Swiss/Italy Trip - Need Itinerary advice!
Nov 3rd, 2011, 12:45 PM
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Swiss/Italy Trip - Need Itinerary advice!
Hi all,
I’m new to this forum and looking for some feedback on my first Euro-trip.
My girlfriend and I plan on conquering Switzerland and Italy in roughly 2 weeks. We are planning flying into Zurich (or Geneva if better) and eventually flying home from Rome (or the opposite if it makes more sense).
In general, I would say we are looking for the beautiful scenery of Switzerland and to take in the culture of the Italian cities.
Specifically though, for Switzerland, I am looking for the “typical” Swiss town on a picturesque lake with the Alps as a backdrop. We are not big hikers but have seen how beautiful the Jungfraujoch is in photos hence the Wengen portion of the itinerary below.
For Italy, I am under strict orders that Amalfi be included in the itinerary regardless of it being farther than Rome, where we are departing from. Other than Amalfi, we are set on seeing Rome and Florence for the cultural experience.
Please keep in mind our intentions when you are providing any feedback as I don’t know a great deal about this area and may be totally missing the mark when it comes to getting what we’re looking for.
I will outline my very early proposed plan and look forward to any and all feedback.
- Arrive in Zurich; spend 2 nights
- Train to Wengen; spend 2 nights
- Train to Lake Como; spend 2 nights
- Train to Florence; spend 3 nights
- Train to Amalfi; spend 3 nights
- Train to Rome; spend 3 nights
- Fly home from Rome
Among any feedback you’d like to give, I’d especially like to know:
- Is anything not possible (ie. trains not going certain places)?
- Given how I described what we’re looking for above, would you replace or remove any destinations altogether?
- Any accommodation/restaurant advice for any of the destinations?
- How long do you need in each destination?
My initial thoughts / reservations on this early itinerary which some may also be able to help out with:
- We may be duplicating scenery and whatnot by stopping in Como for 2 nights if we are getting what we’re looking for in Wengen. Potentially, Como can be cut out.
- I don’t have a lot of interest in the big Swiss cities (Geneva, Zurich) but didn’t want to be rushed right out of the plane.
- Not sure if Wengen or Amalfi are accessible by train.
- Nor sure if Wengen fits the bill as the town that we’re looking for.
Like I said, on top of all of those questions, I would appreciate any other feedback you may have.
Thanks a lot!
I’m new to this forum and looking for some feedback on my first Euro-trip.
My girlfriend and I plan on conquering Switzerland and Italy in roughly 2 weeks. We are planning flying into Zurich (or Geneva if better) and eventually flying home from Rome (or the opposite if it makes more sense).
In general, I would say we are looking for the beautiful scenery of Switzerland and to take in the culture of the Italian cities.
Specifically though, for Switzerland, I am looking for the “typical” Swiss town on a picturesque lake with the Alps as a backdrop. We are not big hikers but have seen how beautiful the Jungfraujoch is in photos hence the Wengen portion of the itinerary below.
For Italy, I am under strict orders that Amalfi be included in the itinerary regardless of it being farther than Rome, where we are departing from. Other than Amalfi, we are set on seeing Rome and Florence for the cultural experience.
Please keep in mind our intentions when you are providing any feedback as I don’t know a great deal about this area and may be totally missing the mark when it comes to getting what we’re looking for.
I will outline my very early proposed plan and look forward to any and all feedback.
- Arrive in Zurich; spend 2 nights
- Train to Wengen; spend 2 nights
- Train to Lake Como; spend 2 nights
- Train to Florence; spend 3 nights
- Train to Amalfi; spend 3 nights
- Train to Rome; spend 3 nights
- Fly home from Rome
Among any feedback you’d like to give, I’d especially like to know:
- Is anything not possible (ie. trains not going certain places)?
- Given how I described what we’re looking for above, would you replace or remove any destinations altogether?
- Any accommodation/restaurant advice for any of the destinations?
- How long do you need in each destination?
My initial thoughts / reservations on this early itinerary which some may also be able to help out with:
- We may be duplicating scenery and whatnot by stopping in Como for 2 nights if we are getting what we’re looking for in Wengen. Potentially, Como can be cut out.
- I don’t have a lot of interest in the big Swiss cities (Geneva, Zurich) but didn’t want to be rushed right out of the plane.
- Not sure if Wengen or Amalfi are accessible by train.
- Nor sure if Wengen fits the bill as the town that we’re looking for.
Like I said, on top of all of those questions, I would appreciate any other feedback you may have.
Thanks a lot!
Nov 3rd, 2011, 01:52 PM
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Just a couple of questions, then some handy hints....
What time of year are you going to be there?
Are you looking mostly for a cultural, scenic, or romantic experience, or perhaps all?
Right. I've only been to these places in May, so for other seasons you will need different advice. To answer your question about trains in Switzerland, yes, there is a train that goes to Wengen. If you are wanting to go up the Jungfraujoch, two days may not cut it as the weather is unpredictable, but on the flip side those two days may give you perfect weather. I didn't stay in Wengen, I stayed in the valley next door in the picturesque town of Grindelwald, but if I'd known, I probably would have picked Wengen because the Lauterbrunnen valley is ( in my opinion ) just gorgeous, even more so than the Grindelwald valley, mostly because of it's stunning waterfall and beautiful pastures.
To get to in and out of Wengen you must go half an hour to and from Interlaken's Ost station. What happens is: There is one longer train with blue coaches and green coaches, the blue coaches go to Grindelwald and the green coaches go to Lauterbrunnen. The train splits at a junction, so you just have to make sure that you are on the right half of train
. These trains leave every half hour to hour depending on the time of day. The little towns along the lakesides of both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz ( West and East of Interlaken ) are well worth exploring and there are scenic two-hour boat cruises that take you from Interlaken Ost to Brienz ( on the East ) and from Interlaken West to Thun ( on the West ) the Thun cruise stops at several towns where you can get off and stay off, including Spiez, all of which have a castle to explore and pretty "old town" areas. Originally, I thought that you could get off at a town then get back on the boat, but this isn't the case, once you are off, you catch the bus or train back to Interlaken. From Brienz you can catch a local bus out to the open air museum of Ballenburg, which is quite easygoing and displays chalets, farmhouses etc. from lots of different periods of Swiss History and many different regions ( if you are into that sort of thing ).
Not sure about Zurich as I didn't actually get there, I spent 3 nights in Grindelwald and 2 nights in Lucerne, visiting Bern on the way to Lucerne.
I was traveling with my grandmother and we both had Swiss Passes which covered all the trains ( except for the Jungfraujoch ), buses, boats, and museums.
Hope this has given you some good ideas
What time of year are you going to be there?
Are you looking mostly for a cultural, scenic, or romantic experience, or perhaps all?
Right. I've only been to these places in May, so for other seasons you will need different advice. To answer your question about trains in Switzerland, yes, there is a train that goes to Wengen. If you are wanting to go up the Jungfraujoch, two days may not cut it as the weather is unpredictable, but on the flip side those two days may give you perfect weather. I didn't stay in Wengen, I stayed in the valley next door in the picturesque town of Grindelwald, but if I'd known, I probably would have picked Wengen because the Lauterbrunnen valley is ( in my opinion ) just gorgeous, even more so than the Grindelwald valley, mostly because of it's stunning waterfall and beautiful pastures.
To get to in and out of Wengen you must go half an hour to and from Interlaken's Ost station. What happens is: There is one longer train with blue coaches and green coaches, the blue coaches go to Grindelwald and the green coaches go to Lauterbrunnen. The train splits at a junction, so you just have to make sure that you are on the right half of train
. These trains leave every half hour to hour depending on the time of day. The little towns along the lakesides of both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz ( West and East of Interlaken ) are well worth exploring and there are scenic two-hour boat cruises that take you from Interlaken Ost to Brienz ( on the East ) and from Interlaken West to Thun ( on the West ) the Thun cruise stops at several towns where you can get off and stay off, including Spiez, all of which have a castle to explore and pretty "old town" areas. Originally, I thought that you could get off at a town then get back on the boat, but this isn't the case, once you are off, you catch the bus or train back to Interlaken. From Brienz you can catch a local bus out to the open air museum of Ballenburg, which is quite easygoing and displays chalets, farmhouses etc. from lots of different periods of Swiss History and many different regions ( if you are into that sort of thing ).Not sure about Zurich as I didn't actually get there, I spent 3 nights in Grindelwald and 2 nights in Lucerne, visiting Bern on the way to Lucerne.
I was traveling with my grandmother and we both had Swiss Passes which covered all the trains ( except for the Jungfraujoch ), buses, boats, and museums.
Hope this has given you some good ideas
Nov 3rd, 2011, 03:54 PM
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I would drop Como and add a day to Rome and another day to Amalfi or Florence, depending on what you are more interested in.
Do you mean the town of Amalfi or the Amalfi Coast?
You can train from Florence to Naples and then change trains and go from Naples to Sorrento. Then to get to the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento, you need to take a bus or hire a car. You may also be able to take a ferry from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, depending on the time of year you are going. Search the threads and you will find several posts on this topic.
Do you mean the town of Amalfi or the Amalfi Coast?
You can train from Florence to Naples and then change trains and go from Naples to Sorrento. Then to get to the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento, you need to take a bus or hire a car. You may also be able to take a ferry from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, depending on the time of year you are going. Search the threads and you will find several posts on this topic.
Nov 3rd, 2011, 05:47 PM
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For your time I would have a max of 5 destinations. I would start in Luzern--only an hour from Zurich AP---with the lake and mountains you want. Then, skip Como and head to Florence via Lugano and Milan. Read your guide book to see where you want to stay on the coast---Amalfi is not very centro.
Nice trip---if after 15 May.
Nice trip---if after 15 May.
Nov 4th, 2011, 03:07 PM
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great suggestions which I will also be using in May when I try Switzerland via train for a change of pace. I agree totally with dropping Como if Amalfi coast is on your itinerary (priorities), and the idea of 5 max stops is also important or you will feel like you have spent 2 weeks "in transit" rather than enjoying the countries. You can take the hydrofoil from Naples to Sorrento. Good luck.
Nov 4th, 2011, 04:39 PM
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Have you tried to price your itinerary? With hotels, transportation costs, food, sightseeing, etc.? It ends up being so expensive when you are only staying in one place for 2 or 3 nights. I agree with mmjd and other posters that even 5 stops is a lot.
Nov 4th, 2011, 04:51 PM
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I would bag Zurich - it;s primarily a business city - and head straight for the Alps. How much you will enjoy the whole trip depends a lot on time of year.
You can;t get to the Amalfi Coast by train - there is none. You can tak ethe train to Naples and than a local to Sorrento. After that travel is by bus (which can be interminable in touris seson) taxi or ferry along the coast.
If you give us dates people can make more specific recos. (And I would do fewer places - we always stay 5 or 6 nights in larger cities and a minimum of 3 in smaller ones - but I can't bear rushing around and wasting all that time packing, unpacking and treking to and fro so many different hotels.)
Just notices that you said IN two weeks. I thought you meant FOR 2 weeks. If you're going IN 2 weeks - as lat November - I would make completely different recos - due to things you want to see/do or stay or eat being closed for the season in Amalfi Coast, Como and the Alps.
You can;t get to the Amalfi Coast by train - there is none. You can tak ethe train to Naples and than a local to Sorrento. After that travel is by bus (which can be interminable in touris seson) taxi or ferry along the coast.
If you give us dates people can make more specific recos. (And I would do fewer places - we always stay 5 or 6 nights in larger cities and a minimum of 3 in smaller ones - but I can't bear rushing around and wasting all that time packing, unpacking and treking to and fro so many different hotels.)
Just notices that you said IN two weeks. I thought you meant FOR 2 weeks. If you're going IN 2 weeks - as lat November - I would make completely different recos - due to things you want to see/do or stay or eat being closed for the season in Amalfi Coast, Como and the Alps.
Nov 4th, 2011, 05:10 PM
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Great sources for dope on Swiss trains, lake boats, mountain lifts, etc - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.
Nov 4th, 2011, 07:57 PM
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We just flew into Zurich and out of Rome this summer! Good choice 
I would skip Zurich. You say don’t have a lot of interest in the big Swiss cities so don't spend any nights there. It is so easy to catch a train from the airport in Zurich. You walk out of the airport across one little airport road and there is the train station! Not only is it a train station, but it's also a shopping center. You won't feel rushed out of the plane.
Cross the street, take the escalator down one level and the ticket booths are right there. There are lots of trains leaving for the Alps so buy a ticket for the next one to Wengen (well, actually it will be more than one, but they are timed to make switching very easy.) Ask for the trip with the fewest train changes then your life will be even easier. This summer we didn't feel like running for the first train departing in a few minutes so we bought tickets for the second train. That gave us time to eat pretzel sandwiches and then go buy snacks at the food store on the top level. We took our time and had no problems. We've also done this twice before and each time took it easy and had no rush. I can't recommend doing it this way more. Once you get to the Alps, you'll wish you had even more time (spend the first 4 nights in Wengen - you WON'T regret it) The other thing is that the train to Interlaken (and then to Lauterbrunnen then to Wengen) goes along a beautiful lake for quite a while and you will eventually see the mountains approaching. Very relaxing. For the best view, sit on the left side of the train on the train into Interlaken. (Be careful not to sit in seats where there are little tickets up above - those are reserved and you might be asked to move. Trust me on that one - it happened to us!)
Fun fact about the train station in Zurich - you can take your luggage cart right on the escalator with you! Seems weird, but it works!
Next, I would omit Lake Como and probably add those nights to Rome. We had a week in Rome and it was nowhere near enough. However, I haven't been to Amalfi, so maybe one of those nights would be better there. I personally wouldn't add any to Florence, but I'm sure other people would personally recommend that you do. To decide, you really need to evaluate what you want to see, but going back to the Alps, that is a no brainer, especially since you should to build in an extra day in case the weather clouds over the mountains.
Next, we aren't big hikers either, not by a long shot, but we found 2 easy walks in the Alps if you want to try them. The walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg takes about 1 1/2 hours and it's level or slightly downhill. Older people and little kids take this walk. The other we did was out to Bachalpsee from First. That took about 35 minutes, but then you have to walk back. At the end is a lake with mountains in the background. The first of these two was easier,but the second wasn't hard. You would have to take a cable car up to the starting point of either.
You can see my Switzerland pictures (starting with the luggage cart on the escalators!) at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=92b9c3f672
I would skip Zurich. You say don’t have a lot of interest in the big Swiss cities so don't spend any nights there. It is so easy to catch a train from the airport in Zurich. You walk out of the airport across one little airport road and there is the train station! Not only is it a train station, but it's also a shopping center. You won't feel rushed out of the plane.
Cross the street, take the escalator down one level and the ticket booths are right there. There are lots of trains leaving for the Alps so buy a ticket for the next one to Wengen (well, actually it will be more than one, but they are timed to make switching very easy.) Ask for the trip with the fewest train changes then your life will be even easier. This summer we didn't feel like running for the first train departing in a few minutes so we bought tickets for the second train. That gave us time to eat pretzel sandwiches and then go buy snacks at the food store on the top level. We took our time and had no problems. We've also done this twice before and each time took it easy and had no rush. I can't recommend doing it this way more. Once you get to the Alps, you'll wish you had even more time (spend the first 4 nights in Wengen - you WON'T regret it) The other thing is that the train to Interlaken (and then to Lauterbrunnen then to Wengen) goes along a beautiful lake for quite a while and you will eventually see the mountains approaching. Very relaxing. For the best view, sit on the left side of the train on the train into Interlaken. (Be careful not to sit in seats where there are little tickets up above - those are reserved and you might be asked to move. Trust me on that one - it happened to us!)
Fun fact about the train station in Zurich - you can take your luggage cart right on the escalator with you! Seems weird, but it works!
Next, I would omit Lake Como and probably add those nights to Rome. We had a week in Rome and it was nowhere near enough. However, I haven't been to Amalfi, so maybe one of those nights would be better there. I personally wouldn't add any to Florence, but I'm sure other people would personally recommend that you do. To decide, you really need to evaluate what you want to see, but going back to the Alps, that is a no brainer, especially since you should to build in an extra day in case the weather clouds over the mountains.
Next, we aren't big hikers either, not by a long shot, but we found 2 easy walks in the Alps if you want to try them. The walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg takes about 1 1/2 hours and it's level or slightly downhill. Older people and little kids take this walk. The other we did was out to Bachalpsee from First. That took about 35 minutes, but then you have to walk back. At the end is a lake with mountains in the background. The first of these two was easier,but the second wasn't hard. You would have to take a cable car up to the starting point of either.
You can see my Switzerland pictures (starting with the luggage cart on the escalators!) at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=92b9c3f672
Nov 5th, 2011, 05:30 AM
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The Mannlichen to Kl Scheidegg stroll is the classic walking experience for novices who do not want to work up a sweat - it is called a ridge walk and offers stupendous views the whole way - over both the Grindelwald amphitheater and also at times over the Lauterbrunnen Valley - Mannlichen is known to offer what many call the finest view in the Interlaken area - over both Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys and down over Interlaken below - bookended between two lakes and also a close up view of the Jungfrau Massif. If staying in Wengen you can take a cablecar up to Mannlichen, stroll to Kl Schiedegg andtake the train back down to Wengen. At Kl Scheidegg you can also hop on the train to the Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station and in a sea of glaciers and snow and offering vast ice grottoes to explore.
