14 days Europe trip...first trip to Europe
 

Hello everyone,

Me and my wife are planning for a 13-14 day Europe trip in coming April. Our plan as of now is Austria, Swiss and Italy. This is our first trip to Europe and i have no idea if we could cover all 3 countries i have mentioned above in 2 weeks.
Since no reservations have been made yet, i am open to tweak trip planning based on suggestions from users. Swiss and Italy are must visit for us. Currently i am estimating around 4 full days for Swiss(Alps,Zurich,Geneva etc), 6 full days for Italy(Rome, Venice and Florence only) and 3 full days for Austria(Hallstatt and Salzburg).
We are ok to skip Austria to be able to cover Swiss and Italy at our own pace in more detail but just wanted to hear opinions from others if above break down sounds reasonable. Itinerary suggestions are also welcome since i am not sure where to fly in and fly out of.

Thanks,
SP

am estimating around 4 full days for Swiss(Alps,Zurich,Geneva etc), 6 full days for Italy(Rome, Venice and Florence only) and 3 full days for Austria(Hallstatt and Salzburg).>

You are not figuring travel time in between stops it seems.

In Switzerland I'd do at most the Interlaken (Jungfrau Region- to me and many the epitome of the majestic Swiss Alps and an area with lots of varied things to see and do - 4 days

Maybe a few days in Lucerne - lovely city on a lovely lake.

Ax Austria - simply no time and head by train from Interlaken to Venice via Milan - spend next 8 days or so between those three cities. And that is a fairly fast-paced trip already.

Trains are best for both Switzerland's Alpine areas where cars are often banned and Italian cities where they are similarly banned from city centres - well in Venice the ban is obvious.

For lots of great info on trains check www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com- the latter is a great source of info on discounted tickets available Swiss to Italy and in Italy. In Switzerland a Swiss Pass or Swiss Transfer Ticket or Half-Fare Card can be a great deal if only there a few days.

You got two identical threads going at once - close one off and direct folks to the other.

Don't know which thread you will continue. I am posting on the other thread.

Why did you register under 2 names?

Sorry my bad. I created same post under two different names. I have asked admin to delete the other one. This is the actual one i will be using.

Reported this as duplicate thread under two registration names.

PalenQ: Thanks for the suggestions. Will take your advice and ax Austria in that case and plan for Switzerland and Italy.
nukesafe: I have already reported the other thread as duplicate to admin and requested them to remove it. There is no way to delete other thread myself, so asked admin to do the same.

Hope you read the posted suggestions on the other thread before it is deleted.

Sassafrass: Thank you. Yes, i saved your suggestions on my notepad. Appreciate your inputs.

Depending on where you want to go in Switzerland and what you want to do there, April might not be the best time. If hiking was in your plans, weather and trail conditions could severely limit your options. Some lifts and cable cars could be closed.

You don't have enough days to visit the destinations you mention, even if you drop Austria altogether. I'd probably also drop Rome, or you'll spend too much time moving around and not enough time sightseeing.

Easter is April 16. Depending on where you are that day, your sightseeing options may be zero.

First, how many days do you actually have on the ground. You can;t count the day you arrive or the day you depart and my fear is that you actually have only 11.5 days with the half of one being jet lagged. And you do not appear to allowing any times to get from one place to another.

You need to lay out this trip day by day, listing where you will awake, what you will visit/see, what travel there will be and where you will sleep

For train info use bahn.de, which has train schedules for all of europe - adding 2 hours, one at each end to pack, check in or out and make your way to the train station and then the reverse at the other end.

If you really have only 11.5 days on the ground then I would stay in only 3 places - IMHO more would mean spending way too much of yuor time just getting from one place to another. If you pus it perhaps 4 places.

Seeing 3 countries is NOT possible, although you could see one city each in 3 countries. (For example, IMHO to see anything or Rome you need to spend 3 days/4 nights there.)

If you insist you could go to 7 places, but IMHO you would have a very expensive and frustrating trip in which you miss many major sights and everything you see will just be a blur.

Thanks Jean. Hiking here and there was in our plans. Didn't knew Switzerland isn't conducive for hiking in April. Will make a note of it.Will probably push travel plan to last week of April or first week of May to make hiking easier. But will have to watch out for summer vacation where Europe will be at it's peak with visitors.

nytraveler: Thanks for the inputs. With all the inputs received from everyone so far, i will be doing only Switzerland and Italy as part of the tour. 8 days for Italy(Rome, Venice and Florence only) though it is bit tight and 5 days for Switzerland and 1 day for return journey.

Will fly into Rome and will traverse through Florence and Venice in that order through trains. 8 days till here.
9th thru 14th day: From Venice will catch an over night train on 8th night in tour to Geneva or Montreux. Will have 9th,10,11,12,13th days in Switzerland covering Lake Geneva, Interlaken area and Lucerne in that order. 14th day will travel from Lucerne to Zurich and take flight back home from Zurich on 15th day. Not sure if above plan sounds reasonable.

"From Venice will catch an over night train on 8th night in tour to Geneva or Montreux"
Such trains don't exist.

neckervd: Yes, if not overnight then i have to take below option i checked on seat61.com
Direct train from Venice to Brig, Montreux, Geneva... First, it's useful to know that there's one daily direct EuroCity train from Venice to Brig and Geneva, leaving Venice Santa Lucia around 16:20 and arriving Geneva around 23:21, with fares from €29 upwards in 2nd class or from €49 in 1st class with an advance-purchase Mini or Smart fare. Change in Brig for Zermatt. This train is a bullet-nosed ETR610 with restaurant car & power sockets at all seats, see the photos below.

Yes overnight trains Italy to Switzerland were scrapped several years ago when the now-defunct Cisalpino higher-speed tilting trains cut daytime travel times.

The best hiking in Switzerland in April-Mai will bei above Brig - Sion - Montreux anyway. For that, the 16.20 train is perfect.

OK personally I would skip Rome and spend time in Venice and Florence, skip Austria and go on to Switzerland. Book it as late as you can as there will still be much snow in Switzerland. much easier to enjoy the smaller towns in my opinion. Sue

OK personally I would skip Rome and spend time in Venice and Florence, skip Austria and go on to Switzerland. Book it as late as you can as there will still be much snow in Switzerland. much easier to enjoy the smaller towns in my opinion. Sue

Yes six full days for Rome, Florence and Venice is just two days in each - fine maybe for Florence and Venice for the average traveler but not enough in Rome- scratch maybe Austria - do Switzerland and add days to Italy?