• CONTACT US if you have any problems registering for the forums.

Bernese Oberland in July!

Pauline

Forums Admin
I am finally starting my 2015 trip planning and the first trip to plan is two weeks in Lenk in the Swiss Alps (last week of June, first week of July). We had a wonderful two weeks there last September and want to return. The town is charming, the hiking is excellent and it is close to the equally fabulous Gstaad/Saanen hiking area.

This time we are not going to rent a car. We can fly into Geneva, spend the night there and then take a 4 hour train ride to Lenk. Last time we needed a rental car because our Lenk rental was outside the town and because we went on to the French Alps after. The trains in Switzerland are great, so we can save some money and have fun using the trains.

Now I am starting my search for a vacation rental. Last year we booked through Interhome and they represent a local agency in Lenk. I will look on the Interhome site and the local agency site this time. I loved the place we stayed last year, but this time I want to be in the town so we can walk to the bus stops, mountain rides and train.

Link to my trip notes from our September trip (if you want to read more about Lenk).
 
Yes, we were shocked at how expensive meals and groceries were. Even vacation rentals, which used to be a bargain in Switzerland, are more expensive. This time we won't rent a car, so that should save money. Trains are well priced I think - less expensive than England. We only ate in restaurants a couple of times in the 2 weeks we were there last September and will do the same this time. And passes for mountain rides are well priced in Lenk and Gstaad - plus the hiking is excellent.
 
This trip is booked and we leave in 3 weeks! We are flying Heathrow to Zurich and spending the first night in Zurich. We used to fly into Zurich from the US in the 90s when we did longer trips - a month in Switzerland then a month in Italy. This will be a walk down memory lane, except that the hotels we used to stay in are very expensive now, so we are staying in a less expensive one. We always loved those few first days in Zurich. This time just one night.

The next morning we will take the train to Grindelwald where we have a vacation rental from Interhome booked for two weeks. Usually we have a car in Switzerland but in Grindelwald you don't need one. There are several mountain rides from the town and the train goes to other nearby hiking areas.

When leaving we will take the train from Grindelwald to Zurich airport and fly home.

I am looking into the luggage services they offer. With Fly Rail Baggage you pay 22CHF for each bag, so it might work out better to get our bags after the flight and then check them onto the train before going into Zurich for the night. This would be good because it is 3 different trains from Zurich to Grindelwald.

Years ago we used to send one of our bags ahead of us by train, sometimes to wait for us somewhere for a few weeks while we traveled somewhere else.

If anyone has recent experience checking bags on trains in Switzerland, please post!
 
Hi Pauline! Sounds like a great trip.

We had a couple in one of our recent groups who spent almost week in Switzerland before coming to us in Provence and did the Fly Rail Baggage. They did this so they didn't have to handle their baggage between the plane and the train and then on the train. But this was a disaster for them! Their bags never made the train connection and then somehow got misplaced, and they didn't get their luggage for eleven days after arrival!
 
Thank you @Kathy ! That makes up my mind. We will collect our bags in the airport and, maybe, check them in at the train station - or we will take them to the hotel with us.

I can't imagine arriving in Grindelwald and not having all my hiking stuff!! We will have one rolling bag each and will be able to handle them if we end up taking them on and off the trains ourselves - which might be the safest thing to do!
 
I am such a travel wimp!

All week long I have been reading about the Swiss train passes and looking at train schedules, trying to figure out if I should book online before we go and which travel pass will work best for us. Then I was looking at luggage on trains. I thought we could check our bags, like you do at the airport, but if you do that you have to check them in the day before and they don't arrive when you do, yada yada yada, and I booked a rental car. Mention on another travel forum of bags being stolen from the racks on the trains pushed me over the edge.

Now we will do it like we always do. Arrive at Zurich airport, taxi to hotel, taxi next morning to downtown car rental office and drive to Grindelwald. It is only a 2 hour drive, so we can stop somewhere fun on the way, before our 4pm checkin. Our apartment comes with a parking spot. We will still use the mountain rides, buses and trains locally, but now we will have to car to do some drives on the days we don't feel like hiking. Or drive to a different hiking area (like Meiringen!) and go hiking there.

I was looking up vegetarian restaurants in Zurich, to see if Hiltl was still there - and it is (in business since 1898 and run by the same family - fourth generation now) and I made a dinner reservation online. Zurich can get very busy on the weekend, especially in the summer, and it feels good to have a reservation.

This weekend I start packing and getting organized. We leave in a week!
 

How to Find Information

Search using the search button in the upper right. Search all forums or current forum by keyword or member. Advanced search gives you more options.

Filter forum threads using the filter pulldown above the threads. Filter by prefix, member, date. Or click on a thread title prefix to see all threads with that prefix.

Sponsors

Booking.com Hotels in Europe
AutoEurope.com Car Rentals

Recommended Guides, Apps and Books

52 Things to See and Do in Basilicata by Valerie Fortney
Italian Food & Life Rules by Ann Reavis
Italian Food Decoder App by Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls
French Food Decoder App by Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls
She Left No Note, Lake Iseo Italy Mystery 1 by J L Crellina

Share this page

Back
Top