A Beautiful and Memorable Trip
by Wai Chiong and Su Lin Loke

Dear Ed and Julie,

Your site was perhaps the most useful one I came across while planning for our 8-day visit to Switzerland. I loved your frank opinions about various destinations, and found them amazingly accurate "on the ground"! Thanks for all the tips and recommendations (especially on the Jungfrau region)!

We had a beautiful and memorable trip, though a bit rushed and short. It was a week in July (2000), but an unusually wet one. Thank God, for 2 of those days, the clouds cleared and we saw the mountains and lakes in all their pristine glory!

We highly recommend at least 3 days in the Jungfrau region, especially if the skies are cloudy. Then you have a better chance of getting one of them clear! We made excursions on the cloudy days to Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Lake Brienz (try taking a bus to the pretty town of Iseltwald before getting on the boat), Giessbach falls (an easy climb with beautiful views of the falls), Brienz.

We stayed in Mürren at the Chalet Fontana - top marks for friendly and helpful Denise, simple yet well equipped and maintained rooms/shared bath (a real bargain at CHF 70/double/night), and the fellowship of many appreciative guests!

We also had good Chinese food and a fine chat with the only Singaporean /Chinese restauranteur in Mürren (Tham's the name), who also makes very accurate weather predictions! (Tham's Snacks and Drinks - Chinese Restaurant. On Mürren's main street about halfway between the rail and cable stations.)

We were on a tight budget, having unfortunately lost our Swiss Pass on the 2nd day of our journey, and had to buy a new one. (ALWAYS use a Swiss Pass or similar - it comes out cheaper if you're taking 1 hour or more of train journey per day, especially for scenic trains). So we opted for the cheaper mountain excursion/rambles:

• Schiltorn - with a meal at the Piz Gloria - menu highly affordable;

• Mürren - Gimmelwald (very easy downhill) - back by cable car;

• Mürren - Blumental - back to Mürren along the Ägertenbach valley (bypass Allmendhubel;  (panoramic views of the Eiger-Monk-Jungfrau  and other ranges all the way.) (This was a VERY EASY WALK, lasting less than 90 minutes even with lots of photo stops, and our unconditioned bodies!)

Though we were bemoaning the wet weather (it actually snowed) for the initial days, we thanked God because the peaks and slopes were beautifully snow-covered when  the clouds cleared - which again shows how important it is to put aside a few days for the mountains.

Other recommendations:

Montreux - the view from the Pfarrkirche (parish church) (on Rue du Temple) is beautiful. We stayed in an apartment in Clarens (just 10 min by bus to Montreux) which is so much cheaper than the hotels in town.

Solothurn - worth a visit if you're passing through, and also the chairlift up to Weissenstein from Oberdorf (quite a ride!)

Lucerne - the glacier garden was worth visiting, and we had a lot of fun in the Mirror Maze (kids will enjoy this). The climb up the the Muregg wall/towers surrounding the city was also interesting.

Locarno/Ascona - we planned this for our last day/night stay. Since we weren't going to anywhere else in Europe this time round, why not see the "Italy" of Switzerland (as well as the French and German parts)! Beautiful promenades and old towns! On summer weekend nights there can also be lakeside festivals (live music, barbecues, sometimes fireworks). We stayed at the Garni Stazione (behind Hotel Montaldi) right next to the train station - very convenient, very economical, but very basic facilities. Lake Maggiore cruises are not covered by Swisspass.

We found the English site of the Swiss rail system (www.rail.ch) very valuable for planning our train rides, mostly accurate right down to the last connection/platform. I printed these out and had them in my pocket to facilitate our catching the next train! (Click the time-table, set the origin and destination, date and time, and it's all done for you!)

Thanks again! God bless!

Copyright © 2000-2001 Wai Chiong and Su Lin Loke
Published July 31, 2000

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Questions about this article? Comments for the authors?
lokewc@rocketmail.com

Wai Chiong and Su Lin are a young couple from Singapore, a doctor and a dietitian. Due to their busy schedules they try to make one good, quality, even though short, overseas trip a year. They've visited Melbourne and Tasmania on their honeymoon (their favorite) and New Zealand in the past 2 years.

Would you like to add an article about your travel experiences in Europe? It's easy to do.

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