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Italy / Switzerland Itinerary

Posted by on

Hello Travel Friends,
I'm wondering if any of you could give me feedback about my tentative itinerary for Italy and Switzerland and
if I can pick up and drive a car in Italy and return it in Switzerland.
Any suggestions on my itinerary would be greatly appreciated. I'm using Rick Steves book as a reference.

Italy / Switzerland Itinerary
2018
May 11: Arrive in Naples, Italy (1 night)
May 12: Travel (somehow) to Positano, Amalfi Coast
May 12 -16: Stay on Amalfi Coast and explore (4 nights)
May 16: Travel (somehow) to Rome
May 16-19: Rome (3 nights)
May 19: Rent car in Rome? Drive to Orvieto
May 19 - 22: Orvieto (3 nights)
May 22: Assisi (1 night)
May 23 - 26: Siena (3 nights)
May 26 - 28: Florence (2 nights)
May 28 - 31: Cinque Terre (3 nights)
May 31- June 4: Venice (4 nights)
June 4 - 8: Dolomites (4 nights)
June 8 - 10 Lake Como (2 nights) p
Drive to take train to Switzerland?
June 10 -14 Switzerland (4 nights) itinerary unknown, how can I best use 4 days and go from Lake Como to Zurich?
June 14 Fly from Zurich back home

Thanks, Lisa

Posted by
8178 posts

I would.suggest taking the 70 minute train ride up to Orvieto and picking a Hertz car up across the street from the train station.
The Dolomites are North of Venice. I would suggest you keep going north into Austria and driving over the Grossglockner High Alpine highway--second highest mountain in Western Europe.

We find travel through Tirol and the Austrian Alps easier than Switzerland. And the place is incredibly beautiful. You could easier get back to Ita!y to drop off the car to avoid huge dropoff charges. I would be flying home from Italy.

Posted by
8 posts

Thank you for your response!
How many days would I need to travel through the Austrian Alps and return back to Milan to fly out?
Also, what towns would I want to stop at in Austria?

Posted by
1820 posts

Looks like a great trip.

Looks like you’ll have time in the Dolomites. If you want more mountains then I would suggest the Berner Oberland (Lauterbrunnen, Murren and other towns) for the Alps and Lucerne for a small city on a beautiful lake. Lucerne is just over an hour by train from Zurich Airport.

If you’re going to be driving in Italy please make sure you understand the ZTL restrictions and highway speed cameras and electronic speed monitoring. There are reports of receiving tickets in the mail months after your trip is over and the rental car company charges an administrative fee to send your contact info to the relevant authorities. The admin fee is often per ticket. If you’re going to drive into another country please note that they may require a highway tax stamp (vignettes?)

Have a great trip. It sounds like it’s going to be great.

Posted by
8 posts

If I'm going from Venice to Dolomites where should I rent a car to see the Dolomites?
Then where can I return the car to take the train to see some of Switzerland and fly out of Zurich? I was
told there would be a huge drop off fee to return the car in Switzerland.
Another option would be to forget about going to Lake Como, drive up into Austria, then see places in Switzerland and
return the car to Milan and fly out of Milan. Which is a better option?

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