Lindsaymm

Hi! My fiance and I are planning to honeymoon in Italy and Switzerland next summer (end of July/early August), or in mid September.

We have finally narrowed down our honeymoon locale to Italy and Switzerland. We will have about two weeks and we plan to visit Cinque Terre, and Lake Como, and maybe Tuscany if there's time. (My guess is there probably won't be).

My fiance is dying to go to Switzerland, so our hope is to head there from either Lake Como, or by backtracking to Milan and going from there.

We are having a hard time narrowing down just where to go to in Switzerland. Because we plan on already having a lake portion of the trip (Lake Como), I would love to find a small mountain town where we can just relax, enjoy the natural beauty, and go hiking. If it makes more sense to skip Como for more time in Switzerland, we are open to that too!

Any recommendations would be great!

PalenQ

The Jungfrau Region and small mountain towns like Wengen or Grindelwald or others would fit you to a T - to me this area is the ultiamte Alpine Wonderland etched in many folks' minds but only fulfilled in a handful of places like the Interlaken area - glacier girdled peaks that rise thousands of feet above lush cow-doted meadows - toylike trains and thrilling aerial gondolas going off in all directions - hiking trails from really easy to difficult - lots of nice ones that require no special shoes, etc.

https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...HSitDYoQsAQIGw

and easy to get to from Italy - from Como go back to Milan and then take the main line north towards Bern and change at Spiez for Interlaken-Ost and from there trains to Grindelwald, Murren, etc.

For lots about Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. Investigate the Swiss Transfer Ticket if just going to one spot or if going to other parts of Switzerland the Swiss Pass, which is valid on trains, buses, lake boats and gives a hefty discount off trains and gondolas to mountain tops.

A great route if you have time from Lake Como is to go from Varenna-Esino, on the lake near Bellagio, to Tirano, Italy and take the thrilling Bernina Pass railway to St Moritz then scenic railways and buses to the Interlaken area. Don't have time now but will explain later this novel but thrilling St-Moritz to Interlaken route involving the Glacier Express scenic route and a thrilling alpine bus ride and possible lake boat.

twk

We are staying in Wengen for a week in mid-June. There's a lady that posts on the Trip Advisor Switzerland forum with the user name "kimsanjose" that takes annual trips to Wengen, and has compiled a 50 page dossier on the town and surrounding area. If you opt to stay in Wengen, you should definitely PM her and get a copy. I'd say she's the Wengen version of Stu Dudley (who know everything about southern France on this forum).

neckervd

If you stay at Lake Como places like Varenna, Bellagio, Menaggio, it's a short bus or train and bus ride to the marvellous Engadin Valley (with tons of hiking trails around glaciers and mountain lakes!).
The bus ride from Menaggio up to Sils Maria takes just 2 1/2 hrs.
http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/sommer/en/

Lindsaymm

thanks so much twk, neckervd and PalenQ!