Switzerland.

[carolinej]

Hello :)

I am thinking about going on holls to Switzerland in a static caravan this September.

Has anyone here ever done this, or even been to Switzerland in September? I am a bit worried about it being very wet and cloudy. Not really mountain peak weather.

Was thinking about Interlaken.

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks

cj :)

[carolinej]

[veggiewomble]

Hello :)

Just saw this post.
I've been to Switzerland in Sept, and the weather is hard to predict. It rained half the time we were there, and the other half of the time, the weather was glorious. So by all means, go in Sept! The autumn colours will just be starting then too. I've also been in August, and you'd think the weather would be better but it also rained half the time we were there.

One word of advice, Interlaken is pretty much a base town for those wishing to go further up to the mountains. One popular tourist site is the Jungfrau, you can take a train ride to the top (excellent views on a good day, btw) on the Jungfraujoch (railway). I wouldn't recommend spending more than a day in Interlaken, personally, because it really is only a base town for exploration and it isn't really that close to the mountains. It is also extremely touristy and umm, a tad tacky IMHO. Best to go up to Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen or Wengen - there are direct trains from Interlaken and although those towns are pretty tourist-ridden too (Wengen is quieter and smaller), you'll be much closer to the mountains, there'll be plenty more to do/see and there are some nice walks you can go on.

So do venture further than Interlaken. It'd be a bit like going only to Windermere in order to see the Lake District - the best of it is further north. :D

vegwomble

[grawrc]

Bear in mind that it's a mountainous country and where there's mountains there's rain. When I was there last month (Geneva - other end) we had really torrential rain one day and temperatures above 30 degrees the next. People there are complaining about unusual weather patterns just like here.

September is usually a nice month there but who knows?

[carolinej]

Thanks both.There is a place in Lauterbrunnen so I will look into that a bit more.

Thanks

cj :)

[veggiewomble]

Caroline, not sure if this will help you in choosing places to stay or things to do and see, but since I am an amateur photographer, I have a website of my travel photos taken in the past 7 years. You can see there is a section on Switzerland, all within 30 mins of the area which you are planning to visit (Interlaken and around).

http://www.artemisworks.plus.com/tphotos.htm

Hope you find this vaguely useful!

vegwomble

[carolinej]

Just had a quick peek.Will settle down this evening for a good look.

Lovely images. You are very talented.

What camera do you use?

cj :)

[veggiewomble]

Thanks, Caroline! I use a lot of cameras - and only ever use film. :D Most of the Swiss images were taken with a Contax SLR, and some with a Mamiya medium format camera, on colour slides.

Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Wengen are all within 45 mins train ride of each other. I've only ever really explored that part of Switzerland.

vegwomble
PS: you can also see I had great weather in Sept 2003! :D

[lancelotment]

Caroline, Several years ago we camped at Lauterbrunnen, just up the valley from Interlaken.  It was brilliant!  We got there on the day that LiveAid was on (yes that long ago).  Fantastic campsite (Camping Jungfreau?) with some static caravans, challets and two big fields for tents.  We pitched ours to face the waterfall and had two weeks of brilliant weather.  The one day we had that was cloudy and wet was the day we did our longest walk, but who cares.  Probably the best holiday I've ever had.  Lance

[carolinej]

I'm probably going to have to cut the holiday down to 4 days, due to a family wedding. Do you think it will be worth the drive for a short stay, or would I be better going next year for longer?

I have seen Camping Jungfrau in the holiday brochure. It looks really nice.

Vegwomble...do you ever think you will use digital in the future? I did read somewhere that there was now a medium format digi camera, I think a Hasselblad, but I would need to sell my house to get it!!

Here's hoping that technology prices take a nosedive ;D ;D ;D

cj :)

[Busby]

I live in Switzerland and have done for 40 years, I've experienced all kinds of weather in all kinds of places and can only say that weather, as everywhere else is something you take a chance on.

In general, and here we are talking about averages, September is a beautiful month for the mountains, there's no more heat haze, temparatures have dropped, there aren't so many people on holiday. And it's exactly as grawrc says, it's a mountanous country and the weather can change within minutes. But on an average it's warmer than the UK in summer and colder in winter.

Interlaken is a mundane tourist centre - but - is a super place to be centred in for all that can be reached. There are some beautiful towns and villages, lovely lakes, snowy mountains, railways, cable cars, lake steamers etc.,... - 4 days just aren't enough.

And, one last tip, Switzerland is the walking, rambling, hiking mecca of the world. Go on foot and/or go with the 'Post Autos' these are the local generally yellow post buses, and travel on the best public rail and bus transport system there is.

[Busby]

By the way, from my allotment near Zurich I can see the whole range of the Alps on a clear day, from the Austrian mountains in the east, all the way in a half circle down to the Eiger and Jungfrau near Intelaken.

When you do get to Switzerland don't forget to have a look at some allotments!

[veggiewomble]

Tough question! 4 days is a little short. When the bad weather happens, usually it doesn't lift in a day or so - there's usually a stretch of 2-3 days before the weather turns... so bad luck if it rains all the time when you're there....  :( The first time I was there, we had to wait about 3-4 days for the rain to stop before we took the train up to the Jungfraujoch.

I love traditional film photography so I'm sticking to it. :) Yes I've seen the digital backs for the Hasselblad... ouch!  :P It's expensive to get into photography although I must say that film cameras are just getting cheaper and cheaper these days, even the medium format ones.

vegwomble