Hello All,

First of all - I must say that I get some very valuable info from this site.

My parents are in town this weekend and am thinking of taking them to see a bit of the valleys / mountains which are "authenticaly Swiss". Would be grateful for some feedback in terms of areas which are approx. 1 hr or so outside of Zurich.

Alternatively, as I am relatively new to this part of Switz (having lived in Basel for approx 8 yrs) - any ideas you can pass on would be highly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Thomps

Monastery at Einsiedeln? Then over to Sattel area?

If your parents are active types then this is great day out with wonderful views of Wallensee:

Go to Murg and take the water taxi across to Quinten (beautiful car free village). Walk to Weesen along the left hand wanderweg or Wallenstadt on the right hand wanderweg. Reward yourselves in Weesen with a big plate of pasta. Take the train back to Murg.

Rigi mountain followed by lunch in Lucern. Cog railway up the Rigi (not everyone can do cablecars) then onto Lucern, a pretty medieval town on the Vierwaldstettersee. Option of boat-trip on the spectacular moutain encircled lake. The drive there from Zürich is quite spectacular too, if you have time loop back to Zürich along the lake via Schwyz town. Daniel

Appenzell is very Swiss, though it might be at the outer limit of an hour from ZH. There's also few mountains in th area that have cablecars going to the top, Säntis and Ebenalp are two, I think. Hiking to the Seealpsee at Ebenalp is a gorgeous walk too if they don't mind going uphill.

Variation on danny's...

Lunch in Luzern then go over the klausenpas, out at Glarus. It's fantastic, Swiss safari in the Alps. I can't recommend it enough.

Thanks to all - some great stuff which i will certainly take note of!

Gooner, would we need a car for this - or local transport sufficient?

cheers

Hey Thomps, you'd need a car for this. Luzern however is easy on the train, it's overflowing in swissness too.