We have tickets to Zurich from the US and plan on taking a train to Lucerne and spending two days there before taking the train to Florence. At Florence we'll rent a car and stay in Certaldo and Sienna for 4 days before hitting Rome the last 3 days and turning the car in at the airport. We have spent time in Tuscany but never coming through Switzerland so does this sound feasible. Our daughter is getting married in Certaldo after getting engaged on the Eiffel Tower on Valentines day so it will be quite a small party of family members. Switzerland just sounded like fun even if on a limited time basis. Travel dates are at the end of April in 2010.

Lucerne to Florence is a long train ride, and IMO only the early part is interesting/pretty and only if the weather is relatively clear/dry. In such a short trip, I'd probably fly from Zurich to Florence which would only take half the time.

OR, could you reverse the itinerary? Rome-wedding-Switzerland. For some reason, a long train ride sounds more appealing after the party days, and even a week later could make a difference with the weather.

can't change out flying to Zurich and back from Rome. I just thought it would be fun to take the train.

Hi eleutherabeachbum,

The train trip from Luzern to Florence isn't truly all that long -- only about 6-7 hours. A train trip has to be about eight hours or longer before taking a flight will be any faster, what with transportation to/from the airport, the security wait, the flight, the wait for baggage, etc. And of course a train trip, even in a dull landscape, is a lot more interesting that a boring, staid, bland airport -- any day!!

But if you want to break up your trip, you could take the train from Zürich to the sweet town of Brig (or go on to Zermatt). Brig is a lovely town surrounded by mountains, and it's on a main train line into Milan. The trip from Zürich airport to Brig would be about 2h30, and the trip from Brig onward to Florence would be around 4-6 hours.

Do you have the website for the Swiss trains? It's at

www.rail.ch

to get all your connection & fares information.

Have fun!

s

We took the train from Biel, Switzerland to Florence in 2007. It was about 7 hours, but a nice ride. We made 2 changes, one in Bern and one in Milan. The change in scenery from Switzerland to Italy was interesting. We love Swiss trains as they are always efficient and clean. Italian trains are quite different though.

thanks Swandav, I have started looking at the train site and it is a bit daunting trying to understand it but I'll get there. The way I understand everything about Swiss travel is that I can go almost anywhere by train and be able to connect down to Florence. I guess it's now picking the town to stay in. Lucerne looks like fun but I am still looking and will now look at Biel that Swisschocolate has suggested.

I would add that the only reason we left from Biel is because that's where my husband's family lives and where we were already. It's a nice little town but not a destination like Lucerne or Zurich IMO.

If you haven't been to Lucerne, I'd stay there. It's a pretty city, and there's a nice range of "Swiss" things. Lake ferry, mountain cogwheel train, etc.

Others here could comment on the alternative of going straight to the mountains (Berner Oberland) instead of Lucerne. I don't know how nice the weather would be at the end of April.

Hi again,

Biel is a nice enough town (I've planned a trip there but never actually went); however, it's not really in the mountains.

The mountains of the Berner Oberland are, of course, mountains, but they're quite a bit out of your way and would add time to your journey.

So I would pick either Luzern if you don't mind a long/ish journey or Brig if you want to break up your trip.

For information on these towns, see

www.luzern.org
www.lakelucerne.ch

www.brig-belalp.ch

Have fun!

s