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by car or by train

Posted by on

I have done a lot of travelling in Europe, but not in areas where the train system is as strong as it is in Switzerland, for example.

We are a family of 3 (all adults) travelling together.
We are arriving in Milan on July 12, travelling to the Cinque Terre that day and staying 12-15.
Then we are travelling to Lake Como - 15-18.
Then to Lauterbrunnen - staying in Murren and Lauterbrunnen - 18-24.
To Appenzell - 24-25.
To Salzburg on the 25th, via the Neuschwanstein Castle.
Salburg 25-28.
To Vienna via Hallstatt on the 28th.
Vienna 28-31.

When I check AutoEurope, it shows that an appropriate car for us would cost $1400 if rented from July 12-25 - pick up in Milan and drop off in Salzburg. Is that realistic in terms of price? Or is there something I'm missing with that?

I'm wondering if all of the train travel for the 3 of us would end up costing a similar amount, as we are doing quite a bit of moving around. I know that fuel and parking are, of course, extra.

As I haven't used a train in those areas, I'm not sure what the best rail pass would be for us and what that would cost.

Any advice on this would be most appreciated.
Thanks again!

Posted by
20980 posts

Renting in one country and dropping in another is always expensive because they cannot rent a car in the return country that is licensed in another country. Therefore the cost of transporting the car back to its home country has to be paid by you.

Where are you staying on Lake Como? Its a big lake. A car would be a pain in the Cinque Terre. Italian train tickets are pretty cheap.

You are the 10,000th person I have seen that plans an itinerary that goes from Lake Como to the Berner Oberland. It is a clumsy train journey, but doable.

Going from Appenzel to Salzburg with a stopover at Neuschwanstein is tricky. You might want to rent a car in Innsbruck and drive to Neuschwanstein, then to Salzburg. Getting to Halstatt is also easier by car, so maybe hang on to the car and turn it in in Vienna.

For Switzerland, I suggest getting Half Fare Cards for everyone at 120 CHF pp and an 8-day Berner Oberland Pass for 250 CHF pp. I see you are staying in Lauterbrunnen AND Muerren. Just stay in Muerren the whole time, since you can see Muerren from Lauterbrunnen, so no reason to pack up and leave twice in the same area. Muerren is much nicer than staying in a dark valley.

Posted by
6862 posts

If I'm correct, you have 7 travel days. Three Eurail passes with 7 travel days in a month would cost €792 in total, and single tickets might be even cheaper.

Posted by
6 posts

This is all so helpful - thank you!

We wanted to spend a half day and night in Appenzell to hike to Ebenalp.
Any opinions out there on whether or not it is worth it to do that stop?

Posted by
6 posts

We are staying in Varenna, Italy.
I looked up the route to Lauterbrunnen and wow! - that is complicated.
Any advice on the best way to do this route?

Posted by
7269 posts

Getting to Lauterbrunnen from any point south involves at least 2 connections anyway: the Spiez-Interlaken Ost and Interlaken O- Lauterbrunnen legs are unavoidable.
To get to Spiez from Varenna, if you time it right you can do it with just one connection in Milan. So, three connections total.
If that still looks too complicated: Lake Maggiore is great too (instead of Lake Como). Base yourself in Stresa, spend 2 days exploring the lake, and you have direct trains from there to Spiez so everything is easier.

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