tcreath

I already posted an itinerary I was quite happy with a few weeks ago and received lots of great replies. We already have our tickets booked - into Geneva on April 26 and out of Venice on May 8. Our itinerary is as follows:

(Pick up car at airport)
3 days in Montreux region
3 days in BO (Lauterbrunnen or Thun)
3 days on Lake Como (Mennagio or Bellagio)
(drop car in Lugano/train to Venice)
2 days in Venice (I know this is short but Venice is not the focus of this trip)

With all of that being said, there are a few kinks now. They are:

- We have FF miles booked but our flight to Geneva has been changed and we now have an 8 hour layover in Chicago that can't be changed
- DH is questioning on whether we need to spend time on Lake Geneva since we will already be spending time on Lake Como

We are considering on changing our flight going over because we have spent more than enough time in ORD (and will be there for yet another 5 hour layover in October on our way to Tokyo). We are now considering starting in Milan, if the flights are better, so we can keep the car for the duration of our trip and drop it when we get in Venice. If we did this I'm not sure how our itinerary would change, especially if we dropped Lake Geneva from our itinerary. We could rearrange our itinerary so that we work our way through Switzerland and then the dolomites before ending in Venice. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, on the question of Lake Geneva, I know that there are quite a few who really love this area. Would it be repetative to visit this area and Lake Como? If we didn't visit this area where should we put the extra three nights?

Thanks for any help!
Tracy

LJ

Tracey,
Because your questions are now so specific, you might want to break them up into bite-size chunks and re-post.

I will offer my small expertise on the only segment I do know a little about. I think the Dolomites are worth spending the time on and would buile in a little of your time there and even add Trieste, an often overlooked but fascinating possible addition to your "revised" timetable.

tcreath

LN, thank you for your thoughts. I will go ahead and break up my questions and repost tomorrow.

The Dolomites look gorgeous and Trieste is an interesting suggestion I hadn't thought of. I will definitely look into it.

Thanks!
Tracy

bobthenavigator

Tracy, I would skip Montreax and start in the BO--not a long drive. I would then spend 2 days in Luzern, 3 days at Como and add a day to Venice. Nice trip. See the trip report at www.onelittleworld.com about the BO and Como for some good help and pics.

suze

While I personally love Vevey/Montreux and Lac Leman it sounds like it doesn't really fit into your trip any more.

I have never been to lake Como to make a comparison between the two areas.

TuckH

I think DH is right on the duplication of Lakes Geneva and Como.

I also think there's duplication with the BO and the Dolomites (one or the other IMO).

I love this route, Milan->Venice:

Malpensa, Orta San Giulio, Lugano, Bellagio, Soglio, Pontesina, Cortina, Venice.