Ironman1

Initial planning questions for a 30th anniversary trip. We only wish to spend +/- 10 - 14 days this time overseas (probably August) and want to spend some time in Switzerland/Austria/Italy (Lakes Region). I would like to end up in Italy and fly home from Milan. Where is the best city to fly into Switzerland and what should our itiniery look like? We are completely open; except for ending in Lake Como. We would rather train (if possible) rather than use a car unless that is not recommended. Thoughts?

yk

Flying into Zurich will be the easiest, as it's the largest airport in Switzerland with most international flights. It will be the easiest city to fly into without too many flight connections.

treplow

Fly into Zuerich. Take the train for a few days to the Berner Oberland. Stay in Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald and visit the Jungfrau, Maennlichen, Schilthorn and perhaps First mountains by cog railway and/or cable cars. Return to Interlaken (where you pick up the trains to Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald), continue to Como via Luzern, Lugano. If you do the trip in one fell swoop, it takes about 6 hours. But you could spend some time in either Luzern or Lugano.

Given the amount of time you have, I probably would skip Austria on this trip. It's a bit out of the way. Instead enjoy spending some time in the places mentioned. If you wanted to, you could take a drive or bus from Lugano to the Lago Maggiore. Also, I have driven from the Lake Como (midle of west shore) to Lugano, after crossing lake Como by ferry to Menaggio. I'm not sure if there is also a bus going that way.

swandav2000

Hi Ironman1,

Another idea is to fly into Zürich, yes (train station is in the basement of the airport), and then go to the Engadin Valley in the eastern part of the country. This is rather close to Austria. You could spend a few days in the Lower Engadin (the northern part) and a few in the Upper Engadin (the southern part).

For the Lower Engadin, you oculd settle in a town like Scuol or a village like Guarda and spend a few days visiting nearby villages and the castle Tarasp. Here's a link to my friend's pages on this part of the country --

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4166c/a8885/

In the Upper Engadin, you could pase in a gorgeous town like Pontresina or Sils or in a village like Zuoz (where I spent a week one year) or even in well-known St. Moritz. From here, you can visit glaciers and mountaintops or hike the Fex Valley or see Soglio. Here is a link to my friend's pages on this part of the country:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4166c/a88f9/

Then, you can continue on to Italy via the Bernina Express over the Bernina Pass, via Poschiavo and Tirano. It's easy to connect from Tirano to Milan. This is one of my favorite train trips in Switzerland. Information here --

www.rhb.ch/index.php?id=33?&L=4

More general information:

www.engadin.stmoritz.ch
www.scuol.ch

Let us know as your plans progress!

s

Ironman1

Thanks to all. Both seem to be great suggestions. I gues s it is time to start the research. Again, thanks.

gatorbill

Yes, as others have said you should fly into Zurich, then train to Lucerne, then train to Interlaken but don't stay there instead go up to Murren and spend a few days there to visit the Schilthorn, marvel at the Eiger-Monch-Jungfrau peaks as well as to visit the valley. Then head out to Lugano and finally to Lake Como.

--gatorbill

Ironman1

I guess from the suggestions so far, a car is not a necessity. Correct?

gatorbill

That's correct all done by train. You can go to the Swiss Rail website below to look at all the timetables in order to get an idea of how long it takes to go between the different cities.

http://www.sbb.ch/en/

--gatorbill

gatorbill

Ironman1,
I meant to say to go thru Interlaken and onto Lauterbrunnen and there you catch a private cog railway car that takes you up the mountains into Murren. I did not spend any time in Interlaken as my goal was to get up into the mountains into Murren. Murren is a very nice little town as there is no motor vehicles and the Eiger-Monch-Jungfrau peaks are right across from the very small village, it's an amazing site. At Murren there are cable cars that will take you up to the Schilthorn platform and can also take you to other mountain villages such as Grindelwald. Here's a great map of the Jungfrau Region:

http://www.myjungfrau.ch/de/page.cfm/pano_jrm_wi

--gatorbill

gatorbill

One more link to the Murren website:

http://www.muerren.ch/start-e.htm

--gatorbill