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15 day Florence > Switzerland > Paris Itinerary

Posted by on

Hi All! Long time fans of the books and shows here.

My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Europe a couple of months. We arrive into Rome on a Monday and fly back to the States from Paris on the Tuesday 2 weeks after that. So, 15 days door-to-door.

We want the bulk of our trip to be in Switzerland, primarily in the Alps.

Rough Itinerary so far:
Monday #1: fly to Rome overnight, arrive at 8am local time Tuesday
Tuesday #1: Train straight to Florence
Rest of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: Florence
Friday: morning train to Varenna, spend all day in Varenna

Saturday evening: train to Herisau, Switzerland from Varenna. Stay in Herisau.
Sunday: Morning hike to Aescher Guest House, early start. On return to Herisau, take evening train to Lucerne
Monday, Tuesday #2: Lucerne, maybe a day trip somewhere
Wednesday, Thursday: Interlaken or Lautebrunnen

Friday: Train to Paris
Saturday, Sunday, Monday: Paris
Tuesday #3: Fly back to US in evening

Few things:

  • We're trying to avoid doing too much, but we do want to see specific things. It felt like trying to pack Rome and Florence into the first ~3-4 days was going to be too much. Feels strange to miss Rome, but we're pretty confident that Florence is a better fit for us and will save Rome for a proper Italy trip in the future.
  • We really want to see the Aescher Hotel and Alps. We know you can't stay there, but weren't sure what a good base was to stay the night before. It looked like there was a 1-2 transfer train route from Varenna to Herisau, which is really close. Herisau seems sleepy, but we were concerned that staying in Zurich wasn't going to be a good base for a day trip to Aescher. Seems like Zurich is a place that can be missed.
  • Thoughts on the itinerary after Aescher? Some sights we've earmarked that looked interesting to us:
    • Mount Pilatus
    • Hammetschwand Lift
    • Trift Bridge
    • Gstaad Palace
    • Gorges de L'Areuse
  • Where should we depart Switzerland for Paris?
Posted by
8889 posts

Where should we depart Switzerland for Paris?

You can get from anywhere in Switzerland to Paris. As you are planning Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen as your last stop in Switzerland, the answer is "from Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen".
If you go to the SBB (Swiss Railways) wesbite: https://www.sbb.ch/en
Enter from: Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen (depending on where you will be), to: Paris, a date and time, and click on "Search"; it will show you the trains you will need.

How to get the cheapest tickets for Italy+Switzerland+France is a complex subject. Feel free to ask questions about that, when you reach that stage in your planning.

BTW, I like your paln, not as over-frentic as most first plans are.

Posted by
768 posts

It sounds as if you already have tickets to Rome and then back to USA from Paris. However, if not, you could cut out a day of travel by coming into Zurich, doing things in reverse, and leaving from Florence to Paris. There is a cheap flight from Florence to Paris, look it up on Skyscanner.com . I just took it last summer.

Also, your train from Varenna to Herisau looks to be about 8 hours (www.bahn.de) and that's a lot!. So you really need to be committed to the Aescher House. Otherwise spend time NOT in Interlaken (not IN the alps) but in Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Wengen, or Grindelwald. To get a feel of that scenery, Google image "Lauterbrunnen" "Bachalpsee" "Allmendhubel" . There's enough to do in that area for 10 days.

Posted by
16893 posts

Between Interlaken and Paris, you usually connect to the reserved TGV train in Basel, which is also the border station. Swiss trains don't need reservations, so you'd only book a seat reservation (e.g., with a rail pass) for the French train. Or similarly, the French trains have significant advance-purchase discounts and are already for sale for travel through November 21:https://en.oui.sncf/en/, if you're ready to book a ticket with reservation included.

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