Colorado17

Hi everyone! I've posted a few questions about my husband and I's trip to Europe and I wanted to post our possible final itinerary. Keep in mind that we are picking up our new Volvo in Goteborg, Sweden, (we can fly open jawed, which we are doing)....and our time frame for travel is July 26 (leave out of Phoenix, Arizona and land in Goteborg, July 27th-morning)-through August 14th (we'd like to fly out of Rome or Venice). We also have my best friend that lives in Biel, Switzerland that we are staying with and would like to take advantage of where she is located! NOW I realize that people who are Italy lovers will have comments on the places we're going (stay longer here, less here), remember it's my first time to all of these countries and we're trying our best to stick to the major stuff =0.
Here goes:
July 26-Fly out of Phx, AZ
July 27-Land Goteborg, relax during day
July 28-Pick up volvo, drive to Vaxjo (area in Sweden known for glass).--stay over night again in Goteborg
July 29-Fly to Switzerland from Goteborg (this is tricky)
July 29,30,31/Aug. 1,2-Biel, Switzerland w/day trips to Bern, Interlakken/Berner Oberland
August 3,4-Fly or Train to Venice, Italy?? 2 nights
August 5,6,7-Florence, day trip to 1 town
August 8,9-Cinque Terre
August 10,11,12-Rome
August 13-Fly back to Phoenix, Arizona

Colorado17

ttt

polyglot

Regarding the Swiss and Italian segments, it's a long way from Biel to Venice, so I'd allow another day enroute (maybe overnight in Lugano, Switzerland) or another night in Venice. It's a georgeous trip by train but long.
You could make that day up, IMO, by deleting a day in the Cinque Terre, which is beautiful in the more southeasterly of the villages, but which I found was easily done in less than one day, if you don't hike the whole thing. I've stayed in the nearby S Margherita Ligure, which has convenient train connections to the villages.
Of course you're devoting a lot of time to Biel but that's because you have friends there. You shouldn't miss a boat ride on the Lakes of Neuchatel and Murten (they're interconnected) and walking tours of the towns themselves, very charming.
You don't want to have a car in Florence, but you could rent one for a day trip south to Siena, San Gimignano, and Cortona -- all three are easily doable in a day without too much rushing.
Have a wonderful time!

Colorado17

Polyglot!! Thank you for your advice, I forgot to mention that we will be dropping the car off after two days, so we will be flying from Switzerland to Venice (no car)! Not to worry, we aren't spending the whole time in Biel, just using that as a base...and taking day trips elsewhere!! Not to "knock" Biel, but my friend said it is a rather small town and we should definitely check out Neuchatel and Murten etc...Excellent ideas...thank you Polyglot!
-CO

sprin2

I just replied to your post about visiting Vaxjo. I now see that you are picking up the car, driving to Vaxjo, touring glass factories, driving back to Goteborg, and spending the night there all on day two. Will you drop off the car on day 3 and go to the airport or are you hoping to drop off the car on day 2? Either way, I might suggest driving down (or up) the coast and not try to do quite so much on day 2. Varberg, Falkenberg, and Halmstad (south) all sound like interesting towns with things to see, and Jonkoping's (east)position on the lake looks lovely as well. I just wonder how much time you'll have in Vaxjo / glass area, with having to get back to Goteborg that night. Volvo picked us up at 9:45 am (10:00 was the earliest car pickup we could get) we did have their free lunch, we skipped the factory tour, and we were able to leave about 1:00. So it is not a "quick" visit to get your car.

In Goteborg, we dropped our car back at Volvo. Will you be going straight from dropping off the car to the airport? They should provide you with transportation there (or to the city center), but be sure to ask and get that straight.

motor_city_girl

We did almost the same trip in reverse in April. You will love it. We did Rome (3 days), spent the day in Orvieto on our way to Florence (2 days), CT (3 days) and Venice (3 days). It was perfect. Enjoy!

Colorado17

Thank you all so much for your suggestions!! Sprin2---your hints on Volvo were really what we needed to know and didn't even know we should have asked, that makes sense not to cram in too much because if we do take the factory tour, i'm sure we won't get out of there until 3:00 or so, and at that point, we might as well, just hang around, maybe drive outside Goteborg for a bit.
What is the deal when you drop the car back off in Goteborg--how long does that take, how much time should we plan for?? We arrive day 1, car pick up day 2, car drop off day 3.
--Thank you to Motor_City Girl who gave me some much needed support for our itinerary!!!
-CO

sprin2

In our experience, car drop off is much faster than car pickup. Volvo seemed to try to make the pickup an event. They were very nice and efficient, they just wanted you to revel in everything, and they worked at their own pace. I think we got a little antsy cause we had our two kids AND my mom with us AND we had to drive to Stockholm that day (note for other families they do have a nice play area / lounge. They also have a small bedroom and shower for people just getting off the plane). When we did it our name was displayed on their tv, welcoming us -- that was kinda neat.

Drop off was easy, they inspect the car noting any dents or dings, you clean out ALL your items, and then get in the taxi. We had to wait a few minutes for the taxi, but not long. We went back to the city for the day. The airport is about 20 miles north and if you want Volvo to take you back there be sure to clarify that ahead of time.

Just driving your new car anywhere will be a blast! As someone said Sweden has good roads and hardly any traffic. It is such fun!!