Italian Lakes and Dolomites

Do not waste time in Zürich. If you want to spend time in the Swiss Alps, do that, but Zürich is not the Alps.
It is also a long way from Zürich to Salzburg (have you looked this up?). If you want to go to Salzburg, fly to Munich, and go direct from the airport to Salzburg, it is a lot quicker.
Do not stay anywhere 1 night, 2 nights should be the minimum.
If you do want to have a car (and it is debatable if it is a good idea), bear in mind if you pick it up in one country and hand it back in a different country it will cost a lot. And, you cannot use a car in Venice or Rome, in both cases you would have to pay for parking. There are no roads in Venice!

I would recommend:

• Fly to Munich, transfer to Salzburg (2 nights).
• Fly (back to Munich) or train to Venice. This is the 4* romantic location for your anniversary (3 nights).
• Train to Rome (3 nights).
• Train via Milan to somewhere in the Italian Alps (Stresa, Varenna) (2 nights).
• Perhaps car for a few days, perhaps not, but end up in Tirano to get the Bernina Pass Railway into Switzerland
• Luzern or somewhere in the Swiss Alps for the last few days (2 nights).
• Fly back from Zürich.

That is a very full 12 nights, you may have to cut something out. Maybe cut Switzerland (sorry) and fly back from Rome.
Or cut Rome, and spend time in the Alps.

What time of year is this trip to take place? If I read between the lines, you plan to fly in and out of Zurich.
For a start, its about a 5 1/2 train ride from Zurich to Salzburg. Why not fly into Munich and go there right away.
Then you want to fly to Rome or Venice from Salzburg to see the Lakes and Dolomites. Salzburg has very limited air service, mostly to Germany and Austria and Mediterranean holiday destinations, so you would have to return to Munich. But in nearly the same amount of time, you could be IN the Dolomites by train. Want to go to Venice? Take the train from there. Then to Milan and the Lakes Region. Assume that would be Varenna as it is an easy connection to the Bernina Express. Then fly home from Zurich.

This trip will be next July and the reason I chose Zurich to fly into is it is about 2000.00 less to fly there than say into Munich and home from Rome.
We are alpine people and would prefer the mountains and skip Rome..sigh
If I rent a car I will return it to where I picked it up.

That's a pretty shocking price difference. Did you try doing a multi-city booking rather than two one-way fares?

Well, I'm sure you've done your homework, but can I ask what city you are flying from in North America, and if you have bought the tickets yet? United, Swiss, Lufthansa, and Air Canada are all cooperating partners and I usually don't see that big a difference.

Anyway, I think you can do without a car for this. If you want to do the Bernina Express, it starts in Italy, so there are some drop off logistics to be handled. If you do get a car, be sure to get IDP's for the drivers and don't forget to get an Austrian vignette. They're cheap, 8 EUR for 10 days, but expensive if you get caught without one.
Is Venice on your list or just a way to the Dolomites?

We are alpine people and would prefer the mountains and skip Rome..sigh

OK, you are stuck with flying in and out of Zurich, so with a focus on the alpine region, I would do this. I rarely recommend a car but in your case it seems like a good idea.

• Arrive Zurich and immediately take a train (< 3 hours) to Lauterbrunnen, SW - 4 nights of alpine wonder in the Berner Oberland and a car is a hassle here.

• Rent a car in Interlaken and drive to the Val Gardena in Italy for more magnificent alpine scenery, about 6 hours and much shorter than by train - 4 nights

• Drive to Varenna, less than 4 hours - 2 nights

• Drive to Lugano, SW, 1.5 hours. Return the car and take the Bernina Express to Chur, then local train to Zurich for final night before you fly out.

That's 11 nights. These areas are so gorgeous I find that everyone wishes they had stayed longer in the Berner Oberland and the Val Gardena, so I like ot recommend at least 4 nights. Less than 3 is a crime.

I was flying Delta and had priced out numerous different multi city itineraries. Delta is 814 rt and everything else was in the 1700 to 1800 per person. I know by flying into ZRH it will cause extra travel etc.
I like the itinerary that Laurel posted. If we wanted to add too nights in Venice would that cause an issue?

You said 10-12 days. Since you already have tickets (it seems) what exactly is the duration of your stay in # of nights on-the-ground? If you have say 13 nights instead of 11, it might be possible.

Otherwise the problem with adding nights to Venice is you have to take them away from somewhere else. Plot it out on a map. Use www.Rome2Rio.com to get an idea of travel times. It is, IMO, pretty far out of your way unless you have more time. OR drop the idea of Lago di Como and the Bernina Express, spend those nights in Venice, then fly to Zurich for your last night.

I have never had any of my friends tell me they wish they hadn't spent such a long time in the BO or Val Gardena. Everyone says "we should have stayed longer." Frankly the same with Venice. 3 nights is just a good start.

Perhaps you can plan Venice-Florence-Rome for your next trip and try to make it at least full two weeks, but let us know exactly how many nights you have in Europe.

Hi,

My suggestion would be to limit how much traveling you do. To me it seems like a lot of traveling. I understand flying into where its cheaper. I would recommend staying a night or two in Lucerne, Switzerland as you will enjoy the scenery and can travel up the mountains. In addition I would do Lake Como and spend two days there exploring the towns near the lake. Bellagio and Varenna were truly lovely.

We LOVED Florence and it is near Cinque Terre which is also great. Venice to me seems a bit out of the way for your trip but thats just me......
Rome is awesome we had spent four nights there and felt we got all we could out of it.

You mentioned Salzburg.......Have you considered flying into Vienna? Flights were reasonable and Vienna is awesome and you can easily train it to Salzburg and maybe even stop off in Innsbruck.

Munich we loved, although there are also other places in Germany that we preferred (Baden Baden, Heidelberg, Rothenberg (sp))

All in all map it out and try not to waste time traveling between too many places. If you can save Venice for a day or other trip where you would pair it with Croatia or go to Dolomites up north then do it then.....

First my wife I thank you for your help and input it means a lot to us.
We have not purchased air tickets yet so we can add up to two more days before I must return to the states.
I would prefer Delta for the airfare and the fact that I have some miles with them as well as travel vouchers to use.
I have not checked into Florence but I will.now after the last post.
Also can Milan be used as a base for heading to Swiss Alps?

We did a trip last May where we flew to Milan via Zurich, spent time in Tuscany and Liguria, then to Lago Maggiore in the Lakes District and back to Milan and home. While at Lago Maggiore, we drove to Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland on a wild hair for a single overnight and it was FANTASTIC. If I were re-planning this trip, I would've spent 2 days at Lago M instead of five and way more days at Lauterbrunnen (although truth be told, it was storming like crazy there in May and we lucked out on the one sunny day while there).

If you do end up at Lago Maggiore, I highly recommend visiting the islands there on a day trip. In fact, the gardens at Isola Bella would be a beautiful spot for a renewal of wedding vows:
http://www.isoleborromee.it/eng/isola-bella.html

We stayed at a fabulous Airbnb (you'd need a car) high in the mountains just above Stresa (a five minute hike in from the road). I think it would also be really fun to stay on one of the islands though away from the tourist fray. (Check VRBO for apartment rentals.)

I have not checked into Florence but I will.now after the last post.
Also can Milan be used as a base for heading to Swiss Alps?

Glad to hear you can add two more days. Adding in Florence seems like a bad idea to me. You already have so much to see and do, and Florence just complicates the plan. You said Alpine and Florence in July is hot hot hot, not Alpine.

Milan is a jump off point to get to the Alps from Italy. It's still several hours to Lauterbrunnen, for example. Can you fly into Milan instead of Zurich? That could be a game changer. Play around with Rome2Rio before you commit.

Strongly consider Murren in Switzerland, staying at the Alpine. A memorable village cliff side. We stayed in some cities one night and rented cars in the different countries. We are not sit and rest people and enjoy experiencing as much as possible. Would do it again the same way!