raksoni

Hi,

I am planning a two week trip to Italy and Switzerland in the end of May /early June. I'm hoping that is enough to cover the main attractions: Rome, Venice, Florence and part of switzerland(zurich or geneva for scenic sightseeing). how many days are enough in each city? I'm not sure which is the best city to fly into and where to fly out of?

Also any suggestions on reasonable yet clean($100-125/night) places to stay in the areas where some of you may have stayed would be really helpful I'm planning to traveling by train while i am there and hence looking for places to stay near to public transportation.

Thanks for your insight

bobthenavigator

You are going to the best scenic beauty in Europe and only talking about cities. With 2 weeks, I would only include Venice and Lake Como in Italy and Luzern and the Berner Oberland in CH--that is a grerat 2 weeks.

ebfitch16

I agree with bob, while cities are wonderful you'll get away from crowds and experience some other aspects of the country if you pick more of a variety. Last June I did a Rome-Cinque Terre-Lake Como-Nice two week trip, which was great. I was in Europe all summer and Cinque Terre was my favorite place that I went, and would highly recommend it, especially if you like hiking. It would be easy enough to do Rome-Florence-Cinque Terre-Como-Geneva, if you have any interest in Milan it is easy to stop for the day on your way up to Como or Zurich from Florence/Liguria areas.

In Cinque Terre we stayed at Rooms Elisabetta (found on hostelworld.com) in Vernazza, which was great. It was a small apartment (1 bed, 1 bath, kitchen/living space) with a deck and view of the sea. Very clean, very few amenities (no TV, etc.). We were on more of a budget then you are though, so it was perfect for us.

Good luck picking!

supertraveler

Hi im also planning to go to italy and switzerland. I'd like to enquire about train travel from milan to zurich. And train travel within switzerland. Should i get a rail pass or are point to point tickets cheaper ?

Im really unsure about train travel in europe since i have never tried it before. Please help.

swandav2000

Hi,

Train travel in Switzerland is absolutely convenient, efficient, easy, and really FUN. You can use the Swiss rail site to plan all of your trips --

www.rail.ch

You can get the schedules as well as all the fares.

Sometimes point-point tickets are cheaper than a pass, depending on how much travel you'll actually be doing. You ought to get the fares for all of your trips, add them up, then compare the sum to a rail pass. You can see all of the various passes and discount cards at this site:

www.swisstravelsystem.com

You should also take a look at the Half Fare Card, which costs 99 chf and gives you half off all trains and ferries for one month. I usually get a HFC for my own travel.

Have fun!

s

raksoni

Thanks Bob and ebfitch for the advice. I'm not really keen on Milan. But I do want to try to include Florence as part of the trip.

My Italy destinations could include:
Venice, Lake Como, Florence

Swiss Destinations:
Lucerne and Berner Oberland

With that, what would be the # of days needed at each place to get a good feel of the city? And given the georgraphy of these places, which would be the best place to fly into and out of?

Appreciate your advice.

Rakesh

bobthenavigator

Quite subjective, but I would suggest--as a minimum:
Venice--3
Florence--3[include day trip to Siena]
Como--2
Luzern--2
Berner Oberland--4
Last nite in Zurich

Fly into Venice and home from Zurich--or vice versa. It makes a good travel loop with 3 to 4 hours between destinations--this route works well for rail travel.

Mimar

You could fly into Venice, train to Florence and then Lake Como. Take the bus from Menaggio on Lake Como to Lugano and train to Lucerne. For your departure flight, Lucerne is only a short train ride direct to the Zurich airport.

Adding in the Bernese Oberland isn't quite so neat. But Switzerland is a small country with superb public transportation.

Mimar

I forgot to say that it would be better to do Italy first as I laid out, rather than the reverse order. Because in Switzerland in May, te shoulder season, they may be doing maintenance on the gondolas, etc. And the weather is likely to be better in June, the better to see all those snowy peaks and blue, blue lakes.

raksoni

Thanks All! Thats helpful. Any suggestions on places to stay at these places? I'll be travelling with my wife. We are looking to find clean accomodations that are easily accessible from the train route once we arrive in the city since we would tend to check in our hotel as soon as we are there. I am told that keeping the evenings/nights for travel is a good time management technique so that days are not wasted. We dont mind hostels as long we are able to get a clean private room and bath. Our budget is to spend no more than ~ $125/night.

Palenque

Supertraveler - a very few train trips in Switzerland can make the bargain Swiss Pass a good thing, esp if your Swiss travels can fit into a 4- or 8-day consecutive pass that covers all regular passenger trains, most lake boats, buses and trams in cities and gives you 50% off gondolas and cables to mountain tops. The flexipasses are also good deals if 4- or 8- days does not fit your plans. Check out: swisstravelsystem.com such as Swanay gave and www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html (Byron here is an expert on Swiss trains and gladly answers any questions IME whether buying a pass or not).