Hi there,
I am looking to do a last minute trip to Switzerland. We are a family of 4 with 8 and 11 year old boys. Have upto 9 nights. We have been to wengen, inter laken, jungfrau, titlus, Zurich, luzern. Looking to do other parts. Can fly in to Zurich and out of Geneva. Was thinking a car trip.
Fly into Zurich. Drive around Arbon-Vaduz- Appenzell-St. Moritz-Locarno/Varena-Zermatt-chamonix. Fly out of Geneva.
Just not sure where to sleep for how many days?
Zermatt 3
Chamonix 2
St. Moritz 2
Varena 2
What day trips should I do? Cable cars/boat rides/train rides/toggoban..
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32202 posts
Keep in mind that if you drive into Italy, each driver listed on the rental form will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. You'll also have to be very vigilant to avoid the ZTL (limited traffic) areas which exist in many Italian towns. Hefty fines for each pass through these zones.
Zermatt is car-free as I recall, so you'll have to use the car park and take public transit (or whatever) into the city.
That seems like a LOT of driving for a very short nine day trip. You'll be spending a lot of time seeing Europe through the windshield. However, I'll defer to others on the forum on that point.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Such a shame to drive in the country with one of the best transport systems in the world...and both your boys will travel 100% free everywhere in Switzerland on public transport.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
360 posts
I agree that for most of Switzerland, you won't need a car, but for Chamonix, it was far easier for us to have one (we landed in Geneva and drove there). We stayed three nights/two days. Our first day, we didn't need the car as we did the Anguille di Midi and Helbronner lifts. On our second day, we used our car and drove over to the Valle D'Aosta in Italy and visited the castle and had a wonderful Italian lunch. You didn't mention the Lausanne/Montreux area, which is where we drove to from Chamonix (it was faster than the trains) and we used our car to explore the countryside around Gruyeres and Broc (the Calliere chocolate factor is amazing). Having the car gave us a view of the countryside that riding on the train didn't quite do (for us) with the rolling green hills and cute chalets everywhere. But we then dropped our car and didn't need it on the larger cities/mountains.