Would like to travel to Venice, Switzerland, and Austria
May 2nd, 2014, 11:01 AM
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Would like to travel to Venice, Switzerland, and Austria
Hi! My husband and I are seriously considering taking about three weeks this summer and going to Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. I recognize that summer is right around the corner, but we are actually going to have about a month between jobs, and we would really like to take advantage of the opportunity, if we can get everything else taken care of. Top on my husband's list is Venice, and top on my list are the Swiss alps. Aside from that, we are pretty open. When we travel, we typically like to spend more time in smaller towns and villages as opposed to major cities. I've been trying to find a rough outline of an itinerary that would cover these three countries (and specifically including Venice in Italy), but am unsure of the best way to tackle this trip. We would also like to avoid spending most of our times on trains, if possible. Any advice and direction would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
May 2nd, 2014, 11:42 AM
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OK - for the train part check out these superb IMO sources: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download the latter's free online European Planning & Rail Guide for sample rail itineraries in those countries.
I would start perhaps in Rome - work your way via Florence and Venice to Austria and then shoot over to Switzerland, flying home from there - so-called open jaw ticket - fly into one place and fly out of another.
If traveling on several trains in three countries check out the various railpasses - or if you want to go the discount ticket route check www.seat61.com for a wealth of info on that - those tickets are sold in limited numbers and are often non-refundable non-changeable and to secure must be booked weeks or months in advance - but that could be the very cheapest way.
A pass gives you the option to chose which trains to take once there and except for Italy you can pretty much just show up and hop on any train anytime in Austria, Germany and Switzerland - you may want to include Munich in your trip - in between Austria and Switzerland.
I would start perhaps in Rome - work your way via Florence and Venice to Austria and then shoot over to Switzerland, flying home from there - so-called open jaw ticket - fly into one place and fly out of another.
If traveling on several trains in three countries check out the various railpasses - or if you want to go the discount ticket route check www.seat61.com for a wealth of info on that - those tickets are sold in limited numbers and are often non-refundable non-changeable and to secure must be booked weeks or months in advance - but that could be the very cheapest way.
A pass gives you the option to chose which trains to take once there and except for Italy you can pretty much just show up and hop on any train anytime in Austria, Germany and Switzerland - you may want to include Munich in your trip - in between Austria and Switzerland.
May 2nd, 2014, 02:37 PM
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The earlier or later you can do Italy the better - August is a zoo in tourist cities for tourist sites but many local things like restaurants and caffes may also be on holiday and it gets hotter than Hades in places like Florence in mid summer. Venice not so much but crowding there in August is severe because there is not so much turf like a Rome or Florence has for tourists to spread out.
May 2nd, 2014, 05:14 PM
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IMHO Venice is summer is truly awful - not just hot but VERY humid. What weeks do you have available. The problem with doing Venice last is that the film festival is in Sept and for abuot a week the prices of everything are doubled - if not more - and getting around is absolute hell. (We came in for a Congress following immediately on the festival and our first - prep day - was their last and my hotel room was almost triple the post festival price - I seem to remember more than 900 euros.)
May 3rd, 2014, 09:30 AM
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. Top on my husband's list is Venice, and top on my list are the Swiss alps>
There can be IMO no better place for the best of the Swiss Alps than the fantastic Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - stay in a cute mountain village like Wengen or Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and be practically eyeballto eyeball with glacier-girdled peaks.
A panoply of toy-like mountain trains, thrilling aerial cable cars and hiking trails for all degrees of difficulty - this is the Alpine Wonderland of Switzerland perhaps etched in your minds' eyes but which you will only see in this area and a handful of others, which however has less varied things to do than the Jungfrau Region.
https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...=1600&bih=1075
Interlaken is just off by a side rail line from the mainline Zurich to Italy so is a convenient stop when going from Germany to Italy.
There can be IMO no better place for the best of the Swiss Alps than the fantastic Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - stay in a cute mountain village like Wengen or Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and be practically eyeballto eyeball with glacier-girdled peaks.
A panoply of toy-like mountain trains, thrilling aerial cable cars and hiking trails for all degrees of difficulty - this is the Alpine Wonderland of Switzerland perhaps etched in your minds' eyes but which you will only see in this area and a handful of others, which however has less varied things to do than the Jungfrau Region.
https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...=1600&bih=1075
Interlaken is just off by a side rail line from the mainline Zurich to Italy so is a convenient stop when going from Germany to Italy.
