Switzerland/Italy/Austria Itinerary...please help!
 

Hi. Please help me plan an itinerary for my mom and I. She's only 60 and it's her birthday dream vacation. We fly into Zurich 8am on Mar 26 and have 10 full days. So far I figure 2 nights in Zurich and then Lake Como region,Milan,Venice,Vienna and back to Zurich. We could really use help on where to stay [she loves b&b's,budget is around $150 per night], should we just get a Eurorail pass for trans and what stops along the circle are we missing? Thanks for your advice...we really appreciate it!

oh my goodness will you ever have fun!!!! Zurich is great! The downtown is such a cool place, very movie fantasy-like to me! Last March 3 of us drove from Stuttgart (Germany) to Zurich to Milan. We stayed in a wonderful B&B in Lugano and I wished we could have stayed longer! It's a really simple clean place called Hotel Garni Stella - husband & wife owners a double cost us about $60.00 breakfast included. [email protected] (email)

Lugano is a wonderful lake town with great pasta specialties! Only an hour or two drive from Milan.

In Milan we stayed in a little town outside the city in a very nice quiet hotel called Grande Albergo Roma cost about $100 night including breakfast and a wonderful huge marble bath! I think the town was called Piacenza. telephone: 39 0523 323201 fax: 39 0523 330548

Have fun,

Lily

If you can go to the Berner Oberland area for at least two days it will be worth it. It is so pretty there. Zurich is a big city if that is what you are looking for. I liked Wengen and Grindenwald when I stayed.

Have a great trip.

You did say March. I would skip the Lakes in March--maybe Lugano. And, with 10 days you should plan on 3 destinations. I would stay in CH. Venice and Vienna are too far for a Zurich itinerary in 10 days. Even Venice will mean lots of train time.

Hi, What a great idea. Like the last poster, I wonder what the temps will be like in March. If I were making the loop and had my heart set on V & V, I'd train to Lucerne from the airport and stay there a couple of nights, then Lago Lugano (pretty lake villages of Morcote and Gandria), then skip Milan and go straight to Venice, then Vienna, and finally back for a couple of nights in Zurich (or nearby). Already that seems like only two nights per, which is awfully fast. In my old age, I now stay four or five nights in one spot and daytrip, but I can remember enjoying itineraries like yours -- via train, of course. Have fun planning. J.

We traveled to Austria and Switzerland for 2 weeks in July last year and we really loved Bern and Lucerne if you can fit them into your itinerary--I would skip Zurich, just my opinion.
The most impressive sight was the view of 30 mountaintops and the Matterhorn from atop Gonergrat above the village of Zermatt. A breathtaking view and something you would never forget. However, due to the time of year you're traveling it might not be possible.

I forgot to mention that while in Vienna do not miss Schonbrunn Palace it really is magnificent!