We are planning a trip next June. We'll be in Italy for 4 weeks then a week in Switzerland. My question is we will be in Venice without a car for 4 days. Then we will need to rent a car to drive to Dolomites for 4 days. Then, somehow, I need to drop off the car and would like to go to Berner-Oberland in Switzerland for 3 nights and Lucerne for 2 nights and Fly home from Zurich. Can anyone help with what the best way to handle the routing and transportation of how to get from one place to another efficiently?
Posted by
Green Bay
21276 posts
How many is "we"?
Probably the most straight forward way is to drive to Stresa on Lake Maggiore. Viamichelin says 4 1/2 hours (taken with a grain of salt as it is the busiest stretch of Autostrada in Italy), 26.40 EUR of tolls and about 30 EUR of fuel. Spend a night on the lake (you did mention Como in your other thread). Then train from there to the Berner Oberland area, then Luzern, then Zurich airport direct from there.
Edit - Alternative would be to spend your last night in the Dolomites in Bolzano. Turn the car the night before and check into a hotel. There is a 7:30 am train to Verona connecting to a Freccia train to Milan connecting to an EC train to Spiez. Looks like you could get advance purchase tickets for about 75 EUR pp. You'd be in Spiez by 2 pm and just a short train connection to Interlaken from there.
Posted by
Pleasant Hill, CA, USA
473 posts
Hello,
You could take the train from Venice to Bolzano. From there take bus to the Val Gardena/Ortisei. The hotels and vacation homes include bus passes. The Val Gardena active card. We did it this summer. Very easy. Returning next summer in fact.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Another Rick Steves travel consultant suggested we return the car in Bolzano, then take the train to Innsbrook, Austria, (2 hrs), spend the night and take train the next morning to Berner-Oberland but that looks like a 7 hr. train ride from my calculations. Would this alternate route be better than what I just described?
Posted by
Green Bay
21276 posts
Bolzano to Interlaken is almost a horse a piece going north or south, but the 7:30 am departure i described is the fastest way at 7 hours. There is an identical connection at 1:30 pm, but it is rather late in the day to be arriving at Interlaken at 8:30 pm, especially if you are continuing on to Lauterbrunnen or Wengen or Muerren. All the northerly itineraries are 8 to 8 1/2 hours. You can also get priced with Super Economy tickets for the Verona-Milano segment and a "Smart" fare for the Milano-Spiez segment (Bolzano-Verona is always the same Regionale price). With north route, you can only get a discount fare as far as Zurich, then its the Swiss regular fare onward.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you very much for offering this consideration for an alternate route and giving me the time and cost comparisons. I'm wondering about the scenic value of taking the northern route. Is is that much more spectacular?
If I choose to do the southern route as you described would there be any value in driving to Milano and returning the car there, then catching the train onto Lauterbrunnen?
I really appreciate your detailed advise.