5 Nights after Florence

When you depart Florence, will you be traveling by train?

We loved Lake Como and spent five nights there.

Florence to Rapallo/Santa Margherita Ligure by train in 3 hours. Rapallo to Milan 2 hours by train; Milan to Bellagio on Lake Como 2 hours - Bellagio to Bern Switzerland 5 hours. Bern to Colmar 2 hours; Colmar to Eguisheim in 10 minutes by bus; Colmar to Strasbourg 30 minutes by train.
Obernai makes a nice small town base in the Northern Alsace Valley and is reachable by train in 30 minutes from Strasbourg.
Have a great Trip!

Thanks! And, yes all public transport

Does anyone think the Bernina is totally worth the time and expense?

I love public transit, but two areas that particularly benefit from a car rental are Tuscany and Alsace. We also try to stay in one hotel for at least three nights, to avoid the overhead of packing and hotel changes. Are you prepared for really high costs in Switzerland?

You did not give the month of the year, but Lake Como books up months in advance for the main season. You don't say if you have already been to Venice, I don't care if it's the wrong way from Paris, it's too important. There are also Veneto towns to daytrip to if you don't need a lot more Venice.

There are a lot of nice smaller Tuscan towns, but they are hard to visit without a car. You certainly named some good ones, but the smaller ones have their own charms.

I would definitely rent cars in Tuscany and Alsace. We thought Colmar was an (eh) too especially when all those fairy tale, charming villages are nearby.

JR, I do think the Bernina Express train route IS THE BEST of all the scenic train routes in Switzerland after riding the rails to see most of them. UNESCO named the route with its 196 bridges and 55 tunnels a World Heritage Site in 2008. A 10-minute ferry takes you from Bellagio to Varenna from where the 90-minute train goes to Tirano, Italy. Tirano to Chur is 4 hours by train. Chur to Basel Switzerland takes 2:20 and then on to Colmar, France in 45 minutes. Consider overnighting in Pontresina, Switzerland which is about half-way through the Bernina Express route.
The Varenna to Tirano ticket is about $6; the Basel to Colmar ticket is also about $6. The best fares for the Swiss trains are $165 in second class on regular trains which run on the exact same tracks as the “Bernina Express” trains. Just buy point-to-point tickets for Switzerland. Train schedules and fares can be seen at www.TheTrainline.com

Thanks all. We have no issue renting a car in Tuscany. Tim, I agree Switzerland is expensive and not really looking to stay the night if we don’t have to. We’ve done Venice several times. Lake Como was really just a thought, but IF we were to do the Bernina Express, would you go all the way to Milan to catch a train to Tirano or is there an easier route? We are going mid-October. Kenko, Bellagio/Varenna sounds interesting, but will there be much open in October and would it be easy to get to from Florence?. Suki, I agree the charming villages around Colmar are nice. Last trip we drove, in the rain, to Riquewihr and Ribeauville, but this trip I was thinking Equisheim or Kayserberg . We will travel point to point by train but don’t mind renting a car for a day here and there. Usually we pretty much know what we want to do, but these five days are confusing me on what to do!

From Florence, both routes to Tirano.
pass through Milan. From Milan, it’s 2.5 hours to Tirano. Bellagio and Varenna are towns tourists visit year round. While they may see fewer visitors in the fall than they see in the summer, neither town rolls up its sidewalks on September 30. You did not say when in October you will be departing Florence and going north. October can bring eight days of precipitation to Tirano, Italy and St. Moritz, Switzerland. In the capital, Bern, October brings cloudy days during more than half of the month. Because the weather is a little iffy in October, you might leave the decision of exactly where to go until shortly before you depart Florence, and travel to where the weather is best. There’s little point in planning a scenic journey for a day when there’s poor visibility.