Switzerland

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Let me travel and write for you! :) I blog my travels at www.komnatachista.blogspot.com, if you're interested.

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

Love your book Rick, thanks for putting us on the right path seeing the heart of Europe. Lauterbrunnen and the Hotel Staubbach are Gems!

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

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

Not having Geneva in the Switzerland tour book leaves a big hole. My husband has frequently attended meetings there and I have found many enjoyable sites other visitors would enjoy: Old Town, a great lakeside walk and parks, not to mention visiting the UN, International Red Cross/ Red Crescent headquarters, many interesting museums, and shopping. It has boats, trams and trains to get around Geneva and other destinations on the lake. France is very close, also. We use your books when possible and think the addition of Geneva to the Switzerland book would help a lot of visitors.

L. Nutting in Santa Rosa, CA USA 10/12/2007

Don't stress Gimmelwald. I also feel the town of Toon should have gotten more emphasis- I had a very quant charm.

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

A regular paperback sized guidebook would be more useful (even if it has to be thicker). The maps need to be a little more to scale and a bit more professional..

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

I strongly recommend the addition of Basel into the guidebook. I have in my travels found it to be the most interesting city in Switzerland with it's many museums (the most in Switzerland I hear) and events such as Fasnacht (something that cannot be missed!).

Patrick Bertsch in Eugene, OR USA 01/11/2007

Stop picking on Interlaken; some of us enjoy the place! If your hiking at altitude days are in the past you can still get up to Gimmelwald for a day trip. Otherwise, I really like your books and have for years. We no longer stay at Aarburg in Interlaken but did several times and it was a great location. We find that an apartment is better for us now.

Kathleen Burkley in Peoria, IL USA 12/07/2006

This is a suggestion for the Graffiti Wall - for two years I have used your books and, prior to leaving, have booked an appt with your travel advisor. This has all been very valuable, and I thank you, however, on reading the Graffiti Wall, there are times when a place, restaurant or sleeping accommodation is recommended and the town or city is not mentioned. Very confusing and somewhat annoying.

[Editor's Note: We agree, we wish people would always list the specific town and country in all of their posts. But until this happens, we find that Googling the name of the hotel or restaurant can sometimes help narrow it down.]

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

We assumed that we could easily get on the bus from Lugano to Tirano so did not get reservations ahead. We were so lucky that there were JUST 2 seats left. Since anyone doing this will be paying the bus reservation fee anyway - I would advise that they get their reservations ahead of time to be assured that they will be able to make this trip on the day they wish.

Therese LeGro in Alfred Station, NY USA 10/31/2006

More moderate hotel listings for Luzern. Recommend Bellinzona (north of Lugano) rather than Lugano: 3 castles, no cars old town with lovely buildings and sights easily accessed (altho no A/C hotels near train station. Recommend Swiss Miniatur visit for Lugano--for all ages, 1:25 scale replicas of buildings from all over Switzerland.

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

Add a section on Basel, which is worth a visit.

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

Add that Lauterbrunnen's Mountain Holiday Camping Jungfrau campground has the best & cheapest restaurant in town! Grilled chicken or Alpinmacaroni all excellent and an easy walk from town. Eat in or out and great people watching young and old

Susan in Miami, FL USA 09/21/2006

Check out Hotel Splendid in Montreux. Good location. Meets your criteria.

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

Recommend that people travelling to the Berner Oberland consider taking, gloves, hats and light thermal underwear, even in the summer. We were there in 3rd week in August and it was cold (50F) and raining in the valley and snowing on Kleine Scheidegg. We had to buy warmer clothes (beyond the wool socks and Gore tex rain jackets we brought from home).

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

Lose your anti-swiss inclinations-we've spent 6 months in Switz over the past 10 years, and while it isn't cheap, there are still plenty of fabulous "back-door" experiences that you are missing!

Laurel Dallmeyer in Canandaigua, NY USA 08/30/2006

Add a chapter on Basel and rethink the Appenzell section to include St. Gallen.

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

You guys do a great job with pointing our specific directions, and I would recommend striving to make sure you continue to do that. We would not have found many of the transitions we needed to without that level of detail. Also, you might want to emphasize how easily many of the accomodations are booked through email. Each and every place we stayed was found through your guidebook and all were booked via email before we left for Switzerland - no calling ahead, no money wasted on international phone calls or phone cards of any sort. I also booked our Golden Pass VIP reservations this way. The language barrier is esentially eliminated and as a traveler you know exactly what you're getting.

Sara in Philadelphia, PA USA 08/07/2006

The book implies maximum flexibility and not making reservations. This is true if you only have 2 people to a room. We have a child and the second you say that you have 3 people for a room you eliminate 90% of the rooms available in most towns unless you have reservations. Hotels/BBs that accomodate families would be nice.

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

We were traveling on a railpass and figuring out the regional pass was very confusing. I know there is already a fair amount of detailed information on fairs in the berner oberland area. We ended up getting a regional pass which worked out great. FYI if you have a child all you have to get is a junior card for 20 CHF and the child travels completly free - even on all of the funiculars and lifts.

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

Organize the Berner Oberland hiking and lifts section better, was confusing to follow. Some lifts were included in Swiss pass discount, some were not. Please clarify when not.

Cindy in Portland, OR USA 06/24/2006

Include Neuchatal as a side trip from Bern- there is a resturant at the bottom of the hill from the church next to the fountain that is awesome!!! (italian fare). Include Basel. Focus on other small places to stay around interlaken and recommend at least 4 days there. Also, the walking guides (particularly Bern) are poorly done. We got so lost trying to follow it as you have forgotten to tell us where to turn. The maps are uniformly awful and if you follow any of them you will certainly be lost!!!!! Add sections for Basel (awesome place!!!, downplay lausanne (bad food, hotels lose reservations, just not as nice to visit as the other places), add Locarno and Bellindona to the Ticino section.

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

The book was extremely helpful in my recent 10 day vacation in Switzerland. I particularly found specific information useful, like how to find the bus to the Chillon Castle from the train station in Montreux and how to find the bus to Tirano near the Lugano train station. Other people were asking us for help because neither one was otherwise obvious. Everything in the book was very useful. Thanks for helping make this a memorable vacation.

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

Mark the hotels listed with their descriptions with the same circled number on the accompanying maps. e.g Page 56. It's hard to locate the hotels on the map sometimes because of this omission.

Richard in Cupertino, CA USA 05/24/2006

More detailed weather information would have been nice. I knew that the weather would be cooler than in southern Italy where I live, but I didn't know how different the weather would be. We were lucky with warmish and mostly sunny weather, but I would not recommend visiting Switzerland any earlier than mid-May if you want to hike since many of the trails were still closed due to snow.

Stacey in Napoli, Italia 05/23/2006

Great directions for hiking etc... but lousy directions for other sites. We had two days of rain and an unexpected late Spring snowstorm. So hiking was not always possible. 2006 edition has more rainy-day activities, but needs some sort of directions for how to get there. Also, I really wanted to purchase some keepsakes of our trip (I hate to call them souveniers). Any suggestions on places to buy quality Swiss items, maybe made by local artisans? There was plenty of cheese to buy, but of course we couldn't bring that home.

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

Number one: Do a chapter on Basel. Number two: Change the name to SUMMER GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND. Either that or devote SOME ink to the ski scene. Switzerland is the ski capital of the world. How could you possibly do a guide to Switzerland without exploring its magnificent, world-class ski resorts?

Anthony Panzarella in Malverne, NY USA 05/13/2006

Somewhere in your Switzerland Guidebook there needs to be a note that the Kloten Airport is another name for the Zurich International Airport. While most references are to Zurich International, it is also referred to as Kloten Airport on some websites, etc..

Jim Gill in Colleyville, TX USA 04/21/2006

I recommend adding several more cities if possible. Switzerland is full of interesting places to visit. I visited a few places not included in the book, and I truly enjoyed them.

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

Maybe more mid-priced hotel choices in Bern, which is where I always stay because of the ease of taking day trips from there.

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

A section on the Engadine valley would be great.

Edward in Flaherty, FL USA 03/27/2006