German speaking Switzerland

[MidnightConstellation]

I am keen to go on holiday to Switzerland, preferably the German speaking part. Looking for a mid range hotel or air B and B with lots to do and see, no children. Any recommendations? Not a ski resort.

Why not a ski resort? (Because the only place I can recommend is a ski resort).

Basel and Zuerich are nice. But I am not sure Switzerland does "mid range". It's very very expensive.

If you are interested in the Basel area but want to avoid Swiss prices in hotels or Airbnb, then you could stay just over the border either in the Alsace (France) or in the border area of Germany. I used to live in the Alsace and commute into Basel every day for work. The Basel trams and busses go out into Germany and the Alsace, but you need to look at where they stop.

I know it's French speaking (although most Swiss people seem to be fluent in French German and English) but we loved Lausanne - we visited gstadt for the day which was beautiful and went on the glacier 3000 which was fab. There's lots of lovely places to wander around and the lake is beautiful

Lucerne is lovely.

There’s a great hostel in Saas-Fee that has a spa. We went in the summer and did lots of walking.

I lived in Basel for a year when I was a student. It's a lively place, with interesting architecture, museums, etc., as well as bars & restaurants. But it's not the most scenic part of Switzerland. If you want to see mountains & lakes you'll have to get on a train. It's a small country, so it doesn't take very long to get to somewhere pretty (but it'll cost you). I remember Luzern being almost impossibly beautiful, but this was before the Kapellbrücke burned down in 1993. I don't know what it's like since being restored.

If you have a base in the north (Basel, Zürich, Luzern, etc.) and plan for taking rail trips on a couple of days, Lausanne and its neighbouring lakeside resort, Ouchy, are recommended for beautiful views of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Thun is very beautiful, too, and was certainly a nicer place to visit than Interlaken back when I did it. Bern is interesting but I remember it as being eye-wateringly expensive.

Lucerne is beautiful

Bernese Oberland(Interlaken, Wengen, Kandersteg), Berne, Lucerne(.Engelberg, Vitznau), Zurich, Basel, Bad Ragaz, Chur (Davos, Klosters) etc. However be aware it is not German as in High German which is spoken but Schweizer Deutsch and each area has a separate dialect which is more phonetic and often has other languages' vocab thrown in. As to "budget" accommodation, look at myswitzerland.com or the local tourist office websites and you may find rooms in farmhouses, b and bs or guesthouses.

I have family in Biel/ Bienne which is nice. Are you driving?

Visiting relatives and friends always stayed in Divonne (neighbouring France) when we lived in Geneva.

I love Lucerne as well!

Thanks for all the recommendations. I assume we will hire a car but haven’t thought about the finer details yet. I’m not looking for budget hotels just not five star £400 a night type hotels if yuh see what I mean. I lived in German speaking Switzerland for three months a long time ago.

I would stay in Luzern. It is beautiful there. You can plan also a visit on top of the Rigi near there.
Also a day trip to Bern. Amazing small capital.

Interlaken and around if you like to hike. Book a chalet through one of the Swiss sites - cheaper than Air B and B, and the cheapest are the ones you have to email the owner direct. We stayed in Wilderswil and paid 1200CHF for 9 nights in August. Found the chalet through interlaken.ch

I don't really see the attraction of hiring a car, as it brings all the anxiety of trying to find somewhere to park and understand how the payments work. Depends how many of you there are, though: train tickets for 2 adults and 2 children might be about £150 for Basel-Luzern return. Not sure how much a day's car-hire costs.

Agree that Luzern is very beautiful with lots of surrounding bits of countryside and lakes and mountains etc. From memory, the train from Zurich is painless but quite expensive. The kids go free or on some kind of heavily discounted pass depending on age so that does help.

Have no recommendations re accomodation as we stayed with friends and it was 10 years ago!

We have just come back from staying with family in Zurich and although it is really beautiful and we had a great time due to the exchange rate it’s incredibly expensive at the moment!
Coffee around 7-8 francs, G&T around 20, cheapest wine in restaurant 50!
Also practically everyone we came across spoke really good English so the language isn’t a problem anyway.
Many of the locals in the area go over the border into Germany to do their shopping so may be an idea to look at actually staying there?

Interlaken is really nice.

To travel around Switzerland I highly recommend a Swiss Travel Pass which is really good value for money (you can literally "hop on hop off" trains, boats and busses in the whole country - public transport is at another level there)

www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/inspiration/international-guests/swiss-travel-pass.html

Also, when you check into a hotel or hostel in a city, you get a free 24h bus pass.
On a local friend's recommendation, a few years ago my daughter and I went to Mürren and Piz Gloria. It's on the other side of Jungfraujoch, it's quieter and with fewer tourists. At Interlaken there's a rack and pinion train and then a tiny train to reach the village, which has no cars. From there, you can walk up to Piz Gloria and the revolving restaurant (featured in an old James Bond film) or take the cable car.

Depending on your budget and requirements, if you are on a low budget most hostels have private rooms (non dorm) with bathroom outside the room. They are usually very affordable, central, quiet and clean, rooms are basic but comfortable. I recently stayed at Basel Backpack, which is in an ex-industrial site in a central position with cafés and indipendent shops in the yard. In Bern I have stayed a couple of times at Hotel Nydegg, very central and affordable. I loved the Kornhauskeller for drinks nearby.