Two sister's first trip to Europe in March 2010

Dana,

How will you be traveling in Europe? You need to keep in mind the length of time it will take you to get from Switzerland to Venice or Germany. Travel time will differ if you are using public transport vs. a rental car. Also, you say you are staying in Southern Switzerland to begin with. With that in mind, I would just plan to add Italy to my travels and leave out the German castles on this trip. Fortunately there are some lovely castles in Italy. Brescia has a very nice one and there is one in Trento. These might be en route to Venice and thus fairly convenient. I personally LOVE Brescia as it is very much off of the beaten path and not touristy.

I just went back and looked at the map. Brescia is definitely on way from Losone to Venice as it lies between Milano and Verona. I don't know about the train routes, though, and whether there is a convenient one stopping there. Leaving Venice, you could plan to train so that you go through Trento en route to Zurich.

And now I've gone to RailEurope and checked it out. You would have to catch the train in Lugano, Switzerland. To Brescia is about 2 hours from Brescia to Venice is another 2 hours and from Venice to Trento is about 2 or 2.5 hours. From Trento to Zurich it is about 6 hours. If you still wanted to do Germany, you can skip Brescia and Trento, train to Venice from Lugano is about 3 hours (change trains in Milano). Then take the overnight train to Munich (almost 8 hours). There isn't an overnight train from Munich to Zurich, nor is it particularly direct. Everything I saw takes you to Strasbourg, France to change trains to go to Zurich. Seems odd to me, but maybe I am entering my search incorrectly. Someone with more train experience than I have could probably get it to work more expediently.

Hi Nancy, Thanks so much for your response. We will not be renting a car, we will be using public transport. Thanks for asking, I should've included that. Thanks for the tip on the Castles in Italy, we didn't know there were good ones in Italy, we have only heard about the one's in Germany. Brescia sounds excellent and the idea of leaving Venice to Zurich and going through Trento sounds great too. I will check out the train routes. I have been using www.raileurope.com, is there a better or alternate site for that kind of travel in Europe?

Thanks so much for your response. We are excited but nervous about knowing so little about a place we will be visiting so far from home.

As far as German Rail is concerned, the best page to start on, as far as options is concerned, is here. Bahn.de will get you here eventually, but this page gives you options, like number of travelers, intermediate stops, type of trains, immediately.

Wonderful! Thank you so much for all your help re: the transportation, we'll check it out.

Can anyone tell me what kind of weather to expect that last week of March - April 2?

We loved all the tips on traveling light, and will take lots of the advice that has been posted, but I am finding contradicting information regarding the weather during that time of the year.

Also, if you had to choose where to spend your free five days, would you choose Germany or Italy?

You guys are the best!!

Thanks
Dana

Dana, my sisters and I took our first trip to Europe during the same time period last year. We were a bit farther north than you will be (Paris & London) but were comfortable with just jackets over long sleeves. We did run into a bit of rain but that's the chance you take. Still a very enjoyable trip. Have fun!

Dana,

For me choosing between Italy and Germany would be very difficult, but I would probably go with Italy just because I have only been there once as opposed to Germany where I have spent a lot of time including a 6 week exchange program in college. As it happens, I went to Italy in March and stayed in the northern part so as for your questions about weather, it really wasn't bad. In fact it will probably be a little warmer than Olathe at that time of year. I found it to be very similar to Texas temperature and weatherwise for that time frame. In other words, a little chilly, cloudy and rainy.

In your case, since you will be in the Italian part of Switzerland, you might want to go to Germany just for the contrast. As it happens, there IS a direct train from Munich to Zurich (I KNEW there had to be) and the journey is about 4 hours so it would be very convenient to go to Southern Germany from Lugano, but you would be eating up more time in travel doing that. The fast route from Lugano to Munich is via Zurich and is 8 hours or so.

Incidentally, I am choosing Munich because of it's proximity to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau and Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Dana, yes, you could go from Losone to Venice, go up to Fuessen (or Munich), Germany for the castles and then on to Zurich. This will require 3 full days of train travel with two days of sightseeing in between the train days. The alternative would be to spend the time in either location with a possible side trip. If you stay in Munich, you could do the castles one day and then go to Salzburg for another day. Just some thoughts. Have fun making lifetime memories with your sis!