In the summer we are travelling from Nice to Interlaken on the way to the berner oberland. We checked the rail schedule and it will take us about 8.5 hours by train. Will driving a car be a bit faster? Is there a website we can look into that will give us some route planning. Thank you <BR>Nathan

Faster? maybe not. These are serious mountains. Have you ever driven from Crested Butte to Aspen? That takes about 4 hours to go 20 miles as the crow flies (the comparison is not quite valid, but you get the point). <BR> <BR>The fast route is long (via Lyon, I think), but but the slow(er) route(s) are beautiful (as long as you can get through - - shouldn't be too difficult in summer). <BR> <BR>If you want transportation, the train might be a pleasant enough 8-9 hours. If you want to add to your trip, consider coming up from Ventimiglia (Italy) throught the Italian Piemonte into the French Queyras (Hannibal brought his elephants and Roman armies this way; you can do it.) <BR> <BR>You'll have to pay a surcharge to bring (and drop) a French rental car into Switzerland (or any other country). You can drop it off at Geneva airport (there is a counter there straddling France and CH), and re-rent or take the train from there. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex

It is not my style to omit an e-mail address- - [email protected] is my address. There may be a glitch with fodors this morning. <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>www.allexperts.com

Good evening, Nathan In checking the <BR>make and using mostly the autostrade <BR>and divided highways, You would leave <BR>Nice on the coast road E80 to Veltri, <BR>head north on A26 thru Stresa and over <BR>the Simplon Pass, to Brig and to Goppen-stein for car/rr transfer to <BR>Kandersteg to Interlaken. You will <BR>loose a good deal of time over the <BR>Simplon and also the railroad connect- <BR>ion at Goppenstein. Would think the <BR>railway would be faster. You can add <BR>another half hour for the train from <BR>Interlaken to Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen. Richard of Hickory Hills, Il...;.

I'd think you're better off with the train in most cases. Much of the ride is certainly worth the price in views ... among the most scenic train routes in Europe. <BR> <BR>That is a mountainous area and it does seem long if you've not driven it. Significant parts of the road are a bit slow and you're likely to get behind trucks and slow drivers at points making the trip much slower than you'd expect. Also there's often a fair amount of construction/repair going on during good weather as the roads do take a beating from traffic and climate. <BR> <BR>Rome.Switzerland.Bavaria <BR>www.twenj.com