Hello!
My husband and I are planning a Europe trip (my first time!) in June of 2023-we will be traveling with out 13 and 10 year old children.
We will be traveling through Switzerland from Paris and then onwards to Venice.
My current itinerary (although it keeps changing) has us arriving in Basel from Paris via train, renting a car and spending 2 nights in Lucerne.
Then driving to Lugano for two nights where we would train to Venice.
Our original plan was to take all trains, but my husband's family is of Swiss background and he really wants to have the car to "explore" with our kids to show them their roots.
We both love the idea of the Lauterbrunnen area, but I'm not sure how to fit this into our trip. Do we just skip Lucerne altogether?
It seems to make the most sense time wise to drop a rental car off in Lugano and train to Venice. But I also don't want Lugano to "feel" like another stop in Italy. We really want 4 nights in Switzerland but also want to optimize our time and ease of travel.
We are an active family and open to most anything-we just really want to dive right into the Swiss culture.
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Posted by
Paris
6900 posts
Where in Switzerland is your husband's family from?
There are few places where a car is helpful.
To get from Paris to Lucerne, it is easier to just change trains in Basel: you do not need or want a car in Lucerne unless you have a specific, remote place to visit. And Lucerne to Lugano is easy by train.
If you'd rather go to the Lauterbunnen area instead of Lucerne (a good call, in my opinion!) a car could make sense. Not for Lauterbrunnen itself, but to drive from there to Lugano over the Alpine passes (Sustenpass for the more direct route, or Grimselpass, Furkapass and Gotthardpass).
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32762 posts
key question - where is your husband's family from? Switzerland is bigger than it looks and being near where he wants to explore would be very handy.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
His family is from Fluckigen (Rohbach area), closest to Basel. We figured this would be a stop on our way from Basel to either Lucerne or Lauterbrunnen just to show the children.
He has never been to Lauterbrunnen and the rest of us have never been to Europe at all so I think skipping Lucerne may be the answer!
Now I just need to make sure Lugano is the best place to head before Venice.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thank you balso for the various drive options! I looked them all up and they all look amazing!!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32762 posts
Fluckigen is actually closest to Solothurn, not far from the Emmental, sort of midway between Luzern and Bern. Well over an hour by car from Basel.