forgot to add...
anybody know of any good events on anywhere in central europe, any formula 1 races or festivals anywhere, anything interesting. from the 25th july onwards.

Obviously this is too late for you but others may benefit.......

Between Geneva and Zurich I'd stay in Spiez. This is a great location for anyone on a railpass and, for reasons which I've never worked out, accomodation is much cheaper than nearby Interlaken. Possible rail excurisons from here:

Bern - especially as a wet day standby because the old streets are arcaded.
Luzern - out via Brunig Pass line and back via Emmental - note some railpasses are valid on lake boats in Luzern.
Montreux via Gstaad (this is the direct route from Geneva anyway).

also train to Meiringen (yes, the one out of Sherlock Holmes) then Postbus over the Grimsel pass to Oberwald and train back via Brig. But note that most railpasses are not valid on the bus and some are not valid between Oberwald and Brig so you'll have to pay for that bit. Also. make sure train from Brig to Spiez calls at Kandersteg, those that don't may go through the new tunnel and there's nothing to see there!

In the Black Forest, Villingen is a nice, well placed town and easy to reach from Zurich (change at Singen). Special note for people with railpasses that allow a number of days over a longer valdity. When you pay your local resort tax at accomodation at most places in the Black Forest your guest card should have a "Konus" logo on it. This entitles you to free use of buses and regional trains over a huge area - so you can save the days on your pass for somewhere else! The local tourist should have a leaflet with a map of the Konus area (which will be even bigger in 2008).

For me, the final place before Munich would be Mittenwald. High in the mountains on the border with Austria and a short ride to Innsbruck. From the Black Forest travel via Lindau (on the German shore of Lake Constance) - Kempten - Garmisch Partenkirchen.

I am gonig to switzerland and will be staying in Lucerne, Interlaken & Bern and would like to visit Spiez for a day or maybe stay there one night. Would anyone know about the local transport there, can I get a taxi (or a bus) from the Spiez station to near by hotels (within 1 to 6 kilometers).... any information would be appreciated. Cheers!

tarsellis
Don't miss Florence and Pisa on your way from Rome to Milan.

AJ

It would probably make more sense for you to stay in Spiez instead of both Interlaken and Bern as Spiez is within easy distance of and much cheaper than them.

There are taxis waiting at Spiez station but most of the town hotels are within 10 minutes walking distance (and downhill from the station). There is a frequent bus route up to Thun which goes near a couple of places on the northern edge of town. There are also a couple of less frequent routes to the village of Aeschi on the southern edge of town and local trains to the lakeside villages towards Interlaken. The taxis and buses all go from the south end of platform 1.

You can download all relevant timetables in PDF format here. Type Spiez into the yellow box and then click the blue arrow to get the list of routes and the select the ones you'd like. Those with short route numbers like 310 are trains, the longer ones like 31.001 are buses and 3310 is the boats.

Thanks a ton for the information Steve. I think you are right about not staying in Bern as I could always do a day trip from Spiez. However, if Spiez is a small place, I am guessing there's not much happening in the nights... unlike Interlaken which has a fair amount of restaurants and night life.... what do you think?

Aj.

Certainly Spiez is very quiet at night. Interlaken is normally busier and has a bigger choice of restaurants but is only really lively by Swiss standards, which isn't saying much! Last bus Interlaken - Spiez is at 00:18 (last train varies but is slightly earlier). So it depends on whether you intend staying out later than that (and can find somewhere to do it) or if you can find accomodation in central Interlaken at a good enough price. Given that the 2 are only 20 minutes apart by train it hardly seems worth the hassle of finding 2 hotels and moving your luggage.

Thanks Steve. I have now booked two nights in Interlaken and two nights in Spiez... In spiez I have booked a hotel about 3.6 kilometers from the Spiez station just for the view.

Do you know if there is any kind of transport (taxis or buses) in the nights (say after 10 pm) from the Spiez station to the hotel (Hotel Baumgarten)... just in case we return late from Bern or other places of interest...

Aj.

The Baumgarten isn't in Spiez, it's in Aeschi. You need the red bus from Spiez station, timetable 31.061 on the list from the previous link. The last bus connects out of the midnight train from Bern.

Thanks for the info Steve. I just got back from Switzerland. We had swiss passes - so travelling by trains, trams and buses was very convenient without having to bother about tickets all the time. Had a fabulous holiday. We stated out in Zurich as planned and from there to Lucerne, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Bern, Spiez, Geneva and back to Zurich for the last day. The next trip would probably be next year but this year its going to be Goa & Malasia....

Cheers!

I'm glad you enjoyed it and you didn't even get to what I would say are the best bits!

Tip for the future, go early September. The weather is at it's most reliable (although that is a still not a guarantee) and the full range of mountain post bus and lake ships are still running.

And follow the route of the Glacier Express but using ordinary trains. Marvellous!!