In an earlier post I marveled at the generosity of spirit of travel forum participants when a would-be Italian visitor posted an exceptionally vague question that led to an abundance of great advice.

And now I’m going to do it again. But this time it’s completely different. This thread centers around an exceptionally vague question about Switzerland – not Italy. More specifically, which city people would recommend staying in when visiting Switzerland.

See, completely different.

What is the same though is the incredible amount of great insight and suggestions provided in the thread. dindiosk practically writes a travel guidebook description of Luzern:

[Luzern] is a very beautiful city located somewhat centrally in Switzerland, making it a good starting point for going anywhere. It has a beautiful lake overlooking the mountains and it is not too far from Mount Pilatus … From the 18-26 of June there is a festival called Blue Balls (yep, you read that correctly) that turns the city into a lively music venue, with lots of attractions and drinks/food stalls around the station and lake area.

Ok, Luzern it is. But wait, hasbeen offers some other options:

Interlaken is a great spot for a short train ride to the Lauterbrunen valley with it’s host of waterfalls, the mountain villages of Murren with picture perfect views of the Eiger& Wengen & you can take the train though ( as in inside ) the mountain get to the top of the Jungfrau mountain. Or take the spectacular Bernina panoramic train from Tirano in Italy to Chur & stay in Chur. I found Chur to be the nicest of the Swiss cities I got to stay in. Or Zermatt is a wonderful little town for viewing the Matterhorne.

Well, ok – at least we’ve narrowed it down to four towns: Luzern, Interlaken, Chur or Zermatt. Four isn’t bad considering there are loads of cities in Switzerland.

Another area that’s very beautiful as well as being cosmopolitan is Vevey and Montreaux on the eastern end of Lake Geneva in the French speaking region. ~PeteB

Five then. Five or six, but who’s counting. Let’s just say six picturesque, quaint, cosmopolitan towns with scenic lakes, mountains, waterfalls, villages and panoramic train rides easily accessible.

OP Kate T. better make a choice before most of the cities in Switzerland are recommended as can’t miss vacation spots. Heck, I’m about to wrap up this post and visit the Swiss version of Realtor.com myself.