david lloyd Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 We are planning our first trip to Switzerland and wanted to get some first hand information from all you experienced travellers out there......... Our initial thoughts are centred on Lake Lucerne area in June but we are open to other suggestions. Unfortunately (due to advancing years and bits seizing up or falling off) we are not able to take advantage of the many physical activites the country has to offer such as hiking or even summer skiing but we are told that the scenery is glorious and would be happy to find suitable sites in areas of beauty where we can relax, stroll around interesting places and absorb the atmosphere. So, any information on must see places, best campsites or routes to/from Switzerland, places to avoid at all costs and best time for some sunshine will be gratefully received. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljc Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 We've been to Interlaaken a couple ot times staying on different sites there. Motorway network is good and both times we went via Bern from N.E. France. Electric hook ups have different plugs, but we were lent adapters on both sites. Camp site fees include free use of postbus which is great for getting around. Good trips up the mountains using train, tram and cablecars for the less energetic. Lin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Switzerland is one of my favorite countries, if you like mountain scenery you will love it. The motorways charge, you can buy a ticket on entry to the country if you wish, personally I would not bother they are easy to avoid. To many places to list but my favorite is the area around Grindelwald, the mountain railway that runs through the Eiger is one not to miss but pick a clear day. In my younger days I did a lot of climbing in this area but still go back just to look. Campsites are not to expensive and electric will be either the normal 'blue plug' or a two pin connecter. Routes to the country depend on how fast and where from. If from Calais fastest is by autoroute via Reims, Dijon then Autoroute Blanc to Geneva but it depends where you wish to enter the country and if you wish to avoid French autoroutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philman Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Camping International Lido at Lucerne is right on the edge of the lake. There is a lakeside path that goes right into the city, 10 to 15 minute walk. There are several supermarkets also just a few minutes walk away. There are lovely views of the mountains from the campsite and plenty of nice places to visit. gps N47.05003 E8.33825 Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel wood Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Camping Oberei at Wildeswil (Interlaken) is a pleasant family run friendly site. It is a 15 minute walk to the station for trains to various local destinations including Interlaken (free), Shynegee Platte (highly recommended), Lauterbrunnen (for connections to various mountains) and to Grindelwald ( a good cable car ride available there). I agree about Camping Lido. If you like Sherlock Holmes do visit Meiringen. Invest in Caravan Club Camping Europe Book 2 and a good guide book. I suggest 'The Rough Guide'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hymer C 9. Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Enjoy your trip to Switzerland, as with all the above posts would definitely have Lucerne as a part of the holiday such a interesting place with so much to see, Camping Lido is very central with a easy walk along the side of the lake into town. Carol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Would recommend the train ride to the top of the Jungfrau via Klein Scheddig. Expensive but worth every penny. Pick settled weather. Also the Shilthorn (Rotating restuarant) via cable car from Lauterbrunnen via Murren. Tummelbach falls in same valley. Camp sites in Grindlewald are overlooked by the Eiger range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Thanks to everyone so far and do keep the suggestions coming - are there any views on best time of year - is our planned time of visit in June going to produce favourable weather? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borderer Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I agree that Switzerland is the most amazing place. I cannot advise you about travel there by motorhome, as we are new to this, but we have been there many times. The Interlaken region is well worth a visit. You could spend weeks there. Once you are on your camp site there will be no need to use your motorhome as public transport is frequent and reliable. It can be expensive, but if you choose one of the travel cards it works out cheaper. We used the Jungfrau region card this year, and only had to pay extra to get up the last stage of the Jungfraujoch train from the Eiger Glacier (expensive but superb...choose your day...all stations have live webcams so you can see the conditions on the tops). We also had to pay extra to go to the Schilthorn from Murren (the revolving restaurant in the Bond film "On Her Majesty's secret service)...again superb views on a good day. You get discounts on both trips with the travel card (which you can buy there at any tourist office, railway station or possibly even your campsite) The link below will give you more information if you paste it into your browser: http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-20/172_read-696/ Berne is a beautiful city with "rows" like chester. Great shopping and museums. It is good to cruise on the lakes from Interlaken too. Whilst we were there this year I took the opportunity of a flight from the glacier...about £50...worth every penny as we were taken across the north face of the Eiger. To top it all beer is still about the same as the UK. :-D Restaurants are expensive, but supermarkets are OK and there is a big Coop in Interlaken. A great place for a holiday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borderer Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Forgot to add...we went in early August. Some of the high mountain paths may still be closed in June because of snow, but all the cable cars still run to the tops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raindrop Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Lucerne, as others say, the Camping Lido is beside the lake. It’s also right next to the Transport Museum, mainly of railway stock. The Museum often has special outdoor events within the grounds. They did have a tethered Helium Balloon in the yard that lifted you to 1,000 ft. An unusual arrangement with a single cable controlled from a winch. The passengers were not positioned in a normal basket as we know it. They stood around a circular walkway some 30 feet in diameter just holding on to the sides, with a great wide hole of nothing in the centre down to the ground! It got a bit windy one day and tipped some passengers out! Now it’s no more. All that’s left is the circular launch pad. The walk into town is really very easy with plenty of aside seating and food outlets. There are lake boat tours from the pier plus a normal scheduled passenger service circling the lakeside towns. During the summer, take the "Golden Round Trip" - a popular route for tourists it involves taking a boat from Lucerne pier-head, across and round the lake to Alpnachstad, then disembark for a ride on the cogwheel funicular railway to the top of Mt Pilatus at 7,000 ft (Food available), coming down the high rocky slopes on the aerial cableway and then the smaller panorama gondolas amongst the forest trees to ground level, then taking a bus back to Lucerne. We did it the opposite way. The railway station is right beside the pier. For a day out we travelled a return train ride to Romashorn on the southern shores of Lake Constantz. ( Food available). Take a boat ride across the lake to Freidrikshaven the home of the great airship designer Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, visit the Airship Museum beside the pier, and walk inside part of an airship. All the above are easily suitable for those with older body parts. Google Lucerne web cams, or view the centre road cameras, many show the walkway into Lucerne and lake side views of Mt Pilatus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Some of the higher mountain passes may be closed in early June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homenaway Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Hi David, We visited Switzerland early June this year and found some lovely places to camp and a few free aires as well! We travelled from Bern to Lake Geneva then south to the Valais, Zermatt and Saas Fee. Lots of impressive scenery and mostly sunny with a couple of wet days. The main passes were open but some were still closed. We returned via Lake Lucerne then to Grindelwald. We stayed mostly at ACSI discount sites - not very busy in June except at Grindelwald. Cable cars and mountain railways were mostly expensive even with the discount card but we found plenty of level walking. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Very Sorry Have some very beautiful views etc of Switzerland all correctly reduced but keep getting "Server Error please try later" so will try again later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Philman - 2009-11-25 4:57 PM Camping International Lido at Lucerne is right on the edge of the lake. There is a lakeside path that goes right into the city, 10 to 15 minute walk. There are several supermarkets also just a few minutes walk away. There are lovely views of the mountains from the campsite and plenty of nice places to visit. gps N47.05003 E8.33825 Phil. do they still do spit roast chickens? i can smell then now pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Will not download photo's again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 stayed for 5 days in Interlaken then Lake Maggiore on the way to Italy last year..... and at camping Lido, Lucerne on way back, really really nice and great cycling areas. but for truly blissful weather you need to go a bit further :-D from camping Lido you can catch ferry boats to town centre if you don't fancy walking/cycling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-11-26 5:57 PM stayed for 5 days in Interlaken then Lake Maggiore on the way to Italy last year..... and at camping Lido, Lucerne on way back, really really nice and great cycling areas. but for truly blissful weather you need to go a bit further :-D from camping Lido you can catch ferry boats to town centre if you don't fancy walking/cycling Judge Yes the weather is a fairly important facet and we are not entirely sure that June will be the best time but we wanted to avoid the peak season of July/August as we will also be travelling through and in France during the period. Looked at some of the weather and tourist websites and they do, however, tend to agree on June being one of the better months outside of the peak. I know Homenaway toured there last June - what do yoy think? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 david lloyd - 2009-11-27 12:07 PM JudgeMental - 2009-11-26 5:57 PM stayed for 5 days in Interlaken then Lake Maggiore on the way to Italy last year..... and at camping Lido, Lucerne on way back, really really nice and great cycling areas. but for truly blissful weather you need to go a bit further :-D from camping Lido you can catch ferry boats to town centre if you don't fancy walking/cycling Judge Yes the weather is a fairly important facet and we are not entirely sure that June will be the best time but we wanted to avoid the peak season of July/August as we will also be travelling through and in France during the period. Looked at some of the weather and tourist websites and they do, however, tend to agree on June being one of the better months outside of the peak. I know Homenaway toured there last June - what do yoy think? David We travel high season all the time we have no choice! Wife works in education and my children are still studying. We have never experienced any difficulty what so ever, either on the road or finding campsites. Now, the run to the south can be busy and needs planning, and the best campsites need to be booked ahead but thats it really....... we were in Interlaken end of July, days where fine, evenings a lot cooler as you would expect in the mountains. But to be honest our holiday really begins when we get to Italy proper and those barmy warm nights. Its what holidaying is all about IMO. Cycling to a nice restaurant in the evening relaxing outside without a flecce on:-S The number of times we talk to people on way home on campsites who spend weeks in the north........no wonder they look so miserable they haven't had a proper holiday! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi. We were just talking about where to go, and first idea was Austria. Dont have any knowledge of Austria, or Switzerland, so could be persuaded either way. I was just wondering whether our paths might be destined to cross. Our initial plan would be to depart uk late may, and return end of first week July, and hope to use Camping cheques, France passion en route, and acsi sites where relevant. We are in the age group having had to renew driving licence last year, and for the last 10 years have spent holiday time in south of france, so fancy a change this year. The suggestions so far mentioned seem appealing, so we might take up some of them as well Have a safe holiday. tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raindrop Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Not sure on the camping side but almost any Swiss village is different to this country. We've been to Appenzell, Lenk and others, it depends on what you are looking for. To just view it all then move every two days but we like a week in one place to make it feel like you're part of the scene. sometimes the advertised pictures differ from what one expects, the general views hardly change but close ups of a particular scene may now be behind modern architecture. During the winter months every week there's a Swiss Railways film on sky 252. 9am. 12pm. 3pm. Very scenic it is too. Views from the Trains, Helicopters, Cars and Individuals. Well worth a look. It covers all routes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 From our initial thoughts and the feedback so far the (very rough) plan would be to cross via our usual carrier eurotunnel ( tesco vouchers + dog = a great crossing!) then head for Lucerne and the Camping International Lido site so many have recommended after a couple of stops through France. Stay perhaps 3 - 4 days to take in some of the area then move on to Interlaken for another 3 - 4 days. Perhaps then to Lake Geneva for a couple more days before making our way back up through France to get the dog vetted at St Omer. We know we will not see all there is to see to see in this trip but that's not the intention - always leave something for another trip - but we also want a relaxing holiday too. Which means getting some reasonably good weather and therein lies the unknown.................. Judge - we are not too worried about booking some of the sites in advance if it is going to be busy in July (did this the first ever trip to France one May and then found we were one of only a few campers on any of the sites that time!!) but getting into Italy and beyond in about three - four weeks would make us feel we are rushing it a bit. We do intend doing such trips in the future when time will not be an issue but are a little limited just at the moment. Seems we just have the one decision to make now - June or July? Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raindrop Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Don't forget the Swiss Railways features tomorrow Sunday. Sky 252. 9am. 12pm. 3pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Raindrop Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Swiss Railways today. One chance left to watch it at 3pm. (And every week of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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