Switzerland and Salzburg -Itinerary help

We just finished a wonderful Rick Steves Alpine My Way tour - Salzburg; Castelrollo, Italy; Fussen, Germany; Lauterbrunnen . Switzerland, and Chamonix, France. I think you would have loved it. But my point, check out tour itineraries, Switzerland and Alpine My Way. All of these locations were truly beautiful and wonderful.

Thank you. I will check them out. So glad you enjoyed your trip.

I assume you are staying with friends in Geneva. It is an 8 1/2 train ride from Geneva to Salzburg, and I do not see any direct flights. Flying to Munich and taking a train does not save all that much time with a lot more hassle. If you decide on this, fly home from Munich.

Gruyeres is a doable day trip from Geneva. Zermatt is not too bad, but insuring it is a good weather day to make the trip will be the challenge. A long way to go if the Matterhorn is socked in.

https://www.sbb.ch/en

Your friends in Geneva can explain the Swiss rail system better than I, but there are a lot of fine things to see between Geneva and Salzburg, including Luzern, Zurich, Innsbruck, etc. A mid trip stop would make sense to me if you really want to head to Salzburg.

The Lake of Geneva has a bunch of wineries on the north shore too, and Chamonix/Mt Blanc area is a 90 minute bus ride south of Geneva. Have fun.

Thank you, Sam and Nick B. Everything you both have said is helpful. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together.

Matterhorn + chocolate?? A touchy subject in some quarters, when Mondelez moved Toberlone production out of Switzerland they were banned from using an image of the Matterhorn on the packaging.......

Geneve (or Luzern) to Salzburg is quite an easy journey if too long for a day trip. Change trains at Zurich HB and then a direct train to Salzburg roughly every two hours. Discounted non flexible tickets from sbb.ch or oebb.at, prices rise so book as soon as you have decided. Goes through the mountains of Voralberg and western Tirol to Innsbruck before taking a fast short cut across south eastern Bavaria (yes, in Germany, don't worry about it).

Your problem is that if you need to be back in Geneve for the return flight there is a whole other day gone on the return train ride. Can you get the return flight from Munich?

Dear Another Steve,

Thank you so much for this great advice. We would stay in Salzburg for more than a day, but, yes, it would be a pain to have to go back to Geneva to fly home. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the logistics because we don’t usually travel to multiple cities, more like one or two at most. Everyone should have such problems!

Thank you also for the info about Toblerone. My husband agrees they shouldn’t be allowed to use images of the Matterhorn on the wrappers if the chocolate bars are not made in Switzerland!

If you want to end up in Salzburg, Munich is a 90 minute train trip away and has excellent connections to the US for a return flight.

Thank you very much. I will research Munich flights.