I have 7-8 days to travel with my boyfriend (we are in our 20s/30s) and I was wondering if you could help me/give me advice with my itinerary! This will be late August.



Starting in Zurich is the only fixed part of the trip because I already have my trip there booked. (It will be the end of a business trip!)



I would really like to see the beautiful natural sites of Switzerland but also want to hit Italy quickly at the end because I LOVE Italian food!



Is this too rushed? Any order of things that should be switched? The reason I go in kind of a circular route in the beginning was because to get from interlaken to lugano (or milan) by train, it seemed like the train had to go through lucerne first.



Any advice?







Trip Summary

zurich -> bern -> interlaken area/a village near there -> lucerne -> lugano -> milan




Detailed:




zurich (dont spend too long here - 1 day)




-> zurich to bern - 56 min train




bern (1 night or just half day)




-> bern to interlaken - 50 min




interlaken (1-3 nights)

- visit or stay a village near interlaken (Murren, Lauterbrunnen, or or grindelwald or Gimmelwald). go to mountain jungfraujoch. get to these villages via train or bus




-> interlaken to lucerne - 2 hrs




lucerne (1-2 nights)




-> lucerne to lugano (2.5 hrs)




lugano - 1 night or just half day




-> lugano to milan (1.5 hrs)




milan

Looks good - I would not do one-night stands like in Bern but yes hit it on way to Interlaken area - Grindelwald is a neat mountain town with a bit of action say at night - Wengen is a perpetual favorite here for folks seeking quiet and a smaller car-free village- Murren and Gimmelwald really too isolated for day trips around area. Anyway check out the Swiss Travel Pass which covers not only trains but lake boats (Lake Lucerne is wonderful by boat!), postal buses, urban transports - every that moves just about - gives 50% off trains to mountain tops and most cable ways. www.swisstravelsystem.com is a great site for all about Swiss trains; other info-laden sites - BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Lugano to Milan book at Acquista il biglietto con le nostre offerte - Trenitalia - get discounts if booking early enough.

Well no way would I try to see 7 places, in 7 days, but I guess I don't see why it wouldn't work if that's your goal.

Which places would you suggest cutting out?

With that limit, and understanding you want to see natural beauty, I think I would skip Zurich altogether--take the train on arrival to Lucerne. You can spend a night there, see a bit of the town, before heading to some place in the Berner Oberland (you don't say when you are travelling, which makes a difference, but most people will tell you to travel on past Interlaken up to one of the mountain villages for your base). If you have a bad weather day, you can make a daytrip from there to Bern. From the BO, then you can proceed on to Lugano and Milan, if you like. Personally, with that short of a timeframe, I don't think I would try to work in Italy, as I don't think you would find the extra travel time worth the effort--both Switzerland and Italy have plenty to see, so no need to try to hit both on a short trip. But, that's just me.

Any 2 or 3 that you are least interested in so you at least have a couple days at each stop.

I'd skip Lugano - nice city but not exceptional IMO (though everyplace in Switzerland could be called exceptional!) and then take train Interlaken-Spiez-Milan - spend at least 3 days in Interlaken area. Maybe 2 in Lucerne. Skip Bern - 3 places - Lucerne, Interlaken and Milan. Try to add a few extra days.

Sorry, but I would spend the majority of my time IN the Berner Oberland. Luzern is fine and some parts are scenic (around the lake and the rebuilt bridge) and I would not stay IN Interlaken, either, but rather in almost any location above that.

I'd get the heck out of Zürich as fast as possible, but that's my own bias. And I'd forget Italy on such a whirlwind trip and concentrate on The Berner Oberland. If you're flying home from MIlan, though, don't ovelook the fact that it's a city full of amazing offerings. But I wouldn't detour to Italy just for the food unless you have very specific culinary desires - there's plenty of mediocre food in Italy. Doing 7 destinations in 7 nights to me is a guarantee of not having any memories of a trip.

I'd do - 2 nights Lucern, 3 nights Interlaken (can do Bern as a day trip, by basing in Interlaken you can choose the nice weather days for the mountain day trips and less nice day for Bern - if you stay in the mountains for 2 nights and Bern for 1 and the weather is the opposite of what you want - sunny the Bern day and cloudy the mountain days - then you are screwed. By basing in Interlaken you have more options, even if the town itself might be less scenic - but there is a nice enough old town most people never visit). Then 3 nights in Milan. If you want it is very easy (less than an hour) to do a half day trip to Lugano from Milan.

I find putting together an itinerary for Switzerland to be quite daunting. Switzerland is about natural beauty, architecture and traditions. Due to the alps, the weather plays a huge role in what to do in Switzerland. Unfortunately, tourists don't have the flexibility to follow the weather so the next best alternative is to create an itinerary for good weather and bad weather.

Day 1: Go to Berner Oberland and settle in. The next three days are ideas for good weather and bad weather days
Day 2: Go to Grindelwald, go up to Kleine Scheidegg, walk to Männlichen, and go back to Grindelwald. (or vice versa)
Day 3: Go to Thun or Ballenberg (the open air museum)
Day 4: Go to Mürren and walk down to Lauterbrunnen (rainy day alternative: Thun or Ballenberg, the open air museum)
Day 5: Go to Lucerne. You can see the town in half a day but a few highlights are the old town, the TWO wooden bridges and walking along the lake to the Transport Museum. Stay the night.
Day 6: Go to Milan
Day 7: Enjoy Milan
Day 7: Fly out.

I like kleebatt's idea but I would do Lucerne first from airport then go to Milan from Interlaken via Spiez. Do not have to go to Lucerne to get to Milan. And Lucerne could be nice short train trip for first night.

PalenQ: I first had that on the itinerary but then I thought Lucerne would offer a nice break on the way down to Milano since the train ride without a layover, is 4.5 hours. However, it doesn't really matter that much which order the OP chooses.

I had thought it was about same time Interlaken-Milan as Lucerne-Milan but was wrong - Lucerne-Milan is about 3.25 hrs withn only one change of trains whilst from Interlaken Milan is about 5 hours with one change of train but most stay up in a Wengen or Grindelwald making more changes and longer time. So yes Lucerne is a much shorter train ride to Milan so makes sense to go from there.

and from Lucerne yes back to original point of taking Gotthard Express train - formerly the William Tell Express until 2016 - the boat ride is nice - going all along the fjord-like leg of Lake Lucerne to Fluelen where they transfer to the train which said above takes the old route up to the old Gotthard Tunnel and not burrowing under most of the Gotthard Pass as the new base tunnel does.

It's neat when the train passes the same town and church three times (can't remember name) as the train loops inside a mountain - first going one way then the other then back south!

The former William Tell Express included a full lunch on the steamer ship and charged an upgrade of about $30-40 however - you can ride the same boat or others for free with a Swiss Travel Pass but not in the section reserved for first class and the Gotthard Express group.

Thanks everyone!

Based on the replies, I have edited my itinerary and you can see it here:

zurich (1 day)
lucerne (2 nights)
grindelwald (3 nights)
stresa (maybe skip or 1 night)
milan (2 nights)
-fly out from milan

If anyone has more advice on places or things to do in those places, please let me know on this thread or feel free to comment on the itinerary
I am also looking for ways to save money so if you have any tips on this that would be nice too! Thanks!

Aha! You'll be taking the train over Domodossola to Stresa. Well done! The trip won't be as long.

I'd skip Stresa for a night because you'd really want to spend a whole day there to explore the lovely Borromean Islands just offshore - the city itself is nice but not remarkable - forego a one-night stay and just go to Milan so you can really savor Italian stuff.