may 1-22, 2025. round trip linate, milan

You might check out Verona, and research the Lake Garda area and then the Dolomites mountain area that borders Austria and back.

i am considering the dolomites but we'd need a car and don't want to just hike for the whole trip.

we are not limited to just italy...

Some go to the Dolomites without a car and just use the bus system.
Bolzano is the hub for that area.

Curious- what did you pay, from where to Milan, and what airline?
Thanks for helping out a fellow RS traveller .

$2900 pp from clt to heathrow adn heathrow to linate. on aa/ba combo

Pam,
Yes, thanks, I would also jump at that price, but we are on the West Coast. We may have to fly out of LAX again for next May. I check prices daily, and we also fly British Airways.
Thanks again for sharing.

Since you posted this in the Switzerland forum, are you interested in visiting Switzerland?

From Milano you can easily get to most parts of Switzerland. You could start with Luzern, then move to the Bernese Oberland, then go to Montreux, then Zermatt, and then back to Milano for example.
And all those are easy to do by train.

Yes I'd be interested in Switzerland and other spots like N France. Maybe Austria?

May is too early for hiking in the Dolomites anyway.

If you want to see Switzerland and France, I suggest you head north by train from Milano Centrale to Locarno on Lago Maggiore for your first stop. You can visit towns on the lake by ferry from there, or visit the beautiful Val Verzasca, and then take the train over the Gotthard Pass route to Luzern. Or leave the train at Flüelen on Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Luzern) and ride a lake boat up the lake to Luzern.

From there you could do a nice loop to include the Bern, Alsace in France (Colmar, Strasbourg, etc.), Freiburg and the Black Forest in Germany, Lake Geneva area (very nice in May), maybe Annecy, and more.

I did not include the Berner Oberland because the alpine villages are not at their best in May. But that area would fit between Luzern and Bern if you want to see it.

would switzerland be too cold too?

would switzerland be too cold too?

Everyone has their own thermometer; what may be too cold to one may not be to another.
I have been 3 times in May 2019, 2022, 2024. It snowed one time in Murren at night by day the snow was gone.
It was still very busy. Some popular trails at higher elevation won't be open because they are covered with snow.
But for more bang for your buck and time go in July.

In Switzerland it totally depends on the aptitude. In May the higher areas may still have snow on the ground, or mud, even though the temperature is pleasant. That is why I said the Dolomites and the Berner Oberland would not be great.

At lower elevations, like Luzern, or Lac Leman, May is usually nice, although it can rain. But that is true anywhere.