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Switzerland and Northern Italy Itinerary Help

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This will be our second trip to Switzerland so we’d be exploring mostly new areas (already stayed in Lucerne, Wengen, Montreux and Zermatt). We love hiking, biking and being surrounded by nature but our teenage son would love to experience Italy a bit and some non-adventure days. Would LOVE any feedback! Not sure if we should skip Venice and maybe go another time and add days elsewhere:

Fly in and out of Zurich

-2 nights on Lake Lucerne to hopefully hike Stoos Ridge or Mt. Rigi

-3 nights in Bettmeralp

-3 nights in Stresa on Lake Maggiore

-3 nights in Venice

-5 nights in Pontresina

-1 night in Zurich before we fly home

Posted by
6299 posts

When is the trip to these beautiful areas?
I love the Bernina Express route, and would advise taking the regional trains from Pontessina to Tirano, Italy,
Then onto Varenna, Lake Como for a few nights,
Then train to Venice, if you have enough time.
You could fly out of Milan or Venice.
However, flying out of Venice can be difficult if you have an early morning flight, so you could reverse the trip order.
No reason to fly into and out of Zurich, you can fly on a multi-city, open jaw ticket: into one location, and out of another, to avoid backtracking.
Have a wonderful time. Safe travels!

Posted by
17612 posts

If you want to include Venice, then you should fly out of Venice as Pat suggests. Your itinerary would be Zurich—-Bettmeralp—-Glacier Express route to Pontresina—-Bernina Express route to Tirano and on to Varenna—-train via Milan to Desenzano del Garda or Verona—-Venice.

With that many stops I don’t think it is worth your time to spend 2 nights in Luzern just to do the Stoos Ridge hike. I have read it can be extremely crowded these days.

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