Lauterbrunnen

Lauterbrunnen needs 1 day: the U-shaped valley with 72 waterfalls cascading from 300-meter vertical cliffs -including the Staubbach, one of Europe's tallest- is easily walkable straight from the village. June-September is best, though the cable car to the Schilthorn, with its revolving restaurant used in the James Bond film «On Her Majesty's Secret Service», runs year-round. It's cheaper than Interlaken or Zermatt. J.R.R. Tolkien visited the valley in 1911 and is thought to have been inspired by it for Rivendell, the elven refuge in «The Lord of the Rings».