Venice or Switzerland
 

Hi itinerary help appreciated.

At the end of October/ beginning of November, we will be spending 3 days in London, then have 4 days ?? and then we will go to Paris for a week. London and Paris are fixed but we would like to visit either Switzerland or Venice in between.

I would prefer to visit Switzerland but I am concerned it is too short of time to see the best of Switzerland. I have found excellent airfare to either Basel or Geneva but it seems the best of Switzerland is in the center of the country. We (4 of us) would probably travel by train but would we be mostly traveling and not doing. Wondering if I should give this up and go to Venice instead and not like Venice is a bad alternative. We like city and country both but wondering if weather might be more of a factor for Switzerland.

As we have not been to either place any pros or cons on either is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If it's your first visit to London then 3 days will barely give you time to scratch the surface, as there's SO much to do in and around London. I recommend spending those extra 4 days in London, and even with 7 days in total you won't see everything. If you get tired of the city, take day trips to places such as Windsor, Hampton Court, Canterbury, Salisbury/Stonehenge, Warwick, Greenwich, Bath, etc. These are my favorite day trips from London, I'm sure there are many more.

If you are still considering either Venice or Switzerland, then don't count on nice weather in Venice. I was there in Nov 2002 and the weather was horrendous. It rained constantly and the aqua alta (tidal surge) was so bad we were stuck at the hotel one day due to such awful flooding. The gondola rides were all cancelled because the water levels were so high the gondolas couldn't get under the bridges. I'm not saying it's always like that in November, but it can happen because November is the season for aqua alta.

If you choose Switzerland, it doesn't matter which city you fly into. Switzerland is such a small country you can get from one place to another in a short period of time and have gorgeous scenery along the way.

I truly hope you will consider giving more time to London, I don't think you know what all you will be missing by only spending 3 days there. You will barely get oriented and recover from jet lag when it's time to move on. Please reconsider, and have a great trip.

I have been to London several times before and that part of the trip is not our vacation and our visit to Paris is to visit our son who is now living there hence those parts of the trip are fixed. And yes, London is fabulous but been there done that and I hoped to squeeze in someplace new. I really would like to go to either Switzerland or Venice as I have not been.

So anybody else with input as to which place would be better to spend our 4 days?

Switzerland sounds like the better choice for me.
It takes little time to get from GVA airport to the city center. When the weather is fine, you can roam the country by train (there must be tons of posting here on what you can do in Western Switzerland).
I would not recommend Basel as a port of entry as Geneva is closer to the Alps.

Hi Traveln,

I've spent 17 vacations in Switzerland since 1995, and I dearly love it in all weather. However, I have to add that November is really a bad month to be going there. Many of the cable cars will be closed for repairs, so you won't be able to get up to the tops of the mountains for the views or the panormaic hikes. The mountains will not be at their best: too early for snow (probably) and too late for flowers. They may just be brown & muddy.

The Lake Geneva area would be the best place as a destination in Switzerland at that time of year as it's a moderate climate; it's called the "Swiss Riviera." I've still seen flowers on the lakeside promenade in November, though of course they don't last long. Of course, you won't be near the high mountains -- about three hours to either Zermatt or the Berner Oberland (don't know about getting to the French Alps).

You can get to the beginnings of the Alps, though, pretty quickly for a day-trip. You could get to Gstaad or Zweisimmen in about two hours from Montreux, or to Leysin in under an hour.

(Can't compare to Venice, as I haven't been back since a family trip in 1968.)

Good luck!

s

The problem is the time of year. The weather will likely be cold and wet in either place. I did one trip that combined Geneva (Vevey/Montreux), Venice, Paris, which was great but I had 3 weeks. Another Vevey/Montreux, with 4 days in Venice in the middle of 2+ weeks.

That said, with 4 days you could do either Venice or Geneva area. Both would be great if you don't mind the bad weather. I like Gruyeres, Lausanne, Vevey, Montreux along Lac Leman just outside Geneva. In Venice my hotel of choice is www.lacalcina.com

The first time I visited Switzerland it was late October/early November; I really liked Luzern/Lucerne in that weather for its "cozy" quality. It's so easy to travel around Switzerland, but with just four days you might want to keep to one location with a couple of daytrips out. (And I will say that I loved spending two weeks in the Hasliberg region in Reuti, but that was in June, definitely a different matter!)

To me, Venice is definitely more able to be appreciated in nice weather, but it certainly has a fascinating charm at any time; I've been there in both autumn and summer as well, and preferred summer (except, of course, for the crowds.)

Here is a link to my trip report on our visit to Switzerland, you may want to scroll down to our days in Bern and Basel - we loved Basel - if you are a museum lover, restaurants, shops, - and of course Bern, the capital, very tiny and warm -

I understand the concerns about weather/mountains/Switzerland that time of year - so maybe a good choice to do Basel for two days and a day trip to Bern - you can also do a day trip to France or Germany from Basel - but you could easily just split your time between Bern and Basel and then, when you can go to the mountain area another time in the winter or spring and you won't have to do the Basel/Bern area - b/d it won't matter if there is no snow in those two towns, as it would in the mountain areas -

we want to return to do other areas of Switzerland we missed and in the spring.... :) flowers and cow bells, etc....

Venice is also lovely - nice dilemma, huh?

anyway, here is the link to my report if that helps:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34737788

Hi T,

If you have not been to London, a week each in L & P is a very good idea.

((I))

Hard to cast a definitive vote between Venice or Switzerland, since the weather can be unreliable as other posters mentioned. There are two distinctive attractions--do you prefer natural beauty (Switzerland) or history/ambiance (Venice)?

I believe high tides in Venice tend to coincide around the New Moon and the Full Moon.

Both places are easy to get around by public transportation. Swiss trains are great, though I agree some facilities may be closed.

Switzerland is beautiful and amazing.

Venice is beautiful and amazing, and the most authentic european city I've seen.

Switzerland will be beautiful forever (or at least for the rest of your life).

Venice is transient; it will someday disappear (sooner, rather than later, sadly).

Go for Venice; it won't always be there for you.