Hi, my wife (of Swiss descent)and I are planning a one-week vacation in Switzerland in July. We are going to try to travel light given all the new airline restrictions on checked baggage. And our original plan was to pack just summer clothes. We will be staying at a hotel in Brienz and making day trips to cities and towns in the Bernese Oberland. My concern, after watching some travel shows on American television, is that it gets cold, even snowy in the mountains around Brienz, especially if we choose to take trains to the Jungfrau or the Brienz Rothorn. Would a sport coat and one long-sleeve shirt be sufficient? Most of the time we will be in the towns around the lakes, Interlaken, Thun, etc. Appreciate suggestions.

When are you coming?

The weather is not very summery in switzerland at the moment and is not very warm at all, so yes i would suggest you bring warmer clothes....

If you are planning to travel up the mountains, which I would definitely recommend, you will need some warm clothing. I consider it essential to have something water/wind proof. Several layers of thinner clothing is more versatile than thick jackets.

At the top of Jungfraujoch the snow is permanent. Temperatures are around freezing, even in summer. It may feel warmer if it is a sunny day and not windy.

Even at Brienz Rothorn, there are likely to be small amounts of snow in shady areas.

Look at some of the webcams or weather details on http://map.search.ch/ http://meteo.search.ch/ to see what things are like before you travel.

Thank you for the information. We will be in Switzerland from July 7 until July 15. The information you provided confirms what I thought, i.e., it will be cold the higher up we go. Since we tend toward geezerhood, we probably will stay low where it's warm. Thanks again to those who responded.