From Venice to Switzerland
 

Hi there, I will be traveling from Venice to Switzerland mid March. I have not decided on where to visit in Switzerland but will have 3 nights to spare. I will be flying out from Zurich. My intent is only for sightseeing since this is my first visit to Switzerland. Need advice on the following:
1. What are the options for sightseeing?
2. How do I plan my travel from Venice to the areas you would recommend? And from these places to Zurich airport.
3. What is the weather I could expect mid March - rainy?
4. What are your recommendations for hotels for budget of USD 200?

I appreciate all your advice and help in my itinerary planning. Thanks.

I would train to Luzern via Milan and spend your time there---quite scenic with tons to see. See www.trenitalia.com

The weather will be chilly and possible rain. Look at booking.com for Luzern hotels. Luzern is only an hour by train to Zurich with connections direct to the airport[ Flughafen]

You may have a look at
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en

There are basicly 4 itineraries from Venice to Switzerland (and a lot of variants):
Venice - Milan - Lake Maggiore - Brig (Aletsch glacier; Zermatt etc.) - Spiez (Interlaken - Jungfrau area etc.) - Berne - Zurich

Venice - Milan - Lake Lugano - Bellinzona (3 castles) - Arth-Goldau (Lucerne, etc.) - Zurich

Venice - Bergamo or Milan - Lecco - Lake Como - Tirano - Bernina - St. Moritz/Pontresina - Albula - Chur - Zurich

Venice - Verona - Bolzano/Bozen - Glurn - Mustair Claustra - Pass dal Fuorn - Zernez - (Scuol, St. Moritz, etc.) - Klosters (Davos etc.) - Zurich.

The weather is absolutely unpredictable and everyting is possible, from bright sun up to rain or snowfall. There will probably lie snow at places higher than about 1200 metres.

Thanks. I have decided to base myself in Luzern and plan to do the following:
Day 1 - Luzern (cruise, mountains)
Day 2 - travel on GP to Montreux
Day 3 - Lauterbrunne or Rhine Falls
Kindly advise what travel passes will make most sense and econmonical. Thanks

Tsandra...since you only have three days, you are wise to stay in one location such as Luzern. However travelling to Montreux and Lauterbrunne as a day trip isn't really feasible as you will spend most of your time getting there and will have no time to sight see.

If you really want to go to Montreux, you would be better to do that on your way to Luzern as I believe there is a direct train from Venice to Montreux. Montreux is lovely, however if I only had three days I wouldn't include Montreux(just my opinion).

As for travel passes(Swiss Pass) you first need to determine your exact itinerary, figure out the train fares, etc and then see which one would work best.

My suggestion:
Day 0:
Venice dp 16.20 - Montreux ar 22.24, direct train
Day 1:
morning at Montreux, Chillon castle, etc
Montreux dp 13.44 or 15.44 by Golden Pass Panoramic Express to Interlaken ar 16.49 resp 18.49
Day 2:
Jungfrau area if the weather is fine, day trip to Berne if the weather is bad
Day 3:
train via Brunig Pass to Lucerne (2 hrs journey), visit Lucerne or the surrounding hills (Rigi etc.)
Day 4:
Direct train to ZRH airport (1 hr journey)

Mid March in Switz is winter - ski season - snow at many elevations. The very pretty and green swiss countryside with the heidis and cows are about 2 month later - from May on.

I would not go to Switz then except to ski.

Hi
I have booked my 4 nights stay in Luzern from Mar 19 - 23. Can anyone recommend any scenic train rides that I can do from Luzern? I wanted to do the Golden Pass but it seems that trains are from Montreux to Luzern rather than the other way round. I have 3 full days in Luzern. I read that Bernia Express is good. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

Golden Pass trains Lucerne - Bruenig - Interlaken - Gstaad - Montreux and Montreux - Gstaad - Interlaken - Bruenig - Lucerne:
about every 2 hrs from 7.05 until 17.05 resp 7.44 until 15.44, 5hrs journey (OW).
The Bernina Express line is somewhere between Venice and Lucerne: 5 1/2 hrs from Venice and 4 1/2 hrs from Lucerne

Hi tsandra,

I would strongly recommend that you do NOT spend a day on the Golden Pass to/from Montreux -- or any other scenic train trip actually. You don't really have a lot of time in Switzerland, so you should be maximizing your views, which isn't a train. All you'll do is sit passively watching the scenery through a glass window . . . you might as well be watching a movie about the train trip.

Much better, I think to see the scenery in person, with the sun on your face and wind in your hair and a 360 deg. panorama in front of you. You don't have to be a hiker to see it . . . just take a cogwheel train or a cable car up to a mountaintop, get off, and soak up the views. Spend time on the terrace of a cafe or restaurant on the mountain. Maybe you'll feel comfortable walking 100 or 200 meters down a trail to change your view a bit. That's all it takes!

Have fun as you plan!

s