Lake holiday recs for Aug 23 (Switz/Austria etc))

[Laquila]

We'd like to travel by train from the UK next summer for a couple of weeks at one of the "middle European" lakes. Obviously we'll have to account for train tickets being higher in some countries but assuming all were equal, where would you head for? Annecy? Konstanz? Maggiore? Lucerne? We went to Garda and Idro years ago and loved it, but I'm hoping the further north we stay, the less intense the heat will be 😁😱

Lake Wolfgang is stunning and you could visit Salzburg on the way.

Como. Stay in the centre of the lake. Get a train / bus to bellinzona

Not literally in the centre, just some like Mennagio.

Ooh I'm looking it up as we speak, thank you @Potcallingkettle !

I definitely would consider Como, @ZenNudist - I guess I just assumed it would be busier and probably pricer than a lot of smaller/less glam locations! I think my parents stayed in Menaggio a few years back and enjoyed it.

A few years ago, we flew to Geneva (but you could take the train) where we stayed for a few nights (did a day trip to Annecy by bus) before taking the train to Lausanne for a few nights. While staying in Lausanne, we took a bus to Montreux for the day which was really lovely.

My Uni years were spent in Konstanz.

Beautiful scenery, brilliant outdoor sports facilities, amazing swim and spa facility built around the thermal springs, bike rides round the lake.

Local food really outstanding quality.

If those are thing things you look for in a holiday, I'd reccomnended Lake Constance, which borders Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

If nightclubs snd the high life are your thang, then. It so much.

Rail connections via Cologne.

To work out your rail connections, starting from UK

www.bahn.de

Just back from Lake Annecy which was beautiful but very very hot (37)

For any train trip planning I would recommend seat61.com.
Currently traveling around Europe with the family using trains and found this a useful planning tool.

We stayed in Interlaken in Switzerland last autumn and can fully recommend that

This is my sort of holiday!

You have direct trains from Paris to Zurich, Geneva, and Annecy from which you can change to anywhere else. From Zurich, you can get to Luzern, Zug, Konstanz and Locarno without changing. Plenty more if you're happy to change.

Switzerland is wonderful but expensive. We're going to Lake Maggiore this year because I like Italian food in the summer. German food is fine, but to me it's winter food. France is much cheaper. Como is nice, but there's not much public transport apart from the ferries and the city itself is pretty touristic. Switzerland is much easier for reaching hiking routes by bus. France has great food, obviously. Aix-le-Bain is on a lake and also has thermal springs.

Further out, there's a night train from Amsterdam (take the Eurostar first) to Vienna, which would then take you to the lakes round the Slovenian/Slovakian/Hungarian border.

For sleepers, Austria and central Europe: google OBB nightjet
French: inoui
Swiss: SBB
German DBahn

We were in Annecy last week and it was fabulous but very hot (between 33 and 37 every day and staying very hot into the evenings).

This is so useful, thank you everyone!

@StamppotAndGravy that's loads to go on, thank you 🙂 Aix-les-Bains definitely sounds worth considering, as the quickest to get to and as you say, probably cheaper than Switzerland.

Having said that, @EspeciallyDeIightedand @Thereisnolight's intel re the weather does give me pause...I was hoping more for 29-32ish max 😱 but I guess what's the point of holidaying on a lake if you're not in it all the time?!

@FinallyHere Lake Constance really sounds like it has a lot going for it... definitely my kind of holiday ❤️...and we have smallish kids (7-10) so clubbing not really a factor 😁

@user1471483687 I love seat61.com, I credit him for the inspiration for this potential trip really! Such a wealth of info.

With kids that age, maybe rent bikes for a few days? Plenty of cycling trails around Lake Constance.

We went to Lake Fuschl a few years ago (next door to Lake Wolfgang)

Yes, we did spend a lot of time in the lake or eating ice cream but we also spent a lot of time trudging back up the hill to the apartment in the heat which wasn't so much fun. It was no cooler up in the ski resorts either. Definitely make sure wherever you book has aircon.

If you're unlucky, the lakes will get heat waves, just like anywhere else. The biggest problem is that the heat doesn't escape because the mountains hold it in so it can end up very stuffy. Grenoble is hideous for that with pollution. By September, the air on the mountains is cooling so it rolls down at night. In mid-summer, you just get massive thunder storms. It's probably still better than 45° on the Costa del Sol though! At least you can swim

Those in the know

Would you recommend lakes for 12 and 10 year old? Love a mix of activities and chilling out by the beach

if so, any recs for accom? How long does train travel take?

That's interesting, @StamppotAndGravy - I hadn't considered the heat trap nature of the mountains!

To be honest I'd much rather go at May half-term but we only get a week then (another reason why redistributing the summer holiday weeks would be helpful - two weeks rather than one means you can travel by train rather than having to get the fastest flight you can find 🙄)

This year (Annecy) was our first lake holiday and I would go back to a lake. The water is a joy! And usually there is cycling, walks, scenery, ancient villages etc…and no crowds (yet!).
It was very hot though -like everywhere this year - but the water was wonderful. As a pp said, make sure you have air-con - we didn’t!

Yes, our DC, similar age, adored the lake. They had diving boards, boats, diving rafts, kayaks etc and the water was lovely!

They missed the sand though.

I think you'd be unlucky to get two weeks of baking weather! It could just as well rain.

@Ohthatsexciting I can give you our holiday itinerary if it helps for ideas! We've got a cabin on the sleeper train which is definitely part of the holiday. We've camping near Locarno where we will swim, paddleboard and kayak on the lake, and eat in the city. We've booked an introduction to canyoning trip for a half day. We're going to the castle at Bellinzona. We'll take the cable car up the mountain and do some walking. If it rains there is a big waterpark and spa complex. We'll maybe hire bikes too

This sounds AMAZING!!