I want to go to Switzerland...

[LeaveTheClocksAlone]

Walking, hiking, kayaking perhaps, one of those mountain coasters if they are nearby, stunning scenery and just all around peaceful. Definitely want to be near water. Nice food. August bank holiday Friday to Monday. Budget around £1,000 not including spending money but I'd want half board to keep it down.

Where do I go and what's the best way of booking this? It's to mark my 40th and I'll be travelling alone.

Tips and advice welcome 😁

Is anyone familiar with Lake Brienz please? Is it safe to wild swim alone there?

Yes it is safe. There will be public swimming areas along the lake - called Badis. Eg https://www.strandbadbrienz.ch/?mobile=1
you pay a small fee to swim, use the facilities etc. Or you can find a beach area and swim

Thank you, just a little concerned about how deep it apparently is and last year I learned about underwater / invisible whirlpools - that really freaked me out

The designated badis usually have lifeguards and marked bathing areas.

Thank you x

I'm really going to research this a lot. Interlaken looks fabulous. I'm not overly fussed with the mountain coaster in Grindelwald (not ruling it out completely) but Murren looks like a nice place to visit and I like the idea of going up Harder Kulm on the track and hiking back down. Definitely want to get in that water though and also see those beautiful waterfalls 💕

You seem to have forgotten chocolate off your list!

Interlaken is one of my favourite places.

I’m sure you will love it.

No need to take your own UK wine, Swiss wine is excellent and government subsidised. You’ll get a nice bottle for £5. As they usually don’t export it, it’s always nice to make the most of drinking it while there. Have fun!

If you hike/bus along the valley from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg, there are the Trummelbach waterfalls along the way and you can take the cable car up to Muerren, walk through the village and take a train/furnicular back down to Lauterbrunnen.

www.truemmelbachfaelle.ch/e/index.html

This thread is amazing! Is it mad to drive over from the French side eg Nice? Perhaps in two days?

In that case I'll bring back 865 bottles too 😃

There's a Denner discount supermarket (our version of Lidl/Pennymarkt etc) in Interlaken and they usually have excellent wines at amazing prices. Also great to stock up on low price water, drinks and snacks for hiking.

It's about an 8 hour drive from there to the middle of Switzerland so you'd have to accommodate a day of travelling especially driving through Italy if you plan that route. Doable though.

Id love to take our campervan to Switzerland ( and Austria) ..

OP have a super trip!

You will have a great time, Switzerland is beautiful.

Just finding a spot by the lake, with a glass of wine. People watching, admiring the beauty of the lake and mountains. Bliss.

I see you've had lots of good advice already @LeaveTheClocksAlone All I wanted to add is that I also went to Switzerland on my own to celebrate turning 40 and recovering from a little illness. It was absolutely fantastic. So I went for my 41st and 42nd as well 😁Have the best time!

You've had some good tips already so not much to add. But if you want a nice soft drink, have Rivella. It's the only thing I drink when I'm there!

Obviously there's the chocolate, but also some really good cheeses and Butterzopf is a really nice plaited bread.

It is expensive there but if you have meals included you'll save a lot. Switzerland is such a beautiful country. I'm lucky as I have family there so have been there a lot.

Just googled it. It looks like ginger beer?!

@Whatineed. Amazing schedule there of things to do!

Rivella is hard to describe if you've never had it. It really doesn't taste like any soft drinks that we have.

We regularly go to somewhere near Bern - one of the valleys is the Simmerntal valley and it’s beautiful. Be warned though. We stay with extended family so there’s no accommodation costs but everything else is super super expensive, food, travel, everything. For 6 days for three of us self catering with a couple of meals out we spent nearly £1000 and didn’t do much - even simple groceries were expensive, a one way ride on a cable car to get up the mountain for two adults and a child came out at about £70.

simple meal - rosti and sausage for two, one glass of beer and water was nearly £100.

its a beautiful part of the world though.

We live across the Lake Constance , about 1.5 hour drive from Zurich. Extremely expensive. Swiss and Austrians nip to Germany for groceries. You need a bigger budget. However, it's beautiful and safe and filled with tourists 😂

FOOD IS INCLUDED IN THE PACKAGE DEAL