Hi Everyone,
Thank you in advance on any thoughts you may have on our travel plans. We are planning a trip next May for two weeks. We are planning it with a semi-budget, and we love adventure, outdoor and some unique. We were in Lauterbrunnen last year and absolutely loved it, but this time want to stay in Grindelwald for 4 days......then this is where we need your input. We would like to see Germany and maybe Amsterdam or Belgium or even Southern Italy or maybe across to France. We would like a nice flow to the travels so either up or down. We have been to Italy so that is why I thought go up to Germany. What do you think makes the most sense without spending days on the train. Has anyone done one of these routes.
Thanks again.....sorry for all the options :)
Posted by
1692 posts
We're going to spend some time in the Alsace region of France (2 hours train from Zurich) before going on to the BO/Switzerland. From that region of France and Switzerland it's also a quick hop over to Germany.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
9181 posts
Two weeks is not a great deal of time, with 1/3 to 1/2 of the time in Switzerland. Southern Italy seems a bit far, Belgium and Amsterdam not much closer. On a long travel day you can get there, or I have done the ride from Munich to Amsterdam a couple times.
The Rhine river area along the French/German border might be a good compromise. Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Baden, Colmar, Strasbourg are all lovely towns, even just splitting your time between Freiburg and Colmar would be nice, a bit of France, a bit of Germany. Lots of hiking and outdoor stuff in Freiburg and the Black Forest.
Heading over to France and the Lyon area might be an option, sure you could go further South into Provence as well.
Northern Italy might be an option over Southern Italy, The lake region around Como would be lovely, ending up in Milan, a decent airport to fly home from.
All three are relatively close, different from Grindelwald, a nice balance to the trip.
Posted by
Irving
3535 posts
You can take a train from Grindelwald to Colmar, FR (Alsace region) in 4h that involves two transfers: https://www.sbb.ch/en. When you’re done in Colmar, hop on a direct train to the Place de la Gare, Strasbourg station (45m) where you can put your bags in a locker while you sight-see in Strasbourg: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en. From the Place de la Gare, Strasbourg station, take a direct train to Baden Baden, DE (Germany) that takes 30m. This area is known as the Black Forest.
You can easily get around the Black Forest by direct train: https://int.bahn.de/en/. From Baden Baden there are direct trains to Freiburg (45m). There are early morning trains from Baden Baden to Munich’s central station (3h 15m). Worthwhile day trips by direct train from Munich are the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial (30m) and Salzburg (2h).