumstances. A local tourist office should be able to inform you about this. The train trip along the river here is a must. However, this segment is part of the Glacier Express ride you planned as well, so you'll get to enjoy the views from the train anyway;
• unfortunately I'm not that familiar with details of the Fideris area. Hiking trails are displayed here. I hope the Prättigau Tourist website will be of help. Trips to Davos, Chur and Arosa are doable from Fideris. Although it's not much of an "off-beaten path" tip, I do want to mention the Weisshorn near Arosa. In clear weather you'll get to enjoy a splendid roundabout view of the Bündner mountains. The train trip from Chur to Arosa is highly recommended too.

Enjoy your stay in Switzerland, and let us know if you have any further tips or questions!

Hello Arno,

Thanks a lot for your answer and for your wonderful website, it's one of our main sources of information.

• I contacted tourist office in Laax today and got the reply that the trail is accessible so it should be fine :)
• Thank you for the tip about Arosa, we didn't hear about it and would definitely check it out!