Switzerland

Best and worst sights, experiences and destinations:

Best: the Berner Oberland
Why: The scenery was just awe-inspiring.

Victoria Van Wie in Cypress, TX USA 06/22/2008

Best: Berner Oberland: Lauterbrunnen and Gimmelwald
Why: Absolutely awesome scenery in a removed yet very comfortable setting. Hotel Silberhorn had wonderful views, extremely helpful and friendly staff. Gimmelwald was marvelous! Happy Cows!

Curt and Patty Henderson in Minnetrista, MN USA 06/05/2008

Best: Layover in Interlaken; Picasso Museum in Lucerne
Why: Layover in Interlaken breaks up Golden Pass nicely. David Douglas Duncan's photos in the Picasso Museum really bring the artist alive. Three 20-something American girls I overheard there were commenting on that very thing.

Worst: Golden Pass route was a little disappointing
Why: Views were, of course, terrific, but trains were much slower than expected and frequent stops detracted from the experience. I think the book should lower the expectations or insistently urge travelers to take the first class Grand Vue trains. But still a great experience!

Karren Tolliver in New Port Richey, FL USA 03/07/2008

Best: Lauterbrunnen valley
Why: It is the most beautiful, majestic, dynamic place I have ever seen. Coupled with the amazing infrastructure of trains, gondolas and buses it is perfect for a traveller looking for a true Swiss alpine experience. It is safe, clean and super well organized. Was awe struck by the trip to the Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn and the Trummelbachfalls. Absolutely fantastic!

Jake in El Paso, NM USA 01/23/2008

Best: Boeb's chalet in Murren
Why: The most beautiful sight out of our windows. Kitty and Boeb were wonderful hosts. Clean apartment. Went with him up the mountain when he went to play his Alphon. He was going to play for Rick's tour group the next day. When we left on the cable car, to sadly leave Murren, Boeb was in his yard waving to us like we were old friends. That's how we felt. Great recommendation. We stayed in Ollie and Maria's about eight years ago, we hiked down to Gimmelwald, but did not get much of a response from Ollie, when we told him we stay with him before. We were looking forward to seeing where we had stayed, we always said we go back to Gimmelwald, and we did, but were a bit disappointed with the response to us. He did not seem impressed. I'm glad we tried Murren this time.

Jane Denahey in Merrimac, MA USA 10/29/2007

Best: Brünli and Gimmelwald
Why: Brünli's a small hill about halfway between Gimmelwald and Schiltorn. AMAZING spot to sit and reflect on life. This place is truly heaven on earth -- you're surrounded by mountains and the sound of cowbells and glacier-fed rivers. Gimmelwald was absolutely great -- I can't think of another spot I'd rather stay. The only slightly negative comment about Gimmelwald: I ran into 11 people *from Seattle* carrying Rick Steves guidebooks in Gimmelwald in 48 hours!!!

Worst: Zermatt
Why: Great weather while I was there, so I spent as much time as possible up in the mountains. But the town itself is way too touristy. Which Rick warns about, but I guess I didn't expect such a significant amount of stores & tourists.

Colin Chapman in Seattle, WA USA 09/14/2007

Best: Bernese Oberland - Murren
Why: What a beautiful little town. One of the most favorite places we visited on a 12 country visit to Europe last week.

Worst: Zermatt
Why: way too busy and touristy...but Gornergrat was great!!!

Laura in Houston, TX USA 08/21/2007

Worst: Gimmelwald
Why: This location really didn't deserve the hightlight it was given. The little village didn't have anything to offer a tourist. I understand its off the beaten track- which by the way is how I like to travel. However, there is a line that must be crossed when you list something as off to beaten track to completly dead. I much preferred the town of Lauterbrunnen-which provided that small town feel, yet still alive, very accessible and not too touristy as was Grindlewald or Interlaken.

Eaman Osman in Toronto, ON Canada 08/17/2007

Best: Berner Oberland
Why: Magnificent scenery and great hiking opportunities.

Worst: Lausanne City History Museum
Why: Absolutely nothing in English and the staff was reluctant to offer any help.

Michael Maturo in North Haven, CT USA 07/05/2007

Best: Mt. Rigi, Lion Monument in Lucerne, Swiss Museum in Zurich etc.
Why: Great recommendations in the book. We followed alot of them!

Worst: Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne
Why: It was out of the way, we didn't think it was worth the 2 triangles. There were alot of kids just hanging out there.

Sara Shaughnessy in Palm City, Fl USA 07/04/2007

Best: Murten
Why: Just a really nice compact town, easy to get around with beautiful lake views and lots of good places to eat.

Worst: Did not care much for Bern
Why: Probably because we never saw it in anything but rain!

Kathleen Burkley in Peoria, IL USA 06/13/2007

Best: Lauterbrunnen in the Berner Oberland
Why: It offers many days worth of wonderful walks and hikes, each one unique and spectacular. We stayed five days and could have stayed longer.

Gail and Dean in Ladner, BC Canada 11/29/2006

Best: Gimmelwald
Why: It was better than we imagined. Just the quaintness and scenery.Loved the cows and the bells. Meeting Walter & Tim and the other guests was so much fun. We were in heaven!

Penny Holubowsky in Chndler, AZ USA 11/01/2006

Best: Mannlichen-Kleine Scheidegg hike
Why: Beautiful views, flowers, and not strenuous

Worst: Lugano
Why: Not enough interesting sights--and the best one was not listed: the Swiss Miniatur exhibit at nearby Melide. Just a big city full of boutiques & banks, no other interesting sights or shops. Gandria looked so run down we didn't even get off the ferry!

Eileen Kemp in Portland, OR USA 10/28/2006

Best: Mürren
Why: The Berner Oberland Mountain region was beautiful and this was an excellent home base while touring the area. Magnificent views!

Gary & Kathy in Marion, IA USA 10/18/2006

Best: Berner Oberlander region - Muerren
Why: Wonderful small town ,access only by gondola - views of Jungfrau spectacular - Gimmelwald an easy 30 min. walk downhill, gondola back up - gondola to the Shilthorn for champagne breakfast ! Wonderful, well worth the money.

Worst: Avenches
Why: Unless you are REALLY into Roman ruins, there is no reason to visit this town. The main street was torn up, empty buildings,and very few restaurants, which were the smokiest of our 3 weeks tour.

Bob and Janet James in Smiths Falls, On Canada 10/11/2006

Best: Gimmelwald
Why: Authentic Swiss culture

Frank Reiter in North Vancouver, BC Canada 10/09/2006

Best: Hike from Mannlichen to Wengen
Why: Awesome views of Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Grindelwald, and the Eiger & Monch & Jungfrau. We saw avalanches, watched the trains head up the mountain, & posed for pictures w/ Swiss cows. It was a perfect day.

Julie in Los Angeles, CA USA 10/05/2006

Best: Gimmelwald
Why: An alpine gem.

Frank in Reiter, BC Canada 09/25/2006

Best: alpine lifts and hiking & Lauterbrunnen
Why: lots of fun, variation and choices. great town for base-camp.

Worst:
Why: Gimmelwald is a bit overstated. Too detailed cookie cutter info in the book. Made it feel like a theme park. "see Esther here", "meet so and so here" etc.

Susan in Miami, FL USA 09/21/2006

Best: Muerren
Why: Muerren could be the prettiest place I have ever been. It is worth the extra time and effort to get there.

Worst: Nothing.
Why: You cannot have a bad day in Swizterland.

Jeff Kane in North Tustin, CA USA 09/06/2006

Best: Lauterbrunner
Why: Low key town but centrally located. Easy access to hiking trails and other areas of local interest.

Worst: Mt. Pilatus
Why: In fairness to your readers, you should mention that the gondola ride down from the top can be very scarey if you are not used to the heights. There is a series of 3 lifts up/down. The one closest to the top is large but the other two are small 4 person cars. We took the gondola down the mountain and ended up getting off at the 2nd transition station and hiked the last third of the way. The hike was extremely pleasant, well marked and not all that steep. The hike was much more enjoyable than the gondola ride. Perhaps the higher trails are dangerous as the book mentions, but the lower trail is safe and ok to do with kids (ours was age 7). Also - after all the effort to get to the mountain top (and back down) - it was raining and cloudy but the time we arrived so we couldn't really see very much at the top.

Maxine Weber in Merion Station, PA USA 09/04/2006

Best: Gimmelwald!
Why: Unique, still not too touristy, the cows, the homes, with real people living there. It was fantastic. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Robin Wylie in Nampa, Id USA 08/21/2006

Best: Hotel Schonegg, Wengen Switzerland
Why: Beautiful well-kept hotel, convenient in-town location and gorgeous mt. views. The breakfast buffet was great and the evening meals gourmet! Can't wait to stay there again!

Worst: Hotel Murtenhof, Murten
Why: Outdated rooms not clean, pricey for what they were.

Chjeryl Handte in Boalsburg, PA USA 08/15/2006

Best: St. Gallen Abbey Library
Why: Incredible building and book collection

Worst: Interlaken
Why: Run amok with tour groups; we'd stay in Gimmelwald or Lauterbrunnen next time.

Walt Zerkow in Houston, TX USA 08/10/2006

Best: hiking around Murren on the Northface Trail
Why: one of the best days of my life! Absolutely loves this hike! We had great clear weather and the mountains around us were undescribable!

Worst: Formule 1 hotel, Zurich airport
Why: not a Rick recommendation. Need some recommendations for Zurich airport hotels.

Shannon Hammond in Hoover, AL USA 08/08/2006

Best: Mt. Pilatus, Berner Swim, Mannlichen - Kleine Scheidegg hike
Why: Lucerne was a terrific home base for the awesome, can't miss Mt. Pilatus excursion. The lake cruise was a terrific look at sweet vacation villages and the water was inviting and beautiful; the funicular trip up the mountain was exciting and picturesque; and the hike options at the top and the views were some of the best we saw while in Switzerland. The views of the valleys and the lake below are different than the snow-topped mountain views in the Berner Oberland region, but were some of the most striking of our trip.

We had amazing warm sunny weather for 8 straight days, which made ditching our bags at the Bern train station and heading down to the baths our most favorite activity of all. Along with easily 2,000 others, we took in the sun and pitched ourselves into the Aare River multiple times for a float. It would have been helpful for the guidebook to mention that aqua shoes would be wise, as our feet were burned walking upriver along the paved path before our jump in, and our feet were scraped as we hauled ourselves out of the current. We could have been happy here all day.

The walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg was beautiful beyond words. The path was somewhat crowded but the views were amazing. It was this walk that really made us appreciate how lucky we were to be honeymooning in Switzerland.

Worst: Jungfraujoch
Why: I think the guidebook should have made more clear the fact that this is overrun by tourists. The restaurant is named 'Bollywood,' for pete's sake. While we did catch about 30 minutes of views before the clouds rolled in, I think our time would have been better spent hiking closer to our home base in Murren. We won't be back.

Sara in Philadelphia, PA USA 08/07/2006

Best: Berner Oberland
Why: view from Mannlichen was incredible, that from Schilthorn sublime. Crappy weather kept us off the Jungfrauhoch. We ended up staying in Interlaken - truly, Lauterbrunnen would have been better - cooler in the summer - or Spiez - cheaper and better hotels with a beautiful lake. Gimmelwald would have been TOO quiet for me.

Worst: Bern
Why: Decent enough Altstadt, but I would follow Rick's advice and just blow through on a daytrip on the way to Murten (which we did).

Roger Satterthwaite in Pasadena, CA USA 07/30/2006

Best: Lucerne
Why: Just what you would imagine Switzerland to be like

Worst: Laussane
Why: Worst city in Switzerland - Boring, no charm, difficult and ugly! like a bad coastal city in the states.

shagun in flint, mi USA 07/23/2006

Worst: Jungfraujoch
Why: Hated it. Cost us over $300 to get there (2 of us) and it was absolutely not worth it. The views from Murren (where we stayed) were better. It took us 6 hrs round-trip, from Murren; would have much rather spent it hiking near Murren. We've been to Chamonix, the French Alps, and they were 1000 times better than Jungfraujoch. When we got to the top destination there was only a very small area where we could go outside to see what view there was and it was packed with 50 rowdy teenagers running around and throwing snow at each other. There was some kind of strange fencing (it appeared to be temporary and half falling down) all around this small area, which ruined our photos. If you are not outside in this very small area, you are indoors at either the restaurant, the cheaper cafe area, tiny gift shop, or ice museum. We did not go all the way to the top to stay indoors! It was AWFUL!

Susan in Corte Madera, Ca USA 07/21/2006

Best: Trummelbach Falls
Why: Rick gives Trummelbach just 1 star but the access to these extremely fast flowing awesome waterfalls was a highlight of our day. Highly recommend it

michigander in san jose, ca USA 07/19/2006

Best: Berner Oberland
Why: Amazing amount of stuff to do if you like the outdoors. Easy train connections with Swiss Pass. Could spend 5-6 days here alone.

Worst: Zermatt
Why: Got caught by weather. Absolutely nothing to do in this town when it is too nasty to go up the mountains. Very, very expensive.

Christopher Reich in Billings, MT USA 07/15/2006

Best: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
Why: The scenery is amazing, everything could be photographed! It was truly the highlight of our trip. Experiencing hiking in the alps, hearing the cow bells at night, looking out the window and seeing the snow covered mountains, the wildflowers, the hang gliders, meeting Walter and Tim...I hope to return!

Mary in Minneapolis, MN USA 07/13/2006

Best: Hike from above Murren back down to Gimmelwald
Why: This hike is completely awesome. Rick says it's his favorite and I completely agree. Having grown up in colorado I have never seen anything so amazingly beautiful!

Worst: Nothing!
Why: We spent 5 days of our 5 week trip in the lauterbrunnen valley and it was absolutely our favorite stop!

Jill Henniger in Kailua, HI USA 07/03/2006

Best: Montreux, Zematt
Why: Montreux is fantastic and a boatride out on Lake Geneva is relaxing. The nightlife is lively. Harry's New York Bar at Montreux Palace is a great retreat and ice is not a foreign word. Zermatt is quait, Klein Matterhorn is fun and enough hiking and even skiing.

Worst: Interlaken
Why: I know RS loves this place but we didn't feel it. The best thing I can say is the Coop next to the Interlaken BH was big and had everything. We wouldn't go back.

Darlene in San Antonio, TX USA 06/29/2006

Best: Berner Oberland region - Murren
Why: Hiking, scenery

Cindy in Portland, OR USA 06/24/2006

Best: Interlaken area
Why: Kodak picture perfect, steriotype of Switzerland. I would suggest that non-hikers perhaps stay in interlaken or a ski resort town like Grimmelwald, and young adults go to that wild youth hostel. The train to the mountains is fast from there, and night life is nonexistent outside interlaken. We stayed in the Hotel Tschuggen (41.(0)33 853 17 81) that is run by a warm friendly young couple well versed in the different hiking and skiing trails in the area. It was a little less expensive, comfortable and the couple speak very good "American".

Worst: Appensel
Why: Tourist trap. Expensive, bad food, and out of the way. Wished I had gone some place else. However, one town further on the train is a very expensive hotel and behind them a little man makes cheese the old way in a little cabin. Tourist info can direct you to him if you are in the area. People are nice, probably ok if you are into hiking and it is your only goal.

a. brewer in wilmington, nc USA 06/18/2006

Best: Cable car to the Schilthorn and back, including a stop in Murren, a walk down to Gimmelwald, and the "brownies" at the Pension Gimmelwald
Why: On a clear day this is a beautiful trip to take. And the Swiss Pass covers the trip to and from Murren and 50% of the rest of the trip to the Schilthorn, making it very affordable.

Jim Perschbacher in Mableton, GA USA 06/11/2006

Best: Swiss National Museum, Zurich
Why: First floor contains a fascinating history of man as depicted by artifacts found in Switzerland. Plan 2-3 hours to see and experience it all. If you just want to walk through without reading the tour companion booklet 1 hour is enough.

Richard in Cupertino, CA USA 05/24/2006

Best: Murren/Appenzell
Why: For the scenery and the friendliness of the people. But I think Appenzell is shortchanged in your book. The town itself is a letdown after Murren, but the hiking we did in the area was better and had more variety (in scenery and level of difficulty) than the hikes we took from Murren.

Stacey in Napoli, Italia 05/23/2006

Best: Lauterbrunnen, Trummelbach Falls
Why: Lauterbrunnen was quant, friendly and in such a great location. We were able to walk down the road, and get to all of the major sights in the Jungfrau region very easily. We spoke with some people staying in Gimmelwald/Murren area. They loved where they were, but it was a hassle to go to other areas. Trummelbach Falls were incredible. We went on a rainy day, which was perfect because you get really wet in the caves!

Worst: Luzern
Why: We went to Luzern on a Saturday in mid-May. It was mobbed with people. The one public bathroom we used was disgusting. The architecture was nice to look at and the lake views are pretty, but I was really disappointed. I would have preferred to spend that time in Zurich, which Rick seemed to downplay.

Brenda Sheridan in Yorktown Heights, NY USA 05/15/2006

Best: a "down day" in Gimmelwald
Why: we wandered the village, watched the weather change over the mountains, saw the season's new lambs, took a great nap, and ate too much, all without leaving Gimmelwald - what a great vacation from our vacation!

Shannon Bailey in St Petersburg, FL USA 04/24/2006

Best: Murten
Why: The ramparts as well as the entire medieval village were wonderful to see. We took some amazing pictures from the ramparts, and we ate at the local pizzeria. We also visited the grocery store nearby, which was conveniently located near the rail station.

Heng Tran in Wichita, KS USA 04/08/2006

Best: the Schilthornbahn cable car
Why: I used it to go to the Schilthorn's Piz Gloria (awesome scenery), then down to Gimmelwald and back up to Murren. These three places were the highlight of my 2005 trip in Switzerland.

Worst: the weather
Why: On the Switzerland portion of my 2004 trip, it rained almost nonstop during the entire three days I had in Switzerland. I finally had to go to the French alps to see some blue sky.

Steven Schumacher in Katy, TX USA 04/04/2006

Best: Oberland hikes
Why: Coming from a flatland like Florida, I found the mountain views incredible and the hikes vigorous.

Worst: Jungfraujoch
Why: I don't consider this the worst experience, only over-rated. To be sure, the Jungfraujoch was amazing once I got there. But the 2+ roundtrip hours spent on a crowded train is no fun. Neither is the $100+ price tag. On balance, had I spent those 5+ hours doing a hike, I would have gotten far more enjoyment out of it at only a tiny fraction of the cost. I would not do the Jungfraujoch again even if it were free.

The genuinely worst experience was Zurich. If I want a big European city, I will go to Paris, London, Berlin, or Rome. Zurich has all the charm of Detroit.

Edward in Flaherty, FL USA 03/27/2006

Best: Gimmelwald
Why: We LOVED this little village in the mountains. We stayed at Esthers's...she was a wonderful hostess. We went up to the Schilthorn (we now know what the sonic boom is) fabulous views. Can't say enough! We would like to stay a week or 2 next time. Did I mention the AIR up there!!

Angela McQuillan in Toronto, ON Canada 01/11/2006