Switzerland/Italy in 12-14 days
Nov 5th, 2015, 01:45 PM
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Switzerland/Italy in 12-14 days
I posted a question previously about whether to do a group tour w/ my daughter or not. We are traveling with my daughter's friend and her mother next summer as a high school graduation gift; no group tour, doing it on our own. We have decided on Switzerland and Italy. We will have 12-14 days max, due to my work, and are planning on flying into either Switzerland or Italy and leaving from the other. Just starting to do the research on where exactly we want to go visit in both countries and looking for opinions on what is absolutely a must see/what to skip. We do want to see some of the smaller, quaint towns along with Rome, Florence, etc. Cinque Terre sounds wonderful; would 18 yr old girls think so? They are both more into seeing the natural beauty, hiking, wandering, than shopping/nightlife. Is train travel easy between stops? What about staying in hostels rather than hotels? Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Nov 5th, 2015, 01:49 PM
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Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated.>
Well for both countries trains are great - especially Switzerland where in Alpine regions cars are banned and you have to take public transports - anyway for a good look at Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com and also these informative sites - www.ricksteves.comand www.budgeteuropetravel.com. If traveling much at all a Swiss Pass can be a great deal - covers not only trains but lake boats, postal buses, city transports and gives free entry to hundreds of Swiss museums and sites.
Well for both countries trains are great - especially Switzerland where in Alpine regions cars are banned and you have to take public transports - anyway for a good look at Swiss trains check www.swisstravelsystem.com and also these informative sites - www.ricksteves.comand www.budgeteuropetravel.com. If traveling much at all a Swiss Pass can be a great deal - covers not only trains but lake boats, postal buses, city transports and gives free entry to hundreds of Swiss museums and sites.
Nov 5th, 2015, 04:02 PM
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Assuming you are counting the day you arrive (really a jet lagged half day) and the day you depart in the 14 - you only have 12 days on the ground - or 10 days on the ground if you are starting with 12.
And you need to allow at least 1/2 day each time you travel from one city to another. So for 10 days I would have only 3 stops (stay in 3 cities) with 4 - but that's pushing it if you have 14. Otherwise you will be spending too much of your limited time just getting from one place to another - rather than seeing/doing anything.
You will really need to be selective if you want to do more than just race through these places. Doing 2 places in Italy - or 2 in each county if 14 days is possible - but more than that is going to end up as little more than a very expensive blur.
What you need to do now is each determine what your must sees are (use guidebooks if necessary) and then see where they overlap. Then you can come here and poople will be able to make recos.
You might want to consider Rome, Venice, one of the towns in the foothills of the Berner Oberland and then Lucern (only an hour from Zurich airport) if you have 14 days. This would be a nice mix of very different places and leave room in Switz for plenty of natural beauty in the mountains, lakes and tiny charming villages.
And you need to allow at least 1/2 day each time you travel from one city to another. So for 10 days I would have only 3 stops (stay in 3 cities) with 4 - but that's pushing it if you have 14. Otherwise you will be spending too much of your limited time just getting from one place to another - rather than seeing/doing anything.
You will really need to be selective if you want to do more than just race through these places. Doing 2 places in Italy - or 2 in each county if 14 days is possible - but more than that is going to end up as little more than a very expensive blur.
What you need to do now is each determine what your must sees are (use guidebooks if necessary) and then see where they overlap. Then you can come here and poople will be able to make recos.
You might want to consider Rome, Venice, one of the towns in the foothills of the Berner Oberland and then Lucern (only an hour from Zurich airport) if you have 14 days. This would be a nice mix of very different places and leave room in Switz for plenty of natural beauty in the mountains, lakes and tiny charming villages.
Nov 5th, 2015, 05:35 PM
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The good news: There is SO much to see in this part of the world that you should have a wonderful trip no matter what you decide!
The bad news: There is SO much to see in this part of the world that you will have to make some very difficult decisions.
As nytraveler noted, your 12 - 14 days will go very quickly. If Rome and Florence are musts, and if you want some smaller, quainter towns, then you have lots of options. The Cinque Terre are, IMO, lovely -- but they can get a bit more crowded than would be ideal during the high season (when would you be going?) and last I checked, some trails were closed (though that could easily have changed). There are also some wonderful towns near Rome and Florence that you might want to consider.
You might also want to think about what draws you to Rome and Florence. If its the art and architecture, for example, then you may want 5 days in each. If its the chance to walk around places you've heard of your whole lives, then maybe 2 or 3 days in each would work. It really depends on what you want to see and experience, and obviously, that makes a huge difference with your time frame.
Guidebooks should prove invaluable to you at this point, and you might want to consider a strategy for dividing up the research. FWIW, I strongly recommend the Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, or Michelin Green Guides as your primary resources. I would also recommend that you consult Fodor's and Frommer's to help prioritize and the National Geographic Traveler, Insight Guides, or Eyewitness for inspiration.
And if you haven't already done so, it might help to talk about how comfortable any / all of you would be with splitting up for parts of some days, or even parts of the trip, if your interests seem sufficiently different.
Hope that helps!
The bad news: There is SO much to see in this part of the world that you will have to make some very difficult decisions.
As nytraveler noted, your 12 - 14 days will go very quickly. If Rome and Florence are musts, and if you want some smaller, quainter towns, then you have lots of options. The Cinque Terre are, IMO, lovely -- but they can get a bit more crowded than would be ideal during the high season (when would you be going?) and last I checked, some trails were closed (though that could easily have changed). There are also some wonderful towns near Rome and Florence that you might want to consider.
You might also want to think about what draws you to Rome and Florence. If its the art and architecture, for example, then you may want 5 days in each. If its the chance to walk around places you've heard of your whole lives, then maybe 2 or 3 days in each would work. It really depends on what you want to see and experience, and obviously, that makes a huge difference with your time frame.
Guidebooks should prove invaluable to you at this point, and you might want to consider a strategy for dividing up the research. FWIW, I strongly recommend the Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, or Michelin Green Guides as your primary resources. I would also recommend that you consult Fodor's and Frommer's to help prioritize and the National Geographic Traveler, Insight Guides, or Eyewitness for inspiration.
And if you haven't already done so, it might help to talk about how comfortable any / all of you would be with splitting up for parts of some days, or even parts of the trip, if your interests seem sufficiently different.
Hope that helps!
Nov 6th, 2015, 07:11 AM
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Let's say you fly into Zurich. There are several places with easy train connections from there. For your purposes, Bern might be a good choice. Three nights would be the minimum I would suggest, to recover from the trip and find the time to get into the mountains.
Instead of the Cinque Terre, how about spending another two nights on Lake Como or Lake Maggiore? They're easily reached from Switzerland. The Cinque Terre are absolutely sinking under the weight of tourists in the summer.
From there you can go to Venice, where you should spend no less than two nights. By now we're up to seven nights. If you want to fly out from Rome, you should spend at least four nights in Rome. That would give you three days there, which is really very little time for a city with so much to see. (I suggest you resign yourselves to skipping the Sistine Chapel, which is unpleasantly crowded in high season, and that's an understatement.)
I've left out Florence, because I don't see how you could manage a night there. If you just want to see the city, you could leave Venice early in the morning, drop your luggage at the left luggage facility in the station, have five or six hours in Florence, then pick up the luggage and proceed to Rome. I once did this with some visiting relatives and it worked out very well.
If your "twelve days" really means thirteen nights, then maybe you could spend a night in Florence. Or you might want to add some time to Switzerland, which might appeal more to the teens.
Another possibility would be to skip both Rome and Florence altogether and spend some time in the Dolomites or on Lake Garda before ending in Venice. You could save the southern part of the trip for next time.
Instead of the Cinque Terre, how about spending another two nights on Lake Como or Lake Maggiore? They're easily reached from Switzerland. The Cinque Terre are absolutely sinking under the weight of tourists in the summer.
From there you can go to Venice, where you should spend no less than two nights. By now we're up to seven nights. If you want to fly out from Rome, you should spend at least four nights in Rome. That would give you three days there, which is really very little time for a city with so much to see. (I suggest you resign yourselves to skipping the Sistine Chapel, which is unpleasantly crowded in high season, and that's an understatement.)
I've left out Florence, because I don't see how you could manage a night there. If you just want to see the city, you could leave Venice early in the morning, drop your luggage at the left luggage facility in the station, have five or six hours in Florence, then pick up the luggage and proceed to Rome. I once did this with some visiting relatives and it worked out very well.
If your "twelve days" really means thirteen nights, then maybe you could spend a night in Florence. Or you might want to add some time to Switzerland, which might appeal more to the teens.
Another possibility would be to skip both Rome and Florence altogether and spend some time in the Dolomites or on Lake Garda before ending in Venice. You could save the southern part of the trip for next time.
Nov 6th, 2015, 07:12 AM
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Cinque Terre sounds wonderful; would 18 yr old girls think so?>
Maybe not as much as they would like Rome or Florence or Venice or say Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps plus you do not have that much time - sacrificing a Florence to visit the Cinque Terre is losing a lot for a little - save CT till after you've seen the main Italian tourist meccas.
Maybe not as much as they would like Rome or Florence or Venice or say Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps plus you do not have that much time - sacrificing a Florence to visit the Cinque Terre is losing a lot for a little - save CT till after you've seen the main Italian tourist meccas.
Nov 6th, 2015, 07:59 AM
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Most teenagers really love the seaside and swimming, and really enjoy socializing with other young travelers in the Italian Riviera. All the places you are going are sinking under the weight of tourism, and you can easily sidestep the worst of the crowds on the Riviera by picking a different location than le Cinque Terre itself. There is a train that runs along the coast, so if you stay in a different town -- like Santa Margherita Ligure -- you can have the best of both worlds.
Or stay in le Cinque Terre -- the crowds die down to nothing at night -- and plan to spend some of your days hiking nearby, to escape the crowds. Those hikes and trails are beautiful and uncrowded.
I often read trip reports where parents report that the highlight of the trip for the youg adults with them was a seaside location. You can't see everything on your trip, and in the end it might logistically not make sense -- or maybe your daughters will think you are nuts to suggest going to the beach in Italy when they could be seeing great cathedrals and history sights -- but you'll get a let of negative responses to the idea of le Cinque Terre which in most cases, doesn't take into account how popular it is with young people.
Or stay in le Cinque Terre -- the crowds die down to nothing at night -- and plan to spend some of your days hiking nearby, to escape the crowds. Those hikes and trails are beautiful and uncrowded.
I often read trip reports where parents report that the highlight of the trip for the youg adults with them was a seaside location. You can't see everything on your trip, and in the end it might logistically not make sense -- or maybe your daughters will think you are nuts to suggest going to the beach in Italy when they could be seeing great cathedrals and history sights -- but you'll get a let of negative responses to the idea of le Cinque Terre which in most cases, doesn't take into account how popular it is with young people.
Nov 6th, 2015, 08:06 AM
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Also, if your daughters are most interested in scenic beauty, I wouldn't take them on a forced march through the art and history "tourist meccas" and eliminate the beauty spots. The point of any trip is to really enjoy it, and Italy has preserved much of its natural beauty and traditions, and there is always something interesting to learn about how Italians did that (when other countires lost it) wherever you go in Italy.
I happen to really enjoy Florence, Rome and even Venice at times, and wouldn't hestitate to take young people there. But if they young people really most enjoy scenic wonders, then I would give that the priority, and let them clamor to go back to Italy to see more someday.
I happen to really enjoy Florence, Rome and even Venice at times, and wouldn't hestitate to take young people there. But if they young people really most enjoy scenic wonders, then I would give that the priority, and let them clamor to go back to Italy to see more someday.
Nov 6th, 2015, 09:29 AM
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To understand how much - or how little - time you really have I suggest that you lay your trip out day by day - including where you will wake up, any travel that day and where you will sleep. Many people think in terms of 3 days here and 3 days there and in their minds they are often counting each day more than once.
For instance, if you wake up in Venice, travel to Florence and stay in Florence that night - you cannot count the day as for Venice and Florence and for travel (which will be 1/2 day at least).
And strongly urge to make the trip 14 days at least. It makes little sense to spend all that money for airfare and then not get the benefit of it.
For instance, if you wake up in Venice, travel to Florence and stay in Florence that night - you cannot count the day as for Venice and Florence and for travel (which will be 1/2 day at least).
And strongly urge to make the trip 14 days at least. It makes little sense to spend all that money for airfare and then not get the benefit of it.
Nov 6th, 2015, 10:10 AM
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Most teenagers really love the seaside and swimming, and really enjoy socializing with other young travelers in the Italian Riviera>
Cinque Terre crowd I've always seen seem a little long in the tooth - the rest of the Riviera maybe not. You can go to a beach at home and if you had more time I'd agree with sandra but spending a few days on a beach and not seeing say Venice or Florence - naw that don't make much sense to me = 18 yr-olds can drink in Italy so in Florence as there are a lot of students there is lots of chances to mingle with them in a convivial atymosphere.
Cinque Terre crowd I've always seen seem a little long in the tooth - the rest of the Riviera maybe not. You can go to a beach at home and if you had more time I'd agree with sandra but spending a few days on a beach and not seeing say Venice or Florence - naw that don't make much sense to me = 18 yr-olds can drink in Italy so in Florence as there are a lot of students there is lots of chances to mingle with them in a convivial atymosphere.
Nov 6th, 2015, 04:40 PM
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Depends both on where the OP is from and how much the teens like the beach. Many people used to US beaches on a regular basis would have little interest in many of those in Italy - esp CT - since many are definitely subpar: pebbles or even rocks instead of sand, mainly flat water and not a lot of activities.
The OP has very limited time and if it were me the natural beauty I would be looking at would be the Swiss Alps/adorble alpine villages and the Italian Lakes/quaint towns surrounding. The Isles Borromeos in Lake Maggiore might be a big hit with them.
The OP has very limited time and if it were me the natural beauty I would be looking at would be the Swiss Alps/adorble alpine villages and the Italian Lakes/quaint towns surrounding. The Isles Borromeos in Lake Maggiore might be a big hit with them.
