Hi! I'm a grad student studying abroad and am trying to plan a two week trip before I head back to the States. I need some advice on how to get around and places to see or stay... anything would be great! So far, (set in stone) my plans are:

June 6-9 in Amsterdam
June 9-12 in Prague
June 12-13 in Vienna
June 13-14 in Salzburg
June 14 Fussen, Germany (to see the castles)

June 19-20 in Basel (I fly out of Basel)

I'm trying to figure out what to do in between and want to go to travel around Switzerland the rest of the time except for a day or two in Lake Como at some point...
(Any suggestions on the best way to get to Como from Fussen??)

Also, any ideas of other places woth seeing/staying in Switzerland?

Thanks!!

>>best way to get to Como from Fusse.

As they say, "You can't get there from here."

Well, you can, but it's a bit complicated. From Füssen, take the bus to Reutte of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then the train to Innsbruck. From Innsbruck there is a direct day train to Milan, and maybe a night train to Milan, also. Take the train from Milan to Lake Como.

You can also go from Füssen by train (or bus and train) to Zurich, and from there south by train through Lugano to Lake Como.

Hi M,

You can get from Salzburg to Como (10 hr) and from Como to Basel (5 hr)

You can get from Salzburg to Munich, Munich to Fuessen and Munich to Basel (5 hr).

Como to Fuessen is a schlep.

See www.bahn.de

Northern Italian lakes (Como and Garda in our experience) are quite unique and beautiful. Still they do not fit easily into your trip.

You might consider some other lakeside experiences. I personally liked the alpine lakes around the Fuessen and the royal castles. A more similar experience to the Italian lakes might be Lake Constance (Bodensee) with its old world towns and flower gardens. Lake Constance lies along the route from Fuessen to Basel.

Regards, Gary

Thank you for all your help!! (This was my first post ever, and I wasn't expecting on getting any replies at all!) After realizing how complicated it was going to be to get to/from Fussen, I've decided to skip it and go from Salzburg right into Switzerland (or perhaps an overnight train to Como). Any suggestions for where to go or what to see in and around Switzerland?

Thanks,
Megan

Well, Switzerland is a whole trip in itself, but if this were <i>my</i> trip and I were coming from Austria and wanted to also get to Como, I would do this:

Take a train from Salzburg to St Moritz (about 6-8 hours, 2-4 changes). I would try to do most of it during the day, as it is really a lovely, lovely ride. Start in the morning early as you can, have lunch on board, and arrive in the early afternoon. A great day’s sightseeing. The ride from Chur to St Moritz is truly one of the prettiest anywhere, and most of it is just beautiful. (A night train appears to be possible, you would miss a good bit of the scenery, but it should be light for the last 1.5 hours from Chur to St Moritz, which is very lovely; the night train would require a change at about 5:30 am which is not always attractive esp as you would not leave Salzburg until 1 am, not a whole lot of sleep on that trip.) I would then spend some time in the St Moritz area, really untouristed by Americans, stunning mountain views both from top and bottom, good hiking, cable cars, charming villages (Guarda IMO the most charming of all villages in Switzerland), a few castles (not on the scale of Fussen, but these are real castles as opposed to Neuschanstein which is really just a madman’s fantasy) the whole Swiss-chalet-with-germaniums-in-the-windowboxes-and-cows-in-the-field experience. You can easily stay in Pontresina or smaller towns and avoid the more expensive St Mortiz, things are quite close and connected well by train and feeder bus as necessary.

Then take the fun Palm Express bus down into Lake Como, about 3 hours to Menaggio, another great ride up and over some high passes. From Menaggio, you can get a ferry to most any part of the lake.

Another good thing to do in this area would be to take the Bernina Express, you could use this to get to Como, but IMO it’s a longish trip, you can also just do the glacier portion of this wonderful rail trip to and from St Moritz as half-day trip. (The train ride from Chur to St Mortiz is in fact part of the non-glacier route of the Bernina express and you can just do it on a “regular” Swiss train, you don’t have to pay for the Bernina Express train. ) For info on the Bernina Express, see rhb.ch

From the town of Como it is a very easy train ride to Basel (via Zurich), about 5 hours. Quite pretty too.

For train and bus schedules, see rail.ch. Check out student discounts, I am sure they are available in addition to other rail passes.

I would avoid the Jungfrau valley, very very pretty of course, but a pain to get to from Austia and on to Como from there, and it will be chock-a-block with American tourists in June.

If I could also throw out some comments, your itin seems a bit rushed, esp Vienna only 1 night. Wow, hard to pick what to see in 24 hours in that city. And then to go all the way to Salzburg for 24 hours as well. And then less than 5 days between &quot;Switzerland&quot; (huge choices) and Como, that's pretty short in each, IMO. You might want to skip Salzburg actually and spend more time in Vienna and then time in Switzerland. This would add more time to the train journey between the two, you could consider flying to Zurich from Vienna and then going to St Moritz from there, an easy and pretty trip, and then to Como. Salzburg is quite pretty, but is not IN the mountains, just looks at them from a distance, and as you are going to Vienna, two Austrian cities seems like a lot. Depending on what your interests are, you might want to go to Salzburg over Vienna. Also, overall you have 6 place in 2 weeks, that is more than I personally would want to &quot;do&quot; in that short a time. It becomes a blur with that many places in that short a time. In two weeks I &quot;do&quot; 3 places and a 4th if it is very close. Personally, I think you have one too many days in Amerstam and Prague.

Megan,
I think you have an ambitious plan. Being young, it might suit you. Many of us more &quot;seasoned travel veterans&quot; would find it rushed.

Where to go and how long to stay depend on a lot of things--whether you're a hiker, museum/architecture lover, bustling big city, small town or rural lover, kind of food you like, etc. So advice you get here will reflect our biases, but not perhaps yours.

I love the Germanic countries. So, if this were my trip, I'd skip Amsterdam (Unlike many, I never saw the charm) and go to:
--Vienna for three nights
--Salzburg for two nights
--Munich for three nights. A very fun town for young and old alike.
--Luzern, Switzerland for two nights--this is a beautiful city, with lake, river and mountain views, good german/swiss food and a lovely old town with medieval ramparts, towers and covered bridges
--somewhere in the Berner Oberland (Muerren, Gridlewald or Wengen)--the high mountain range people think of Switzerland being all about
--then finish in Basel.

Enjoy whatever itinerary you select.

I am all for rushed itineraries, but there is no way you have enough time in Vienna imo. I'd do at least 3 nights there. Of course, I absolutely loved Vienna, so maybe I'm biased

bm

Hi,
I recently took a trip to Prague and booked hotel through www.a-prague.com. They were great and hotel was exactly how it was represented on the website. I was satisfied with quick services. They helped me a lot.