I'll join the rest of you - draft of itinerary
 

And of course, some of your fabulous suggestions!

As some of you know, before you read this, keep in mind that my husband and I are very active, and love hiking. Might explain some of the backtracking that I do know we are doing.

Land in Zurich, go directly to Interlocken.
Stay - 3 nights, with plans to overnight in Gimmelwald.

Off from Interlocken to Salzburg- stay - 3 nights.

From Salzburg to the Dolamites area, not quite sure where we are sleeping yet. 2 nights.

From the Dolamites to Florence - area. 4 nights, with plans to stay a night or two outside of Florence, in a nearby town, like Sienna.

Florence to Rome - 2 nights. Short, I know, but we'll do more of Southern Italy on our next trip. We fly out from here.

Thanks so much again, for all of your replies and suggestions!

d-

d2roberts: You will have better luck if you re-post w/ a better title. Currently it does not identify anything you are asking about. It could be about anywhere in Europe.

try something like "help w/ Switzerland/Italy itinerary" or "Switzerland, Austria, Italy - itinerary suggestions?"

Thanks!

If you're very active, and love hiking, you might want to skew your trip even more toward those kinds of activities.

It sounds like you aren't planning to rent a car. May I suggest that, based on some of the places you're going, that having a car would make your trip easier and more manageable. For example, how were you planning on getting from Interlaken to Gimmelwald? Also, to really enjoy the Dolomites, and venture up the valleys (such as the Val Gardena), I don't know what the public transportation system would be like. Often, the trailheads are not right in town.

Anyway, if you want to experience the mountains and do hiking, consider staying in Grindelwald instead of Interlaken. Grindelwald has tons of tourists, but there are also dozens (if not more) of beautiful day hikes everywhere around the town (not just by the Eiger). You can always do your overnight in Gimmelwald (a gorgeous tiny place) from there.

Re the Dolomites, we spent two nights in Cortina d'Ampezzo and one night in Selva di Gardena, and did hiking at both locations. Cortina is, of course, bigger and more sophisticated, but still a cute Alpine town. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast place in Selva; they are the thing to do there. Our hosts were delightful.

Think about the Florence portion of your trip. You say 4 nights, including 1-2 nights in Siena. That's a lot of moving around in a short period of time. But if you want to spend time in the countryside, the time's got to come from somewhere! If you're not too interested in what Florence has to offer, then give Siena the two nights. Here's another place where having a car would help. The driving in Tuscany is beautiful. On hiking in the Siena area, we've never found much. I've found books that describe hikes such as "turn left at the gray barn after the second vineyard." I don't do well with those kinds of directions - too afraid I'll get lost in the countryside. (As opposed to hikes in Switzerland and Austria, where everything is extremely well-marked.)

If you are planning to return to Italy to do southern Italy, then I think 2 nights in Rome makes a lot of sense.

For the Salzburg portion of your trip, you might want to consider a daytrip to the Berchtesgadenland region. We stayed in Schonau, right outside of Berchtesgaden, in May and loved it. We too like to hike and there are some great places to hike in this area. The Bavarian Alps in this area are gorgeous, and Berchtesgaden is only about 20 miles away from Salzburg.

I agree that sometimes a car can be beneficial. However, note that there are hefty charges for dropping a car off in a different country from the one you are picking it up in. For your trip, I would suggest train travel with perhaps a few days of car rental in areas such as the Dolomites or the Salzburg region.

Tracy