June trip

Sounds like you're looking for planning help; how to move between places, where to stay, what to do, etc. And those answers are just a click away! Use this link: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/consulting.htm

Can you refine your question? Does the 12 - 13 days include the days of your flights? Will you be trying to return to Zurich to fly back or can you fly home from Milan or Venice? With the number of people you're trying to move around, trains make the best sense. And with the limited time you have, I'd suggest prioritizing the Italian lakes or the Cinque Terre. It will be hard to do both.

We'd like to fly into Zurich and fly out of Venice or Milan. The 12 days is on the ground not including flights.

howard, Could you provide a bit of further information.... > Are you planning to tour in Zurich at all, or just transit through there? > How many days were you contemplating for Lucerne? One recommended stop that your children might really enjoy is the Museum of Transport. The "Lion of Lucerne" and Chapel Bridge are two other sites to at least have a look at. > Which part of the "Italian Lake District" are you considering? There are several possibilities. It's going to be a challenge to work out an Itinerary to visit five locations in 12-days (average 2.4 days per location, with no allowance for travel times). I'll try to offer some further suggestions once I have a further idea on your plans.

howard, It's good to hear that you're planning to go straight from Zurich to Lucerne, as that's what I was going to suggest. Lola provided some good suggestions on a route after Lucerne. Stresa is a wonderful smaller city, and would probably be an interesting place to visit. In addition to touring the Borromeo Islands, you could visit Mt. Mottarone or take a day trip on the scenic Cento Valli Railway to Locarno (Switzerland), returning by boat. It's an easy trip from Stresa to Milan and then the Cinque Terre. Travel on the Italian trains should be an "interesting experience" for your children (I've met some very colourful characters, especially in second class!). I agree that Varenna on Lago di Como is more of a "romantic destination" although that's not an attraction for me as I usually travel solo. I like stopping there as it's a great place to relax and just enjoy Il Dolce far Niente. The trip from Monterosso to Venice will be at least 5.25H so stopping at an intermediate location such as Verona will add to that considerably. Unless you're planning to stay one night, I'd probably not suggest any stops. If you haven't travelled in Europe before, you may find it helpful to read the "Rail Skills" chapter in Europe Through The Back Door. When travelling with a group, it will be especially important to be "up to speed" on changing trains as in some cases you'll need to do that quickly. With a group of five, getting luggage together and off the train, down the stairs, through the tunnel and then up to the next platform could be a time-consuming exercise. continued.....

howard, Part 2.... If you store your luggage in the racks at the end of the car, you'll need to be vigilant or it may "disappear". In my experience that's more of a possibility in Italy, although it can happen anywhere. During my holiday this year on a rail trip between Switzerland and Germany, a young couple from China became acquainted with the "vanishing bag syndrome". They wandered up and down the aisles for an hour or more hoping to see it reappear but that didn't happen. The Police from both countries attended, but I doubt they ever saw their belongings again. Also, be sure to wear Money Belts! Cheers!

Sounds like a fun trip. But with kids that age, you will want to minimize the long train days. Some of your destinations are 5+ hours apart, unless you make an intermediate stop. If you go straight to Luzern from the Zurich airport (easily done as the train station is right in the airport, and there are even a few trains that go directly to Luzern with no changes) you have 4 destinations. You could start by thinking of 3 nights at each, but that leaves you with the long connecting train trips. Luzern is a good place to spend 3 nights as there is lots for the kids that age, including a ride up Mt. Pilatus and the adventure park and Rodelbahn there. Then you could slide down to Cinque Terre via Locarno and Stresa on Lago Maggiore, one night each. Two or three nights at Cinque Terre, then head to Venice with an intervening stop-maybe Lucca? It is a lovely walled city, and the kids would enjoy the bike ride on the walls. That plan assumes you would keep all of your original stops, but as you see it slights the Italian lakes. You could spend more time there, and have a more relaxing trip, by omitting either Cinque Terre or Venice. If you leave off Venice, then you would fly home from either Pisa or Milan. Have you looked at the train schedules? You can see them at www.rail.ch (the Swiss site), www.bahn.de (German) or www.trenitalia.com (Italian, but least user-friendly).

We will hopefully be flying into Zurich and immediately on to Lucerne for 2-3 days. Sounds like Stressa would be a good stop for 2-3 days and then onto Cinque Terre for 3 days and end up in Venice via Bologna or Verona or Lucca.

Probably 2 days would be enough for Stresa. I suggested it mainly because it is on the most direct route between Luzern and Cinque Terre, and divides the trip pretty evenly-3.5 hours from Luzern to Stresa (via the Lotschberg tunnel route), and 4.5 hours from Stresa to Monterosso al Mare. These times assume you make a good connection. There are a few trains each day that leave Milan and go all the way to Monterosso with no changes. The one at 12:05 pm should be easy to catch from Stresa, and would give you a nice easy journey to Monterosso. If that is not your destination in CT, you change there to a regional train. We didn't stop in Bologna on our recent trip, but we loved both Lucca and Verona. We were traveling with older teens, not kids the ages of yours, but either place should have something to offer younger kids too. The car-free streets are really nice for walking; Verona has the Roman arena and a ruined castle to explore; Lucca has the city park on top of the walls and grreat pedestrian streets and squares to explore.

Are there better places to stay in Lakes area for kids? We could bypass Cinque Terre and go to Tuscany instead and then on to Venice if that would be easier travel wise.

Varenna on Lake Como is one of our favorite places in Italy, but it is more of a "romantic" destination than a kids' place. The same may be true of Bellagio but we didn't go there. Lago di Garda has more kids activities, including Gardaland (an amusement park), some nice beaches (especially nearer the north end), and a cablecar up Monte Baldo from Malcesine. But much of the lake is difficult to reach without a car. You can get to Peschiera del Garda very easily from Verona-it's about a 15-minute train trip. You might be able to take a lake boat to the northern reaches from there.

Actually it is a group of eight. Hopefully the kids can manage their own bags. But in any case it would be good to minimize the train changes by choosing the route with the fewest. You will have reserved seats on IC (Intercity) and ES (faster, more modern) trains but not on the Regional trains. We have traveled around Switzerland with a group of 9 and it was fine, although the youngest child at that time was 14. The kids will have fun figuring out how the trains "work", meaning how to find the correct platform and where to stand for your assigned car.