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What do you think of this itinerary?

Is our itinerary reasonable?

We are going to Europe for a 16 day trip during the last week of June and first week of July. The beginning of our trip is set in stone, as we are meeting family for a birthday the day after we arrive. The rest of the trip is what we’re trying to decide upon and finalize.

We are arriving in Rome and picking up a rental car to take us to Montalcino. We will be staying in Montalcino for the first 5 days and our departure date is not flexible. After that, we have been trying to arrange the rest of the trip. While we would love to spend more time in the area, we aren’t a fan of very hot weather and we don’t want to fight the summer crowds at the most popular destinations, so we thought we might make our way north instead of remaining in Italy this trip.

Our plan is to head from Montalcino to Lauterbrunnen/Murren. We would like to drop off our rental car before leaving Italy, likely in Milan, and then travel into Switzerland by train. While we would like to minimize hotel transfers, we think it may be necessary to spend the night in Milan so we can take our time on the drive up and so we can have a rested train trip to Lauterbrunnen/Murren.

We would stay in Murren for 4 nights.

Afterward we would take the train to Basel, where we would rent a car from the airport on the French side. We would stay in Colmar for the remaining 5 nights and then drop off the car and fly out from the Basel airport.

Do you think we are planning too much travel time into our trip? Should we just try to stay in Italy for the rest of the trip instead of going further north? If so, we were considering Verona and Lake Garda.

Posted by
372 posts

So…

5nts Montalcino
1nt Milan
4nts Murren
5nts Colmar

The travel days are big, but you’re really giving yourself time in 3 destinations. If these are the three places you want together on this trip, esp considering summer so you want to be further north it works. I’d personally stick to northern Italy and skip the France/Switzerland - but it depends! Will you be back? Can you do a different trip at some future date to hit northern places?

Posted by
2571 posts

Consider dropping the car in Stresa instead of Milan. Then take the train to Murren from there. If you get the Berner Oberland pass, it will cover the journey from Domodosolla, so you just need to pay for a train ticket from Stresa to Domodosolla.

Posted by
5237 posts

Consider the fact that you will be tired, sleepy, jet lagged, and driving on unfamilar roads. You might not be bothered by those things, but most of us shouldn't be driving under those conditions.

Is it possable to go over a day earlier than planned? Perhaps you could stay in Rome area and get rental car the next day. Or get to your destination another way. Just something to think about.

Posted by
2556 posts

I agree with TC. Please do not drive on the day of your arrival. You are looking at a 3+ hour drive to Montalcino and you will be jet lagged. It is the equivalent of drunk driving. Many others on the forum will tell you the same thing. My suggestion would be to take the train from Rome Termini to Siena via Florence or from Rome to Siena via Chiusi. The Chiusi to Siena journey is by bus. You can then pick up a rental car in Siena and make the one hour drive to Montalcino. It will be an exhausting day but hopefully you arrive at your destination in one piece. If at all possible, I would spend the first night at the airport in Rome, get some sleep and drive to Montalcino early the next day.