France Italy Swizz itinerary help

The main problem with your itinerary is that you're not taking me.

Seriously, it's a good itinerary even though personally I'd cut a couple of stops to slow down a tad. I would recommend in Switzerland swapping out Lausanne for Luzern and then cutting out Zurich entirely. Luzern has a direct rail link to the Zurich airport, so you could easily stay in Luzern your last night and make even an early flight out of Z. Trains take about 70 minutes and leave every 30.

For "Interlaken area" I would recommend Murren or Wengen over Interlaken. Either is a million times better than Interlaken for views and general alpine awesomeness.

One more piece of advice: be flexible with your alpine itinerary. Chamonix and the Interlaken area are great when the weather is nice, but pretty boring when it's poor. After your arrive in Paris and the Swiss portion of your trip approaches, check the Swiss weather forecast. If it looks like the weather is against you, consider adding more time to the northern Italy portion of your trip.

Too much travel.

I suggest that you reduce the number of places you plan to visit.

Cinque Terre is nice, but Venice is better and Florence is not to be missed.

Three nights in Paris is not enough.

Yes, too many places, too much time in transit, not enough time actually in the places you want to visit. Two nights in Venice arriving from Cinque Terre is one night less than what would be my minimum. You'll end up with a day plus a very few hours after you get settled into your Venetian hotel. Venice is all about having time to wander, not rushing around trying to see a handful of key sites in one day, amidst the hordes of other visitors trying to do exactly the same thing.

Unless you've been to Paris before and you just want a couple of days to enjoy the city's atmosphere, 3 nights there is painfully short. Your first day will probably be sleep-deprived and jetlagged, so pretty much worthless from the sightseeing standpoint.

Flights into Italy and back for just four nights--I wouldn't do it. You have seven 1- and 2-night stays in a row. I'm a well-traveled adult and the third such stop would send me around the bend. Every place you've chosen with the exceptions of Zurich is worth at least 3 nights, and Paris could be 5 or more.

I'm not clear on where you're driving and where you're taking the train. Do check train times on the Deutsche Bahn website. Often the train is much, much faster than driving, and there's no time wasted, dealing with car-rental agencies, getting lost, or looking for (and paying for!) parking.

We got a great piece of advice when we met with one of the RS travel consultants.... travel like you will return. It took the pressure off of us to see the entire country of Italy and focus our 17 nights in three regions. We had a great first trip. Did we miss some things - sure. Did we actually make it back - yep. And we still missed some things. I hate packing/unpacking and travel time wasters like airport arrival times and for me sitting on a train during the day. I would slow down as has been mentioned already. I think you will enjoy your trip more. Think about your travel style and see if this itinerary really fits your style. I'm a base - day trip sort of traveler so this itinerary makes my head spin.

Sorry, but I have to agree with the other posters that this is more like a marathon slog than an enjoyable pace, particularly with an 11 year old.

I would drop Cinque Terre (too busy and over-rated) and add this time to Venice. If time permits, take the vaporetto to Torcello, for a completely different side to Venice. Likewise, I would drop Colmar and add these nights to Paris, which is still rushed in 5 nights.

travel like you will return

Brava, Donna! So true! We thought we were on the only trip when we went in 2010. Ha!

I love Italy but going there from Switzerland for the Cinque Terre and Venice, a total of 4 nights, does not make sense. It is a lot of travel time and expense. Save Italy for another trip. Spend 2 or 3 weeks there.

Instead:

• 5 nights Paris (a good start)

• 3 nights Colmar OR Chamonix (easier to transfer to Lauterbrunnen area from Colmar)

• 4 nights Muerren or Lauterbrunnen (a bit beyond Interlaken, more in the mountains)

• 3 nights Luzern as it has direct access to the Zurich airport without wasting a night in Zurich

Thanks all for all the replies
Will add details
Myself and my husband have already done the following in these countires
Paris
Venice
Rome
Florence
Lucern
Interlaken

But our son wasnt born then😊
So it has taken us 12 years to return and m trying to pack places my son wud enjoy most and also some places which is new to us and hence it seems a complete mess 😊
Also m concerned that since it took 12 years to return now dont know when we will return again

And he really wants to goto venice and hence italy is coming into picture.
What if i goto chamonix directly from paris
And add tuscany instead of colmar
That wud make travelling to venice not so hectic and finally leave swizz flexible

Or as suggested i will cut italy and do france and swizz only.

Regards
Rose

Also the idea was to commute by train as much as possible and drive when neccesary like in colmar or tuscany

It seems like people want to tell you how much time to spend in each cities... I have no problem with your pace. A couple thoughts:
Spend the night in a village in Cinque Terre (not La Spezia). In Cinque Terre, get up early, rest in the afternoon, get out in the evening, to avoid the crowds.
IMO you should not stay in Interlaken, a transportation hub, Stay higher up, in Wengen or Mürren. It will be spectacular. Your son will love it.

Hi arya
The idea was to stay in vernezza in cinque terre
And will not stay in interlaken as such. Will stay in murren or maybe even gimmelwald.
I would be travelling by april end /may so need to see what cities would be open too.