Itinerary Help

Five nights seems a bit long in Annecy unless you have a car to get around or are into cycling and hiking. We found public transportation not very efficient there. April & May might be a bit early at elevation… it is a mountain town,

OTOH, we spent a week in Colmar one April and loved it! Lots of great villages in Alsace to visit and great food and wine! A car would be handy, but we managed with buses and taxis. Probably used taxis 4 or 5 times to make hops to villages or back when the bus didn’t cooperate. Also did a full day wine tours.

Evian seems long, too. We have not spent a lot of time there, but a day trip seemed dull to us. Good food, though! Geneva is dull. We liked Lausanne a LOT (charming, like a small Paris) and would also recommend Vevey. There are lovely mountain outings (no hiking required) to Les Pleiades and Roche des Nayes. Absolutely no car required!

I appreciate input since these locations are not familiar to us and do not always get as much attention as the other "must-do" places in Europe.

I want to follow up to explain some of our rationale: The places currently planned for our trip were chosen bc we are not looking for big cities, museums, more churches, per se. Based on other research I've done, I think that what may be boring to some feels peaceful and serene to others. Easy access to trains is a big plus as well as easy walkability.

@ Laurel--Could you please clarify your comment that Annecy is a mountain town. This is a concern to me since my spouse is very sensitive to altitude. e.g. he did not feel well in Wengen, Switzerland or in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. (and of course, Breckenridge, CO where we first identified the problem. When I look at the altitude of Annecy, it looks much lower than Wengen (which would not even be an issue for most people). Do you mean surrounded by mountains or actually in the mountains?

We are looking for picturesque destinations but the towns on our itinerary are not necessarily places we would stay for the duration but could be used as bases for day trips to other areas.

I know that Rick Steves is negative about both Heidelberg and Geneva but others love Heidelberg. It has has been on my radar for previous trips but ended up not working out. Geneva is more of a city than the other stops but I've watched videos and found it interesting enough for a 2 night stay, especially since we are flying out of GVA and would need to be there the night before anyway. Possibly Jet d'Eau/lakefront, Old Town, St. Peter's Cathedral and Calvin/Reformation history, UN, Chocolate (!!)

Re: Evian. I thought we could do a day trip from there rather than staying in Lusaane. We would like a relaxing end to a 3+ week trip and want an enjoyable waterfront hotel with ferry options for day trips. Earlier this year we were on an Asian cruise that was busy with port stops, etc.. We spent 6 nights at a resort in Bali at the end of the cruise and it ended up being one of our favorite parts of the entire trip with a chance to relax and be pampered. We looked seriously at going to Stresa of Lake Maggiore and flying home from Zurich instead but the train logistics are more complicated and thus less appealing.

I am still open to insight and other perspectives but hope maybe this explains our goals for this trip a bit better.

Annecy is not a mountain town in the same way Breck or even Chamonix is. Probably
about 1500' altitude in the main town itself, and as noted, unless you plan to spend part
of your time there exploring the towns around the lake, might be bit more than you need.

I would also agree that adding some time in Lausanne might be nice, but, for the goals
of the trip you note, there are probably no really wrong answers.

The reason I called Annecy a mountain town is that it is an alpine lake surrounded by the French Alps.

You do not have to stay in Geneva the night prior to flying unless your flight is super early. Lausanne is a short train ride from GVA.

OK—For the trip goals I have shared, are we simply staying too long in these smaller destinations than they merit? We are not fixated on spending over 3 weeks in Europe but do have the opportunity to do that if it makes sense. So far, everything that I have booked can be completely canceled although the award flights do still need to work out for rebooking if we make significant changes. If we were to shorten the current itinerary, is there an add-on that would be better or do the experts suggest cutting some time off (if feasible with airfare) and calling it good?

I have seen too many travelers rush through their trips trying to squirt much into too little time. For us, I typically consider 3 nights the minimum in one spot by the time you figure in travel time, check in & check out logistics. Also at the risk of being repetitive, I want to emphasize that we are not looking to stay in any one smallish town for 3-6 nights per se but want to use that time to explore surrounding areas without the hassle of moving from spot to spot and all that such transfers involve.

Still thinking all of this through and trying to balance various factors with your helpl

@ Laurel—With a 9 AM international flight, I think it makes more sense to stay in Geneva the night before but maybe that’s just me. I realize that we do not have to do that but I actually want to and I want to go to the things I mentioned.

Laurel,
I am not too familiar with your Swiss towns, as are many others here, but 5 nights each in Annecy and Evian seem like too long. How about keeping those two places to 5 days total and going to Aosta, Italy for the rest of those days? It would seem, to me, to fit your parameters. Annecy to Aosta is about 3 hours by bus. Aosta to Geneva is 2 hours by bus. (Evian to Aosta is longer, almost 5 hours by bus, but I wouldn't choose Evian myself. Of course, do what works for you.) We found Aosta to be a charming, small mountain town. (Altitude is 1913 feet.) Great cheeses! Neat Roman ruins, small and easy to walk around. Nearby Natl. park with trails and an alpine botanical garden. Nice place to relax and eat really great food (more Alpine than what we consider to be Italian). Wouldn't hesitate to return.
Just a thought.

With a 9 AM international flight, I think it makes more sense to stay in Geneva the night before but maybe that’s just me. I realize that we do not have to do that but I actually want to and I want to go to the things I mentioned.

Probably true with a flight that early.