Recommendations for accommodation in France, Switzerland & Italy, please!

[bellabelly]

We're planning our summer holiday in August - we've booked for a week in Assissi and are going to take our time driving there and back.

DH has planned a route there and a different route back and we'd be very grateful if anyone has recommendations for hostels / hotels / B&Bs in any of the following places: Verdun in France, Lucerne in Switzerland, Stresa in Italy, Lucca in Italy, Aosta in Italy and Chalons in France.

It's a long time since we've been to any of these places (never been to Aosta in fact) and that was years ago, pre-kids! We're now 2 adults and 4 kids so particularly interested in any recommendations for family rooms and on the cheap side... No need for anything luxurious but does need to be family friendly and preferably with parking place so we're not having to lug lots of bags across town.

Anybody got any suggestions? Or equally, places to definitely avoid??

I used to live in Switzerland at Lake Zug which is 20 minutes from Lucerne. Whenever we had visitors we usually had a drive over to Weggis, which overlooks Lake Lucerne and is at the bottom of Mount Rigi. It is absolutely beautiful there.....lovely/stunning views of the lake and mountains. Best of all you can either take the funicular up to the top of the mountain or go by cable car. It’s a great mountain to have picnics, take hikes etc. or go to the day spa (the price is pretty reasonable too if you just want to bathe in the pool or relax with a book and not have any spa treatments) and yes you can take the kids.You can also take the ferries over to central Lucerne and not have to worry about parking!

www.rigi.ch (EN = english language)

Weggis is a very pretty small town with old Victorian hotels and a variety of other kinds of hotels, nice to stroll along the lakeside paths, often a band is playing, lots of places to eat, cafes, ice-cream etc.

You could try looking at AirBnB as there are a few options if you type in Weggis.....you can even have your own apartment at a reasonable cost. It isn’t far from the motorways either if you are heading down to Italy.

Otherwise you could see if you could stay in a family room in a Youth Hostel (you can be of any age to stay in them). I know that there is a Youth Hostel in Zug and almost certainly in Lucerne.

Oops - forgot to add a link to Weggis (and Vitznau, which is approx half a mile away on the lake and also has hotels):

www.wvrt.ch

(Tourist info website, accommodation etc.).

Btw; there are quite a few places to stay actually on Mount Rigi too as there are some roads going part way up - see both websites for more info.

It is something special hearing the cowbells (and church bells) across the alpine valleys :)

Wow, thanks CrazyDaze - never heard of Weggis but it looks fantastic! I think I've now managed to book YH in Lucerne (have had confusing email about booking!) so will have to see if we can squeeze in a trip to Weggis en route. Funny that you mention the cowbells - haven't been to Switzerland for years and that's the thing I'm most looking forward to - it's a magical sound.

So, we are sorted now for Lucerne and Verdun but if anyone has any recommendations for Stresa, Lucca, Aosta or Chalons, that would be great!

Could you not extend Stresa to nearer Milan. We did this and parked on the outskirts. Had an OK hotel with a lovely pool. Next morning went to see Leonardo's the Last Supper i. Fabulous! You can only see it in small groups so worth booking in advance. Incredible no idea it was so large. Back on the road for 1pm .

That sounds amazing! Definitely want to stop over in Stresa - haven't been to Italy for years and have very fond memories of Stresa - if this summer is a success, could maybe stop over near Milan next time! I've never been to Milan itself but used to fly to Milan (Bergamo) when RyanAir used to do cheap flights. Would recommend Bergamo (the Citta Alta) to anybody wanting a stop fairly close to Milan - it's gorgeous.