Kathy

We will be staying for a week in a villa in Tuscany (between Siena & Arrezo) & were planning to fly in & out of Venice, staying there a couple of nights each way. We fly through Zurich & would love to see some of Switzerland. Should we stop over in Zurich for a couple of days & take day trips? Or take the train through Switzerland on to Siena & then just fly out of Venice on the way home. We have 2 weeks total vacation time. Any ideas?

Patrick

When are you going? If you are saying that your plane reservations let you do a couple day stopover in Zurich and then go on to Venice from there, I would grab at that. But instead of staying in Zurich (which I love, by the way), I'd suggest staying in Lucerne. It's just as easy to get to by train direct from the Zurich airport. From there you can easily do daytrips. Let us know time of year and we can better help you with specifics of what to do. Assuming you have two weeks total, one week in Tuscany and a total of four nights in Venice (2 each way) does that mean you can still spend 3 nights in Switzerland? If that stopover in Zurich is not included in your airfare, then I would suggest the train to Siena from Zurich spending four nights in Switzerland (we'll give you some other ideas besides Lucerne in that case) and then spend three nights in Venice before flying home from there.

Bob Brown

It all depends on where you are going and what you would like to see. <BR>Having ridden trains quite a bit in Switzerland, and having driven rental cars around the nation for a considerable distance as well, I personally do not feel that train trips do much for you in terms of seeing mountain scenery. However, driving a car over some of those roads is soon going to be impossible because of winter driving conditions. <BR>So, back to the original premise: <BR>what do you want to see and when do you want to see it? Switzerland viewing is very weather dependent.

Kathy

Actually, we will only have 12 nights. The stopover in Zurich is allowed at no extra fare. We will be going in Oct. next year. I would love to visit Lucerne, Jungfrau & Lake region of Italy if I decide to take the train all the way to Siena. I really only care to stay in Venice 2 or 3 nights if I could do Switzerland.

Bob Brown

Of the cities in Switzerland I have visited, my two favorites are Lausanne and Luzern. Unfortunately, they are a few hours apart by train. <BR>I think you need to prioritize and decide which comes first: mountains or cities. Luzern is good for perhaps a full day or day and a half. Lausanne about the same. <BR>I am prejudiced toward the mountains. <BR>By October the weather is getting dicey. <BR>Snow can occur at the upper elevations fairly frequently; in fact, I have been snowed on at about 8,000 feet more than once in late September. So if you have a mountain agenda, you need a city backup because mountains are no fun in the rain. (Neither is Bern is a downpour. We sloshed around the streets for a day because the mountains looked like clouds.) There will be quite a few opinioned posturings about where you should go. I have no one place to endorse 100%. If you care to email me directly I will be happy to discuss with you where I have been over the last 3 years of recent experience. (I may not reply until Tuesday next, however.)