Hi there,

It will be my parents' first time to Europe in October (last two weeks)!

We plan on spending 4 days in Florence, and from there somewhere in Switzerland for 3 days, then we'll head to London for my brother's wedding.

Any suggestions on where to base ourselves and which city/cities to visit in those 3 days? I know it's short but my mom really wants to see Italy and Switzerland.

Thanks!

IMO best to head to the Interlaken area -the epitome of the awesome high Alps many dream of seeing -forget cities and head to this awesome area- trains are great for getting around - for lots of info check www.sbb.ch (official site of Swiss Railways); www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

The Jungfrau Region:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...w=1920&bih=950

Take train to Interlaken from Italy and then trains to neat dreamy mountain villages like Wengen -would be nice if you could add a day or two for more relaxing travel.

We plan on spending 4 days in Florence, and from there somewhere in Switzerland for 3 days, then we'll head to London for my brother's wedding.>

Are you figuring in travel time - a train would take most of the day Florence to Switzerland and flying a half - leaves you precious little time in Switzerland.

Thanks for pointing out the travel time! We plan on flying--looks like there's a 2-hr flight from Florence to Zurich!

With just 2.5 days you may want to just head to nearby Lucerne, lovely Lucerne on its lovely lake - lots of easy excursions by boats -such as to Mt Titlis to get a taste of the high Alps. Lucerne is a lovely city on the lake. With such short time I would eschew the Jungfrau Region as it would take much longer to go to say Wengen or Grindelwald - Alpine villages eyeball to eyeball to the glacier-girdled Jungfrau Massif.

Zurich is a nice but modern large city -Lucerne is a city too but much smaller and has many more neat excursions easily done from it.

Lovely Lucerne:

https://www.google.com/search?q=luce...w=1920&bih=950

Remember that a 2-hour flight doesn’t mean 2 hours – you need to get to the airport an hour or two in advance of the flight, clear whatever hurdles are required in Switzerland (and get Swiss francs), and then get from the airport to wherever you are going in Switzerland. Sounds a lot more like 5 or 6 hours than 2 hours to me, but it depends on where, exactly, you decide to go.

Does 3 days mean 3 actual, full days? I’m not sure how you are counting.

I’m no expert on Swiss weather, but if you are planning for a trip in late October, and only have 2 or 3 days, I think you might want to take a look at Lucerne, Zurich, or Geneva/Montreux. Each offers reasonable access both outdoor and indoor opportunities.

You might consult a good guidebook or two and have your mother look at look at the pictures and descriptions of options.

Hope that helps!

With so little time, I'd head to Engelberg

Thank you sooo much everyone!

Lucerne and Engleberg would be great - taste of high Alps and a lovely city - close to Zurich.