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2 weeks in Switzerland and France (and maybe Italy?)- need itinerary suggestions

Posted by on

Hi! I am traveling with my mother (she's in her young 80's) this October for 2 weeks. She LOVES France, and I love Switzerland, so we are trying to figure out the best itinerary. So far, we are thinking of going to the Lauterbrunnen/Mürren/Wengen/Grimmelwald area (though not sure which place should be our base and are open to suggestions - scenery and convenience are both important which may make this a tougher choice). Then we plan to take the train to Nice, France, and will take day trips along the coast from there. We plan to fly into Zurich and out of Nice (but we are flexible if there are other airports/places you recommend).

We are also thinking of stopping in Chamonix, France, because it looks like it's on the way, but I know the train routes through the mountains can be tricky.

So here are my slew of questions haha:
- Is the first half of October ok weather for the Alps? Will everything still be open?
- What route would be the smartest for us to take?
- Provence would be ridiculous to try to squeeze in, right?
- Is there a third location that we could visit, or would that be unreasonable in our short timeframe?
- We are skipping Paris this time (we love it but have been there many times), but if there were a really convenient way to squeeze it in, we would do that.
- We are also really drawn to Italy. Should we just visit nearby Italian coastal towns from Nice or actually pick a spot in Italy to stay?

In case it makes a difference, my mom and I are both very active (we'll be walking and hiking a ton) and she has absolutely no mobility issues. And we won't have a car - so restricted to trains, buses, and planes for transportation. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!! The last time I wrote in, you were all so helpful (my circumstances were completely different then as I was traveling with my two teen kids).

Posted by
7300 posts

Hi!
First of all, the first half of October is still OK for the Alps - snow would be a rare event.

And in 2 weeks, if you drop Chamonix, you could reasonably spend a couple of nights in Provence, because the most logical train route from central-west Switzerland to Nice goes through Avignon anyway. Something like 6 nights around Lauterbrunnen, 4 in Avignon, 4 in Nice would work.

Or if you'd rather go through Italy, Lake Maggiore is on the way, and Lake Como is a minor detour.

Posted by
148 posts

Thanks balso!

Thanks for your reply. I'm so relieved the weather will still be fine in the Alps in October! I absolutely fell in love with Switzerland when I was there with my kids and have actually not yet been to this particular region yet - I"m so excited because I've read so many raving reviews in this forum about Wengen/Mürren etc!!

I think we will definitely skip Chamonix based on what you said. We're now thinking of ending the trip in Paris (we were going to skip Paris, but with the high-speed trains, we can get there in 3 hours, spend a couple of days and then catch a nonstop flight back to Chicago rather than a more complicated flight from Nice). If we do that, perhaps it's best to skip Provence and go straight to Nice? Then we can do lots of day trips to neighboring villages, including a couple in Italy. Any really nice Italian coastal villages we shouldn't miss?

Posted by
148 posts

So I've done more research and I think Lake Maggiore sounds like a good idea for a couple of nights. Would that give us enough time? Also, the most difficult part for me when it comes to planning is figuring out how long the trains take. We would need a train from wherever we decide to stay in the Lauterbrunnen area to Lake Maggiore and then a couple of days later from Lake Maggiore to Nice.

I have the French train app, but I don't think it shows me express trains. Where can I find those? From what I'm seeing, the trip from Lauterbrunnen to Lake Maggiore is about 3 hours but then from Lake Maggiore to Nice is at least 7 or 8 hours. Is that correct?

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