Northern italy and Switzerland advice

Posted by t.fleming on 03/27/15 04:46 AM

My husband and I would like to travel to Lake Como (been there before) or Lake Garda for about 5 days and then go to Switzerland (never been). We have two weeks available and will be flying from Perth Australia. We would like to stay for about 4 nights in a resort/spa hotel in Lake Como or lugano and then go on to visit major places in Switzerland. We are thinking of travelling by train and we like to stay in major cities for at least 2 nights. We will fly out of Zurich.

Any advice about itinerary, accommodation and how to book train would be much appreciated.

Posted by sanderskn

Seattle, WA

03/27/15 09:41 AM

359 posts

Repost in destination Q&A.

Posted by Terri Lynn

Nashville, TN, USA

03/27/15 11:09 AM

795 posts

If you are looking for some good places in Lugano, here are three I like:

Hotel International au Lac www.hotel-international.ch/eng/
Lugano Dante Center Swiss Quality Hotel www.hotel-luganodante.com/en/home
Villa Sassa Hotel and Spa www.villasassa.ch/en/13/home.aspx

Posted by mdelfon

03/28/15 02:24 PM

1 posts

I learnt the expensive way when travelling in switzerland. I bought my swisspass online via eurorail. Big mistake I found out that at the train station. Showing your passport gets you the same 4 day railpass for about 200 US less. Money that can be spent on a nice hotel instead. Loved switzerland don't fret over the train schedule as another train going roughly the same way is always just 10-15 minutes away. Swiss rail pass was great for other site seeing and we hopped on and off the boats all day from Montreaux to Genieva. Best experience. Get last minutes hotels by going to travel desk found at almost every major station saved again about 100-200 dollars each night. other big lesson if you travel too heavy pack a two or three day pack and leave your suitcase at a major station for 12 swiss francs we left both out suitcases at the Genieva airport for 4 days. Best move ever. We felt free to go where ever on a whim.

Posted by t.fleming OP

03/29/15 06:52 AM

4 posts

Thanks for your advice. We will take all this in and post another question if necessary. Much appreciated.

Posted by Jean

Idaho, USA

03/30/15 04:18 AM

7280 posts

Just sharing some ideas:

You might want to also consider Stresa on Lake Maggiore - lots of benefits of Stresa, plus the connections into Switzerland are better than Lake Como if you're traveling by train. Stresa-to-Bern, for instance is only 2 hours by train.

Last September we took this route (in reverse for you) - flew into Zurich & immediately boarded the train for Wengen where we stayed for 4 wonderful days of hiking & breath-taking views. Then we took the train to Stresa & loved our 2 days there. (We went to several locations down through Rome afterwards.)

Check out some photos of Switzerland to decide whether you really want to be in the major cities or whether you would like to be in the quaint towns where the views & walks of all levels are so memorable.

Posted by Chris F

Basel, Switzerland

07/01/15 08:03 PM

8889 posts

To re-iterate what mdelfon said "don't fret over the train schedule". You don't book trains in Switzerland. You just turn up at the station and get on the next train.
"visit major places in Switzerland" - Switzerland is not famous for its big cities. It is famed for its mountains, go there instead. Except possibly for Lugano, which is a city with a lake and mountains (as are Luzern and Interlaken).