Switzerland 3 Days/3 Nights
Oct 19th, 2011, 09:05 AM
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Switzerland 3 Days/3 Nights
Our three week trip begins with an overnight flight from MIA to Paris on May 22nd.
We would like to spend Wed., 23rd hanging out in Paris (leg stretching, recouping)
Leaving Paris wed night or thur morning for Switzerland.
We will have Thur 24th, Fri 25th, Sat 26th to explore, Sun 27th we have reservations
in Positano, Italy.
Please let me know what would be a reasonable schedule for 3days, 3nights.
Our interests are: Quaint Old Towns w/local wares - farms, lakes & mountain views
We are good walkers, not hikers. Good local food & wine - nothing fancy necessary.
We are traveling really lite .., carry on only so can travel easily by train, bus etc..,
Looking for an authentic view of Switzerland not major city, trendy USA version.
Recommendations would be appreciated for place to stay and any must eat at places.
We would like to spend Wed., 23rd hanging out in Paris (leg stretching, recouping)
Leaving Paris wed night or thur morning for Switzerland.
We will have Thur 24th, Fri 25th, Sat 26th to explore, Sun 27th we have reservations
in Positano, Italy.
Please let me know what would be a reasonable schedule for 3days, 3nights.
Our interests are: Quaint Old Towns w/local wares - farms, lakes & mountain views
We are good walkers, not hikers. Good local food & wine - nothing fancy necessary.
We are traveling really lite .., carry on only so can travel easily by train, bus etc..,
Looking for an authentic view of Switzerland not major city, trendy USA version.
Recommendations would be appreciated for place to stay and any must eat at places.
Oct 19th, 2011, 09:16 AM
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This is a very strange post.
You don't tell us how you are travelling.
Are you taking a train, flying, or driving to Switzerland?
If you are flying, what airport would you fly into? Zurich? Geneve?
No one can direct you because we have no idea what is going on.
Please explain.
Tschuss,
Pippy
You don't tell us how you are travelling.
Are you taking a train, flying, or driving to Switzerland?
If you are flying, what airport would you fly into? Zurich? Geneve?
No one can direct you because we have no idea what is going on.
Please explain.
Tschuss,
Pippy
Oct 19th, 2011, 11:01 AM
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Well, Miss Thing, which TRAIN are you taking to Switzerland?
Are you taking the TGV from Gare de Lyon to Geneve?
Come on, I feel as though I am involved in some complicated murder mystery here.
Do you want to give us some more clues? Or am I going to have to pretend I am Hercule Poirot?
Tschuss,
Pippy
Are you taking the TGV from Gare de Lyon to Geneve?
Come on, I feel as though I am involved in some complicated murder mystery here.
Do you want to give us some more clues? Or am I going to have to pretend I am Hercule Poirot?
Tschuss,
Pippy
Oct 19th, 2011, 11:09 AM
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The Berner Oberland area is a good place to start.
The train from Paris to Interlaken, for example, takes about 6hrs plus additional time to reach a mountain village. If you begin MIA to CDG on 5/22, which you said is an overnight flight, then you arrive in CDG on 5/23. So it looks like you have a half day in Paris. It appears the only agenda in Paris is for recuperating. I hope you achieved a significant cost advantage in doing MIA-CDG, as opposed to MIA-ZRH or MIA-GVA.
I hope you looked at the Switzerland to Positano train trip. You are looking at about a 10hr trip to reach Napoli or Salerno.
The train from Paris to Interlaken, for example, takes about 6hrs plus additional time to reach a mountain village. If you begin MIA to CDG on 5/22, which you said is an overnight flight, then you arrive in CDG on 5/23. So it looks like you have a half day in Paris. It appears the only agenda in Paris is for recuperating. I hope you achieved a significant cost advantage in doing MIA-CDG, as opposed to MIA-ZRH or MIA-GVA.
I hope you looked at the Switzerland to Positano train trip. You are looking at about a 10hr trip to reach Napoli or Salerno.
Oct 19th, 2011, 12:35 PM
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Pippy, I appreciate that your looking to be helpful so to be very specific; the trip to Switzerland is strictly in the planning stage. We have no idea what train we will take to Switzerland as we need a destination first. We will be flying into Paris CDG and that's what we know for sure at this point.
The flight arrives at 9:05 am on Wed. May 23rd.
We can leave Paris CDG or an inner city location to any location in Switzerland that a train will take us.
The flight arrives at 9:05 am on Wed. May 23rd.
We can leave Paris CDG or an inner city location to any location in Switzerland that a train will take us.
Oct 19th, 2011, 12:52 PM
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Greg,
The Switzerland portion of this trip is actually an afterthought, we have 17 days in Italy planned out. Flying in/out of Paris was considerably less expensive.
We decided to see what we could do with three days/nights in Switzerland since we have the time available and heard it's absolutely beautiful.
We have no destination in mind, our biggest consideration is that we do need to be in Positano Sunday evening. The trains available from Switzerland to the Amalfi Coast will need to be considered surely. From what I can tell there are different trains available, some a little faster more direct from certain stations, etc..,
We think Interlacken, Bern, Lucern areas look nice. Any specific towns within or around that you highly suggest to stay in or sights that are a must?
The Switzerland portion of this trip is actually an afterthought, we have 17 days in Italy planned out. Flying in/out of Paris was considerably less expensive.
We decided to see what we could do with three days/nights in Switzerland since we have the time available and heard it's absolutely beautiful.
We have no destination in mind, our biggest consideration is that we do need to be in Positano Sunday evening. The trains available from Switzerland to the Amalfi Coast will need to be considered surely. From what I can tell there are different trains available, some a little faster more direct from certain stations, etc..,
We think Interlacken, Bern, Lucern areas look nice. Any specific towns within or around that you highly suggest to stay in or sights that are a must?
Oct 19th, 2011, 12:57 PM
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LOL Elyse! I'm not someone who asks for help often, as Pippy has detected and pointed out. I do appreciate the drilling questions as it may end up getting me the info. I'm looking for.
Oct 19th, 2011, 01:17 PM
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Wow, you mean you flight isn't even MIA-CDG, APF-MIA or FCO-MIA?
So you have quite a front and back tracking to get to your real destination. I am curious, did you look at multi-city MIA-ZRH/GVA, FCO/APF-MIA flights and compared to MIA-CDG-MIA roundtrip plus backtracking to Paris?
So you have quite a front and back tracking to get to your real destination. I am curious, did you look at multi-city MIA-ZRH/GVA, FCO/APF-MIA flights and compared to MIA-CDG-MIA roundtrip plus backtracking to Paris?
Oct 19th, 2011, 01:29 PM
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OK! Great! You should have said all of this in the original post.
I am NOT scary. I have been dishing out advice here in Fodorville for over 10 YEARS!!!
I know that many other top Fodorites will not answer this kind of post because it is too vague.
Someone else posted that they were going to Switzerland and asked for hotel reco's!!!!!!! Really, sweetie darling, there are probably 10K hotels in Switzerland so get a clue.
But, I digress......
To the OP: You have to start looking at train schedules to determine where you can visit in Switzerland and how long you actually have to sightsee.
www.sbb.ch
As pointed out above by greg, you could be spending hours and hours on a train to get to a destination.
For example, if you left on the TGV at Gare de Lyon in Paris at 9 AM, you wouldn't be in Geneve until after 12PM. That's three hours on a train. If you wanted to go to Interlaken, you would have to transfer to another train. This whole trip would be 6+ hours (plus waiting time in Geneve for train AND transfers to Interlaken) and you wouldn't get to your hotel until around 4PM. This is a whole day shot on trains.
So, you really don't have 3 days to explore Switzerland AND you have to worry about getting to Positano by May 27.
Start searching train schedules, then come here with specifics and we can all help.
Tschuss,
Pippy aka The Great and Powerful Thingorjus
I am NOT scary. I have been dishing out advice here in Fodorville for over 10 YEARS!!!
I know that many other top Fodorites will not answer this kind of post because it is too vague.
Someone else posted that they were going to Switzerland and asked for hotel reco's!!!!!!! Really, sweetie darling, there are probably 10K hotels in Switzerland so get a clue.
But, I digress......
To the OP: You have to start looking at train schedules to determine where you can visit in Switzerland and how long you actually have to sightsee.
www.sbb.ch
As pointed out above by greg, you could be spending hours and hours on a train to get to a destination.
For example, if you left on the TGV at Gare de Lyon in Paris at 9 AM, you wouldn't be in Geneve until after 12PM. That's three hours on a train. If you wanted to go to Interlaken, you would have to transfer to another train. This whole trip would be 6+ hours (plus waiting time in Geneve for train AND transfers to Interlaken) and you wouldn't get to your hotel until around 4PM. This is a whole day shot on trains.
So, you really don't have 3 days to explore Switzerland AND you have to worry about getting to Positano by May 27.
Start searching train schedules, then come here with specifics and we can all help.
Tschuss,
Pippy aka The Great and Powerful Thingorjus
Oct 19th, 2011, 02:30 PM
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Greg some of our group are returning to Paris for a few days before coming back to MIA, while we are returning to FL via Rome.
However, per Pippy I will look at train schedules from Switzerland to Amalfi as a first step. Once I have that figured out I will be back.
thanks,
However, per Pippy I will look at train schedules from Switzerland to Amalfi as a first step. Once I have that figured out I will be back.
thanks,
Oct 20th, 2011, 11:37 AM
#15
3 days is very short for seeing "Switzerland". With the rest of the itinerary you describe, I would simply take a speed train from Paris to Lausanne, then hang out in Vevey and Montreux for the few days. Gorgeous towns right on Lac Leman, stunning views, nice 'old towns', open air street markets, etc. Look at www.montreux.ch to see what I mean.
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