Switzerland/Italy Itinerary for Honeymoon

I agree with the previous reply. Using open-jaw flights would be a more efficient method, and will allow you more touring time since you won't have to spend the time or money to return to your starting point. Flying outbound from Florence, Pisa or Rome would be much easier.

Spending four nights in each location is good, as it will allow you some time to sightsee at a more relaxing pace. Two nights in the Berner Oberland is good, although that only provides about 1.5 days, once transportation time is included. However, of more concern is the fact that the B.O. may not provide the most pleasant travel experience in March. Some of the lifts may be closed for maintenance, the weather may be miserable, etc.

For the two nights in a hill town, there are a couple of possibilities. Siena is one choice (travel by Bus from Florence is easiest) or you could consider Orvieto, which is in Umbria. It's only about an hour out of Rome.

Be aware, early March is usually still the ski season in the Alps. If you're not skiers, the Berner Oberland has plenty of groomed winter walking trails and sled runs, but if the winter is on the warmer side (like last year), these may be too slushy to enjoy. Also, budget yourself at least three nights in the Alps. Two nights gives you only one full day, which means that you're highly at the mercy of the weather gods to allow those Swiss Alpine vistas that you paid so much to behold. Two full days gives you more of a buffer, in case you lose one full day to white-out conditions.

I spent the Christmas holiday one year at Hotel Spinne in Grindelwald, and for a honeymoon, I would highly recommend it if you plan to ski. If you're non-skiers, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen or Wengen would be better choices.

If you tell us where you will be flying out from, lots of people here will have tips for you. Most places that would have nonstops to Zurich will have them to Rome or Milan as well.

One trick I learned on this Forum is to look at the Wikipedia page for an airport, to see what destinations it serves. Of course, you then have to double check to make sure the information is accurate for the dates you want to go. Not all flights are daily, and/or they may only go "in season" (which usually doesn't start until April).

Unfortunately, unless you're already in Europe, Ken's otherwise excellent idea of flying home from Pisa or Florence won't work for your fiancé. Pisa only has flights to JFK a few days a week for a few months out of the year, with no service to any other North American airports, and Florence has no flights to North America at all.

To find flights into one city and out of another (called open jaw), use the "multi city" option on Kayak http://www.kayak.com/flights, Matrix ITA http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, or individual airline websites. Don't look for two one-ways, as that's much more expensive.

Thanks for the help!

Have been doing all of the searching as suggested, but flying out of LAX I can only find nonstop through Zurich. Which works great for the first flight as Zurich is so close to Lucerne. It just takes away a day near the end when we have to train back up into Switzerland from Italy. I may just have to cut a city to spend enough time in each location. My travel problem is I always want to go everywhere and see everything!

--mel

Also thanks for the advice regarding the BO Tom! We are not skiers, Murren looks lovely. If I can add a day there I will for sure due to weather.