Trains OR Car: Nice, Fr to Swiss Alps to Southern Germany to Paris

Take the trains. Aside from the fact that there are few car rentals in Europe that will be able to hold the luggage of four passengers, taking trains will make for a far more relaxing holiday as all four in your group will be able to actually enjoy looking at the scenery, rather than looking for petrol stations and parking places. This is particularly true in Switzerland where I pity drivers who need to keep their eyes on the road and therefore cannot focus on the spectacular scenery. Taking trains will allow everyone in your group to read, eat, take photographs, a nap, a bathroom break or stretch their legs all while en route between destinations.

Have a great Trip!

Hi. You could consider all train except for the German portion. Train from Switzerland to Germany, rent the car for your 5-7 Germany days, drop the car in Germany and train to Paris. Have a great trip!

From Nice to the Swiss Alps, I would consider flying to Geneva or Zürich, unless you are planning to visit places en route by train. I am not even 100% sure you can reach Lauterbrunnen in the same day starting from Nice by train, and if you can, it is definitely a 10-hour journey.

I'm with Balso. Nice to the Berner Oberland is a pull. The main issue being that Nice is on a bit of an isolated loop of not so fast railroad line.

I often recommend that people take a look at this wonderful travel resource:

https://www.openrailwaymap.org

For easiest planning toggle Mapnik and Max Speed. This gives a really useful visual representation of where train lines run and how fast they go.

My advice might be get your group to Milan, which isn't too long a trip by train, and then visit for an afternoon and spend the night. Finish the rail journey to Lauterbrunnen the next day.

Or go past Milan, and stop for a late afternoon and evening somewhere along the railway up in the Italian lakes or just across the Swiss border in the lovely canton Valais.

Bob-Trains until Switzerland, and renting a car for the German portion seems like a good possibility. I suppose we would need to get from Switzerland into Germany to avoid an exorbitant inter-country drop-off fee. Do you have a suggestion of where in Germany we can take the train to from Switzerland to rent the car? Thank you!

Kenko-Good points about the difference in car and train travel. Thank you!

Balso-I have considered flying. Thank you for the suggestion!

Hank- Your suggestion of getting to Milan or the Lakes Region for possibly 2 nights is a definite possibility and one I've been considering.

Getting from Nice to Milan seems simple, but I am struggling with how to determine what trains (and websites) to use to get from and plan the journey from Milan into the Lakes Region and then to Lauterbrunnen. Suggestions for how I can gather and organize this information would be very helpful!

Thank you!

synapse I use Bahn.com to plan. It's easy, reliable and comprehensive across Europe.

But then buy from the national rail company where you start and/or finish.

SO for example from France to Switzerland, buy from sncf or sbb. You can check both but ticket prices are often the same. But not always!

I'd go along with much of the above advice but disagree about the car in Germany.

Black Forest or Bavaria

If you are in the Black Forest you may be in a part (most) which offers the free KONUS card with room nights. Free local trains, trams and buses.

And if you are in Bavaria all of you can be on a Bayern Ticket for very little money which will take you right to the castles you want to visit. Includes all local trains, trams and buses throughout all of Bavaria, even takes you to Salzburg in Austria.

I may have missed when the trip is, but if it is after May and the pass is available, each person can have unlimited local train, tram and bus usage for a full calendar month for only 49€ each.

If you decide to stick with a car in Germany I'd take the train to your destination in Germany and get the car starting the following day. So decide where you want to base yourself and then work out the train and car details.