[JVH]

Originally Posted by nimbleguru

the key places so that I can research more on these places (for near by places and stay and all)

Since you are a snow fan - Zermatt and Titlis are 2 excellent places where you can have a great time. BTW at this time you can find snow everywhere in Swiss LOL. Zermatt during season time is full of crazy tourists from US and UK for skiing and so you might find a little difficult to move along. Nothing to bother but when you travel miles to visit and experience some tranquility, the least thing you want is unwanted crowd. Titlis offers fantastic winter sports, reasonable rentals on almost everything. You won't go wrong with either.

In Interlaken, you can visit either Jungfrau or Shilton but not both. My choice would be Shilton. There is a revolving restaurant at the top which offers fantastic panoramic views all around and ofcourse either places will offer you landscape views. And yes, last time I was there we had Indian food :-). There is one dish where you get Rajma chawal, papad, roti and sabji (cooked by a Pakistani). This was in 2006. Don't know whats up now.

Thanks to Spadix, I had totally forgotten about Montreux. Yes, this is in between Geneva and Lausanne in the west and is a beautiful place to explore. It is popularly known as the Jazz town not only because of the young and yuppy crowd but because of the yearly Jazz and music festivals. Our own Pandit Ravishankar is a regular performer and is quite popular.

It is just me but I don't really fancy touring cities. They are just like any other European city. Ofcourse if you are a first time traveller to Europe, then you will definitely find them fascinating. So, Zurich, Geneva, Bern, Basel, Thun...doesn't matter. In fact I believe the southern cities of Locarno and Lugano offer you the cosmo lifestyle blending with some nice Italian tradition. Am assuming you will stay put in around Luzern in which case you will have enough time to explore the city.

But I will repeat again. Drive down to the south from the central part. You will cherish this the most than anything else. And BTW, Bern and Zurich are not far off from Luzern. It is Geneva which is comparitively far.

[prasad14]

Hi NimbleGuru,

Originally Posted by nimbleguru

@prasad14 : Thanks for sharing your snaps. Very beautiful photos.
My determination to visit swiss has only strengthened.
Have you put your swiss travel thread here ?

No, I didn't utter a single word on my trip here, nor did I ask for questions. As I mentioned earlier, I simply "assumed" that this forum may not appreciate Swiss trip undertaken in trains. And how wrong I was.

You have asked to point out few places. Before we get into that, you must freeze the following:
1. Whether it is a 15d or a 6/7d trip.
2. Whether you want to stick to hotels or get into appts.
3. The exact week of travel. Note that it would still be drizzling in Apr (and it was in May too, this year) and the season starts in May and everything would be completely open by 2nd week of Jun. (the snow park at Mt. Titlis won't open till 2nd week of May or thereabouts and it it is not open, there is no point just visiting the top of the mountain, click photos and comeback). However, you may not experience live snow in May.
4. If its 2 week trip (that we all seem to push you to :-) ), and if you are in appt, you have to decide whether to have base camp in one place for the entire duration or have two bases of 1 week each. Both of these have their own pros and cons.
5. List of preferred activities. This list would help in deciding the places.

Sorry, if I'm complicating and giving you too much info.

Here are the approx cost (for both, assuming appt stay and cooking)
1. Tickets - 70K
2. Visa - 10K
3. Swiss Pass - 33K
4. Appt - 50K (for 2 weeks, need to search for better deals)
5. Mountain trains - 10K (2 mountains)
6. Daily expenses - 10K (milk, bread, fruit, chocolates and icecreams)
7. Entry tickets - 5K
8. Expenses in India - 10K (groceries, ready-to-eat packets, warm clothes etc.,)

Pl. do note that if you restrict the trip to only a week, only #3,4,6 and 7 would be about half. #4 depends on the season and location.

For a week's trip, I liked your plan (Zurich, Luzern, Interlaken and Bern).

Prasad

[phanitha]

I agree with for a Week's trip with prasad14 , but will add geneva along with Zurich, Luzern, Interlaken and Bern