ftdavis

My husband and I are planning a 3 week trip to Europe from May 5-27, 2007. That will give us 21 nights in Europe—20 full days and part of a day on the 6th when we arrive. I’ve been working on our itinerary and would like some advise on our time in Slovenia and Switzerland(not our only destinations).

We had originally planned on 2 nights in Bled, Slovenia and 3 nights near Ljubljana. That would give us 1 ½ days to see the Bled area including the town, castle, and church. We would then drive through Triglav national park to a tourist farm between Skocjan and Postonja for 3 nights. We want to see the Skocjan caves, Lipica horse farm, and Predjama castle. We would also see Ljubljana as a day trip.

After a stop in Venice we would arrive in Lausanne after a night train and plan to spend 2 nights in Broc. The first day seeing Lausanne and Chillon castle, the second day touring a cheese and chocolate factories. We would then go to Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights before heading to Luzern for 2 nights.

One of the main questions we have is whether to keep the itinerary as it is now, or to take a night from Lauterbrunnen and add it to Ljubljana. I'm just not sure how much time is recommended for each place. Any other suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

treplow

I have not done the exact itinewrary that you describe, but have been to Slovenia, Lauterbrunnen and Luzern. I suggest you stay with your program as is. You won't do much touring from Lauterbrunnen on the day you arrive. That leaves you one day for "doing" the one side of the valley - - - Wengen, (Maennlichen walk to Kl. Scheidegg?), train to Jungfrau. And one day for Schildhorn, Muerren, Truemmelbachfaelle.

If you want to skip anything in order to add to Slovenia, I would by-pass Luzern. By then you have seen and visited several Swiss towns and cities, as well been to several mountains. Slovenia really is a great place and having a car there will give you greater flexibility than later on, when you will be tied to trains .

ftdavis

Thank you for the advice! As a follow-up question then, would it be better to decrease or eliminate our time in Luzern to add to Slovenia (or elsewhere in Switzerland)? Luzern seems to be well liked also. But, it's nice to know we're on the right track. Thanks again!

bobthenavigator

What a unique itinerary. I have been to all of those but not on the same trip. How do you get from Slovenia to Venice? Why are you going so far into CH by overnite train? Have you seen tha Italy lakes before? I would prefer Luzern to Lausanne. Where do you start and end? Sorry, but I am trying to understand the logic.

ftdavis

There is a train from Ljubljana to Venice that takes about 4 hours, leaving at 10:30 and arriving at 14:30. We stayed at Lake Como on our last trip to Europe so we're skipping the Italian lakes on this trip.

I was trying not to overwhelm anyone with too many details, but maybe that was a mistake on my part.

Interests: some museums but we won’t spend most of our time there, castles, and looking at the local sights. We are in our 30’s. This will be a backpacking trip—we will have carry-on sized backpacks, so we are only taking the essentials. We spent 6 weeks in Europe in the fall of 2004 on a similar trip so we’ve seen some of the major cities that we’re not including on this trip (like Paris and Rome).

Here is our tentative itinerary:

Fly from Portland, Oregon to Ljubljana, Slovenia likely through Frankfurt

Arrive about noon and take the bus to Bled—2 nights, sights: the city of Bled, Bled castle, the church

Pick up a rental car and spend the day driving through Triglav national park to a tourist farm between Skocjan and Postonja—3 nights, sights: Skocjan caves, Lipica horse farm, Predjama casle, and Ljubljana

Drive to Ljubljana where we will drop off the rental car and train to Venice for 2 nights and take the night train out on the third day

Take the overnight train to Broc, Switzerland—2 nights, sights: Lausanne and Chillon Castle on the day of arrival, the cheese and chocolate factory tours near Broc on the second day

Take the scenic train to Lauterbrunnen (Berner Oberland)—2 nights, sights: some hiking in the valley on the day of arrival, a trip up into the Alps on the second day

Train to Luzern—2 nights, sights: the city and lake

Train to Colmar, France—2 nights, sights: the city, maybe a surrounding village

Train to Trier, Germany—3 nights, sights: spend one day in Trier, one day in Luxembourg City, and one day around Zell/Bacharach/Burg Eltz or other Mosel towns. This is the only part of the trip we have seen before—we stayed in Zell last time and also visited Burg Eltz. We have not been to Trier.

We would spend the last night in our departure city—maybe Frankfurt or Brussels.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

bobthenavigator

I knew there had to be good logic to your trip--now I understand.
I basically like it---a bit busy but you are young. My comment is about 3 destinations in CH. I would make it just 2 and spend more time in the Berner Oberland--it deserves it. And, it would seem that Luzern is an easier train trip from Venice---via Milano and Lugano. All in all, sounds like fun to me.

ftdavis

Oops...there is supposed to be 3 nights in the Berner Oberland--I miss typed. Thank you for the suggestions and taking a look at our itinerary!

JN

Luzern is too beautiful to miss, in my opinion. I'd keep it on your itinerary. If you had to cut one Swiss location, my suggestion would be the Lausanne area.

treplow

To answer your question: I guess, skipping Luzern or Lausanne is kind of a toss up but, on second thought, the writer who suggested you skip Lausanne may be right. There is more of a difference between, say, the Berner Oberland and Luzern than Geneva and Lausanne. In any event, I think adding to your time in Slovenia would be a good move.

ftdavis

Thanks for the advice. Would you recommend adding 1 or 2 nights to Slovenia? I guess we could also take a night from Lausanne or Luzern instead of cutting the location entirely. What do you think? Again...thanks for helping us out.

treplow

I probably would add at least one night in Slovenia, and kind of would decide on the spur of the moment where to spend it.

You know, in May you won't have any problem finding places to stay in Slovenia or Switzerland. So, you may also wish to kind of decide in the last minute of whether to spend more time in Lausanne or Luzern.