How many days in each and what route to take????
 

Hi there!

My husband and I have a total of 10 days to spend in the following places we would like to visit:

Switzerland (Murren)

Venice

Cinqe Terre

Possibly adding 1 day in Florence

We will be arriving to Milan airport and we are not sure in which order we should be going first?

Our original was to do the following:

Arrive to Milan, take a train to Murren and spend 3 nights there

take a train from Murren to Zurich and then fly to Venice from there (spend 3 nights in Venice)

train to Florence (spend the day there and take a train to Cinque Terre) and spend 3 nights there

and then drive from Cinque terre to Milan and fly home.

How does this sound? Is there any other better way for the route? Thank you!!!!

When is your trip? I ask because of the reported mobs in summer in the CT. I haven't experienced the phenomenon myself as I was there years ago & off season but it's something to consider as you plan. Other towns in the area may suit better.

I don't think of Florence as a day trip sort of place. What do you have in mind to do there? Maybe an overnight to have more time and not have to find a home for luggage while you visit.

We are going 3 week of August!
As for Florence, we thought it would be a good stop to CT , but originally it was not in our itinerary. We originally were going straight to CR from Venice as we heard its a very charming beautiful village and great place to relax compared to Florence where its much busier, etc.

Thank you!

You do not need to drive to the CT as once there cars are not allowed in except for the two main towns but not the cuter villages in between.

but relaxing in August in these very over touristed tiny towns is iffy - and there is now a limit on the number of people allowed in so apply for your entry permit NOW.

For lots on Italian trains check www.seat61.com- good info on discounted tickets available for early birds; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Most seaside and lake resorts in Italy are mobbed in August - the month off for many and thus main cities are rather deserted of locals then.

If there isn't anything in particular you long to see in Florence then, failing an overnight, I'd skip it. And there are any number of charming towns & villages in which to relax that are less inundated than the CT (actually 5 villages, hence cinque). Others here, I have no doubt, will recommend their favorites in the same general part of the coast which you can easily reach by train.

Cinque Terre is five villages - as per the name. And before you wing off there in August, take a look at this :

http://genova.repubblica.it/cronaca/...ti_-123899365/

Relaxing? Doesn't look that way to me. There are any number of wonderful places to relax in Italy in high season - CT isn't one of them.

I would also skip Florence. It will likely be a really hot madhouse, one day isn't time to do it justice, and you don't seem to have any real compulsion to see it.

Thanks so much for your comments!
I am actually reconsidering now if CT would be a good idea after all.. Does anyone else have other recommendations of a good place to stay in August after 3 days in Venice? or should we just extend our time in Venice ?

Ideally we would love to find a spot that has CT "feel" to it...
Any recommendations of a hidden gem? :)

I was in Florence and the CT last May (we stayed in Vernazza specifically, which I really enjoyed). In the early mornings and in the evenings, it was relaxing. In the middle of the day, not at all. I don't know if August is the same or worse.

I'm an introvert and don't love being in big crowds of people. When we got off the train in Vernazza, probably around 3 or 4pm, I was really questioning whether we'd made a good choice in going to the CT - there were <i>so</i> many people at the station and on the platform. In the evening, it quieted down a lot - the change was really quite dramatic.

One morning we had breakfast at the Blue Marlin cafe on the main street in Vernazza, just down the hill from the train station. When we got there (maybe 8:30 or 9?), the town was quiet, and it was fun to watch it "wake up" for the day - shopkeepers chatting while they opened up, that kind of thing. Then the first train of day trippers swarmed down the hill and the whole vibe changed. It was pretty fascinating to watch, really.

Basically, if you can handle crowded days in balance with less crowded mornings/evenings, and really want to see the CT, you might be fine, unless someone who's been in August says it's different than my May experience. If you want serenity the whole day long, maybe renting a villa in the lake district or something along those lines would be a possibility.

There are lots of other charming towns on the Ligurian coast. Finale Ligure and Levanto are two suggestions. You can see others on this website:

http://www.miomyitaly.com/best-beaches-in-liguria.html

I've visited Florence on day trips more than once, including once with visiting relatives who didn't have much time. It's enough time to walk around the center, see the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo (from the outside), and maybe to visit a few churches or a museum. However, it takes quite a while to get to the Cinque Terre from Florence (as much as three hours, depending on which town), and that will cut into your time.

If you only have 10 days and you're flying in/out of Milan, I don't think Murren makes sense with the rest of your plan. Malpensa to Murren by train takes 4.5 hours with multiple changes, and then getting from Murren to anywhere else takes more than half a day and involves many more changes.

Or maybe it's trying to also go to Venice AND the Cinque Terre that makes the whole plan unwieldy. Your three main destinations are far apart and each involve time and effort to get to. Driving any part of this would not improve things.

I think you need to drop a destination or reduce the geography you're trying to cover by picking different places that are closer together, easier to get to.

Unless your flight out of Milan is in the afternoon, you should consider spending the last night near Milan/Malpensa.

At the very least I would swap the lakes region for CT. If I actually had to choose the lakes or Ligurian coast I'd take the coast, but not in your time frame. Doing the lakes instead will save you an entire day and you only have ten so that's significant. Any of lakes would work.

I would also consider staying in Interlaken when in Switzerland. Interlaken itself doesn't have as much charm as Murren but it's more central and it's closer to both Milan when you arrive, and to Venice. You can do day trips up into the Bernese Oberland mountains, or out onto the lake to numerous towns like Thun, etc. Or to Bern or Murren. And then I would consider taking the train to Venice rather than flying. It's a long train - about 7 hours I think, but if you add in taking the train to Zurich, flying (which includes getting to the airport 2 hours early, etc.) and then getting from the airport (especially if it's Treviso rather than Marco Polo) into Venice, it won't be really any faster to fly and there will be some nice scenery.

But really, with only ten days I think you'd enjoy yourself more if you could narrow it down to two destinations- split the time evenly and do some day trips. Good luck.

Yes Murren is neat but it is remote for doing day trips to other parts of the Jungfrau region - Grindelwald is my favorite base and it is only 25 minutes from Interlaken - it takes a lot lot longer to get to Murren (taking train to Lauterbrunnen, cable car up to Grutschalp - train to Murren- so unless staying put in Murren for the whole three days chose a more convenient base.

2nd the idea of a train to Venice - you could break your journey at say Lake Maggiore - Stresa is a sweet town right on the train line from Switzerland. plenty of hotels within walking distance of the train station.