Lake Como, St Moritz, Salzburg

I hope you can carve out a full 14 days as 10 is a bit short to cover this much territory. Also, it is clearer if you count nights in each place, so let’s pencil this out.

Arrive Milan and proceed directly to Varenna on Lake Como. 2 nights

Train - about 5 hours, 2 trains - to St. Moritz. I recommend you consider the cute town of Pontresina, very close to St. Moritz and much cuter, less expensive. Easy to get there in a short train or bus connection from St. Moritz. All of the hotels I am aware of in Pontresina include a pass for the mountain lifts as part of their service and there are some nice walks here as well. Stay here at least 3 nights.

Salzburg is a 9 hour train ride and takes 3 trains from St. Moritz, so you loose an entire day to this transfer. I would spend at least 3 nights,

Train to Vienna is only a couple of hours. Again, I would spend at least 3 nights and longer if you really want to see all Vienna has to offer.

So that is 11 nights on the ground. If you can stay at least 13 nights I think it will be a better pace.

Check Rick Steves’ guides for excellent info on transfers and logistics as well as sights. You can research trains at Deutsche Bahn but you will need to buy tickets on the Swiss and Austrian Train sites. Again, this is covered nicely in Rick’s books. Maybe you can borrow the Switzerland, Italy, and Austria books at your library.

Thanks, Laurel, for the information, very helpful. We've been to Vienna a couple of years ago, so we won't have to spend more time there. When in Salzburg, what other nearby areas should we visit? Yes, we will extend this trip to 14 nights. Thanks, again.

If the 9 hour ride from Switzerland to Salzburg is too much, you could instead just see more of the beauty spots in Italy (such as the Italian Alps around Ortisei) and Switzerland (the Berner Oberland for starters).

Patrick, You need to look at a guidebook to see what in and aroundSalzburg appeals to you.

For St Moritz to Salzburg, dont take the train the long way around. Take a train to Scuol, followed by a bus to Landeck-Zams (you might need to change buses at the Swiss border), where you catch the train to Salzburg (2.5 hours).
Total travel time is less than six hours with good connections, instead of seven to eight by train all the way.

At Lake Como consider staying in Varenna at Hotel Villa Cipressi. Lovely place and you can walk anywhere in town. The town itself is located midway of the lake so getting to other places is easy by ferry.