Latehortua4115

Good Afternoon,

We will be flying to Zurich this summer (found a deal on the airfare from Boston). However , we would like to spend most of our vacation in Italy.
We will have 2 teens (16 and 17) traveling with us. Do you guys think they will enjoy the itinerary we've come up with?
Lucerne 3 d, Florence 3d, Cinque Terre 2, and Rome 4d?
Can you please share any recommendations on what activities we can do at each of our stops?
Thank you so much in advance!

StCirq

You and the teens need to invest in some guidebooks and spend time browsing the internet. Without a lot more information from you I don't think anyone can guess whether this is a viable itinerary for your family. It wouldn't be my choice of places to visit, especially if it's a first trip to Europe, and especially Cinque Terre in summer, but that's irrelevant.

There are hundreds and hundreds of things to do in the spots you've chosen - but why did you choose them if you don't know what you want to do there? Again, research focusing on your personal interests is in order.

Jean

I agree. Plus, I would prefer to include a small, less hectic place at some point for a little relief and contrast to the most popular tourist destinations.

bvlenci

Do those days include your travel days? If so, you don't have as much time as you think in each place.

How are you planning to travel from place to place?

annhig

My experience of travelling with kids of that age is that especially in the summer, what can make or break a holiday is access to a pool or other swimming. So from that PoV Lucern would be a good choice as there is a beach on the lake where you could go at the end of a long hot day. Also there are activities that they might find fun like going up Mount Pilatus on the cog railway then using the cable cars to get back down with an adventure park half way down if I remember rightly. But after that I tend to agree with St C that you should do some more research to see how good a fit the places you mention are, or if there are other places that might appeal more - and might be less crowded.

neckervd

I can only repeat what I answered to the same question in your previous thread:

You will land at Zurich airport (ZRH) July 1st at 1pm and you will have to be there for the flight back on July 11th around 3pm.
So you will have 9 full days at your disposal.
If you count 4 days for Rome and 4 days for Tuscany (strict minimum if you dont' want to visit Florence only) and at least a full day for transport between Zurich and these places, there will be no time left for Switzerland.

I suppose that July 1st will be lost anyway as you will be rather jetlagged after a 10 hrs overnight flight.
You may either
spend 2 hrs or so at Zurich and take the Flixbus (Zch city center dp 15.30 and 16.45) to Basel airport (Fares start at 12 EUR/14 USD) sleep there and board then a Rome bound easyjet flight BSL dp 6.16 (fares start around 60 EUR/70 USD)
or
go by direct train from Zurich airport to Lucerne, spend late afternoon and next morning there and go on by train Lucerne dp 12.18 - Milan ar 15.50 and by train Milan dp 16.30 to Rome ar 19.29. You can then backtrack by train through Tuscany up to Berne where you should arrive July 10th at 21.24 at the latest (that would mean Florence dp 16.00).
For train fares in Italy, have a look at https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm

PalenQ

Car or train?

Train would be best as cities like Florence and Rome don't even allow private vehicles in their city centres - and you are mainly going to places cars are useless - like Cinque Terre.

Lucerne is nice but the Jungfrau Region by Interlaken - just off main train line to Italy - is the Alps at their awesomeness - ensconce yourselves in a dreamy mountain town like Wengen or Grindelwald and do any of a plethora of day trips by mountain trains or thrilling cable ways that go off in all directions:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...iw=967&bih=920

So, I'd take train Zurich to Interlaken then train into the hills - stay 3 nights - kids will enjoy this area a lot more than Lucerne IMO.

Then take train via Milan and Genoa to the Cinque Terre - 2 nights

then train CTerre for Florence

And Florence to Rome - fly out of Rome.

That is easily done by train - for lots on trains check www.trenitalia.com - where you can book your own train tickets online, at a discount if early enough; www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

Yes CTerre is terribly mobbed in summer - so is Venice but IMO you can get away from crowds in Venice and it is such an awesome sight - take train from Interlaken area to Venice.

janisj

If Neckverd is correct with your dates, then it is too much travel in too little time IMO. Especially with having to return to Zurich to fly home. But I'm not 100% sure how much time you do have since you counted days and not nights.

. . . Not sure why you started a new thread - here is your other one Switzerland and Italy - 11 days