Switzerland from Lake Como?
 

We'll be spending three days on Lake Como in April '06 (honeymoon, as some of you may know). We'll be in the town of Nesso. (http://www.lakecomolakefront.com)

How difficult (or easy, depending...) will it be to take a day trip across the border into Switzerland? Just to BE in Switzerland. Is it possible to do in a day, if we take a ferry? We will have a car. And would want to be back in time for the last ferry to Nesso.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Bob

I was looking this map of the zone, maybe it helps you
http://www.lakecomo.org/paesi/lake_m...&Type=road
I have never been in that zone..yet :)

Depending on the weather and road conditions, you might want to make a round trip to Splügen, St. Moritz and back to experience the high Alps. Try mappy for actual mileage.

If you just want to be in Switzerland, you can drive to Menaggio (either going around by Como or taking the car ferry from Bellagio), and then take the road to Porlezza and thence Lugano.

However, there's not much in Lugano that you wouldn't see on Lake Como, except higher prices and Swiss nationals (who speak Italian anyway).

If you go up to the northern end Lake Como, you can make a very picturesque drive through Chiavenna to St. Moritz, stopping just past Chiavenna at the fantastic Lanterna Verde restaurant.

Either way, bring your passports - they may check at the Swiss border, coming and/or going.

best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

www.straughan.com (personal)
www.tvblob.com (work)

Last week we took a train from Santa Margherita to Zurich. The train stopped in Como and Lugano. That would be a nice trip to take for you. Check http://cisalpino.com/ as that is the train that we took.

At the Swiss border, officials came on the train, but we didn't have to show our passports.

Thanks, everyone. This is GREAT! (I LOVE THIS WEBSITE! I KNEW I'd get responses!)

It just hit me... Do any of you know if car rental companies restrict you from leaving the original country? (Italy, in this case.)

Bob

You might want to spend a day, and even an overnight in Swotzerland. You'll basically be in the Alps when you leave Italy. Drive a little further and youi'll find some beautiful little Swiss towns.

BobNCheryl,

If taking the car from Italy into Switzerland does turn out to be a problem there is a bus service from Menaggio to Lugano. If you make a relatively early start then a day return trip is perfectly manageable.

I'm afraid I've mislaid my copy of the timetable but I'm sure that the details have been posted here before, so a search might do the trick.

Jim

BobNCheryl,

Managed to find a thread on this subject;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34564065

If you take a look you'll see that I had already posted yet another link to yet another thread there, so hopefully between the two you will find the information you need.

Jim

Sorry to hijack BobNCheryl..I wanted to ask Desert Sue if she remembers approximately how long the train trip was from Como to Zurich ?

Car rental agencies prohibiting use in Italy? You bet.

We rented a convertible from Europcar here in Switzerland two weeks ago. They said we could drive to Austria, Germany, and France. However, if we drove to Italy and had an accident, it wouldn't be covered.

Well, we did take our chances and drove to South Tirol for a day. Although we were passing zillions of bicycles and were being passed by zillions of motorbikes and actually saw an accident along the way, nothing thankfully happened to us.

So be aware when renting a car over here! They might not cover your car if you have an accident in Italy.

I think in this case the question was is it permissable to take a rental from Italy to Switzerland not a car rented in Switzerland to Italy.

We have driven a car rented in Italy into Switzerland but it was awhile ago so not sure if the rental car companies have changed their rules. You would want to verify that when renting the car in Italy.

Thanks LoveItaly. Sorry about the minor mix-up. It's probably easier to take a car from Italy to Switz. than the opposite.

If you go to www.cisalpino.com, you can select an origin and destination and see how long the ride is. The views were unbelievable.

from: Como S.G.
to: Zürich HB

departure arrival train number

07:43 10:51 CIS 156
11:43 14:51 CIS 154
15:07 18:51 EC 170
17:07 20:51 EC 172
18:13 21:25 CIS 152
19:17 22:29 CIS 150

Hello,

I have taken a car from Switzerland into Italy, from France to Switz, from Italy to Switz. and back in almost every permutation and never had a problem. Nevertheless, you might want to check with you rental company in Italy, just to be sure.

The drive or train ride to St Moritz and the town itself along with the emerald mountain lake it's on, are all spectacular, IMHO, and are well worth the visit. I also love Lugano and it's very close and convenient to the Como area. I can't talk to the price differences right now, however, I will be there in two weeks, will do some shopping and can let you know afterwards :-).

As to the choice, I would probably agree with Deirdre', but either way you are bound to have a fabulous time.

PS. Be careful parking in Lugano. Steep fines you pay right away :-(

Enjoy the planning.... :-)

Thank you so much Desert Sue!

We just returned from a weekend on Lake Como, during which time we took two trips into Switzerland. The first we took by car up to St Moritz and the second by train to Zurich. Both ways of travelling are fantastic, as long as you can cope with the frustration of going through a train tunnel which blocks out the view for a while! The scenery is simply stunning, and that's coming from someone who lives in the Lake District of England. It is a country not to be missed. Breathtaking! PS...you will need Swiss Franks ( pref to Euros). Bon voyage x

Hey Bob, isn't this fun? This thread is talking about the places we are visiting first, when we travel in June '06. We fly into Zurich and after we take care of some things at the airport (shower & change clothes, exchange money, see the Rail travel folks, etc.) we'll head to Lugano for 4 nights. After that, we go to Menaggio for 3 nights. I know there will be similarities between the two, but who cares. There are also going to be differences. What a blast!