Seeking Help With 3 Day Swiss Itinerary

Posted by rmerchant15 on 03/07/16 08:56 PM

I am in awe of the assistance that you travel veterans give to us novices!

I will be traveling from Munich to Venice in mid-May, with my 20 year old son and his friend. We plan to leave Munich on Monday, and arrive at Venice Thursday morning. We want to see the splendor of the Swiss Alps in the middle. Any advice would be helpful.

With my primal planning skills, I thought that we would train from from Munich to Zurich, and immediately begin a train tour through Interlaken, Montreaux, and Zermatt before heading to Venice.

I recognize that it is a short period, but it is the best that we can do. Our sightseeing will be mostly from the train windows, aside from the two nights that we have to spend somewhere.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Richard

Posted by FastEddie

Florida

03/07/16 09:18 PM

1450 posts

I think most Switzerland fans would recommend visiting the Berner Oberland (the area around Interlaken) over Zermatt if you only have 2 nights. Specifically, the towns of Lauterbrunnen, Murren, and Wengen are highly recommended. They are deep in the alps and centrally located to lots of great hikes (from easy to expert), flat biking opportunities, and awesome scenery. And in the event of sub-par weather the consensus is that there is more to do in that area than in Zermatt. I'm not knocking Zermatt, but if you only have 2 nights and you want maximum alpine fun, then I think those three villages are where you should be.

And you can do it all by train and cable cars!

My personal all-time favorite place to stay in that area is the Mountain Hostel (all ages welcome) in Gimmelwald, just down slope from Murren. May is low season so you don't even need to book ahead. That way when you are in Munich and if you see the Swiss alpine weather is going to be lousy you can make a quick change of plans.

Posted by hubestur

Kenmore, WA

03/07/16 10:25 PM

194 posts

I agree with Eddie's description of Lauterbrunnen. One of my favorite places in Europe! It's also a pretty fair distance out of your way if you're looking at the most logical route from Munich to Venice. With only a couple of days, by the time you get there, you'll just have to turn around and head back toward Venice to keep your schedule.

Given that you only have a few days, you may want to consider substituting the Austrian/Italian Alps for the Swiss. Not sure about what the rail routes are, as I'm not able to look at a rail map at the moment, but I assume there would be a few ways to head south out of Munich more directly toward Venice and get into some lovely Alp scenery. Perhaps there's a route that even gets you within range of the Dolomites, which look amazing.

You may want weigh that approach against the Zurich-Lauterbrunnen-Venice option, to see which one balances what you're looking for with how much time it takes.

Posted by rmerchant15 OP

03/08/16 01:50 AM

11 posts

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely consider traveling through the Austrian and Italian Alps in order to save a 1/2-1 day of travel time. That can be critical when I only have the 3 days to get from Munich to Venice.