Switzerland / Italy in the Summer

You received excellent responses to your inquiry over on the Fodor's forum, but you didn't respond to any of them. There's not much else to add until you review the advice and follow-up with additional questions.

My initial impression is that touring six locations in 14 days is far too ambitious, especially as you plan to visit Mürren, Wengen, Grindelwald, Gimmelwald and Lauterbrunnen while in the Berner Oberland, visit three Italian lakes and the "Ticino region. IMHO, that's just not going to be possible. Does the 14 days include your two travel days?

Travel by well planned rail trips will be best. Having a car comes with some potentially expensive "caveats", such as a hefty charge if you rent in one country and drop-off in another. Also, each driver registered on the rental form will require the compulsory International Driver's Permit for driving in Italy, and you'll need to be extremely vigilant to avoid the dreaded ZTL (limited traffic) areas in Italy. Hefty fines will result for each violation, which you likely won't know about until several months after you return home. There are also some potentially expensive "caveats" when using trains and other public transit in Italy, so you'll need to be aware of those also.

The trouble with the Fodors discussion is that it deteriorated into an argument, so there was not much useful information. Hopefully they ca get that here. I have no experience in Ticino, Bern, Lugano, or Lago Maggiore so cannot comment.

Thank you Lola and ken! I didn't know about the international drivers permit so that will be helpful in making our decision.

And yes I don't know why people are so argumentative in these things. I much prefer the positive comments :-)

Italian Lakes. We're spending 2-3 days here. Is it easy or recommended to hop between the 3 lakes (Maggiore, Lugano, Como) or should stick with one or two? Might depend on if we have a car.

I have only spent time on Maggiore and Como. I liked Como better than Maggiore. Como is more mountainous than Maggiore so, in my mind, more beautiful. I have not been to Lake Garda but I think its northern area is also mountainous. So I would be happy to spend all my time on Lake Como although tempted to check out Lake Garda. If you decide to stay on Lake Como you might want to drive past Maggiore and Garda on your way to and from Lake Como. Since you only have 2 or 3 days I would spend those days using the excellent ferry service to take you to some of the towns and palaces that are dotted around the lake. Note that some of the roads near Bellagio are very narrow so, if that is a concern, you might want to take trains or stay on the east or west side of the lake.

kris,

"And yes I don't know why people are so argumentative in these things. I much prefer the positive comments."

You'll generally get positive comments on this forum, as the group here tries to be helpful (although there can be a few mildly sarcastic comments at times).

To add to my earlier post, it would help to know whether you plan to stay in all the areas you mentioned, or see some of them as day trips? Also, where are you flying from and does your 14 days include your two air travel days? Finally, which airports are you using for inbound and outbound flights?

Travel by car will be slower, especially on routes served by the high speed trains which travel at up to 300 km/h (and aren't affected by traffic). In addition to the possibility of expensive ZTL tickets in Italy, you'll also have to contend with the devious Traffic Tutor system which not only monitors instantaneous speeds but also average between two points. Violate either or both parameter and expensive tickets will follow! There's also tolls, pricey parking charges and the possibility of theft of your belongings from a rental car. Trains would be a much better option as all the places you want to see are well served by rail links.

If you want to structure your Itinerary with a combination of short stays and day trips, it should be possible to hit most of the places on your list. A few thoughts......

• Lucerne - there's lots to see in the city but also some good day trip possibilities: visit Mt. Pilatus or Mt. Rigi, take a cruise on the lake, visit the excellent Museum of Transport, etc.
• Berner Oberland - The most time and cost effective method would be to stay in Lauterbrunnen. Visit Mürren, Gimmelwald (note spelling) and the Schilthorn one day as they're all on the same side of the valley, and Grindelwald, Wengen and perhaps the Jungfraujoch (expensive) on the other side of the valley the second day.
• Thun / Brienz - you could also visit these as a day trip from Lauterbrunnen. The trip from Lauterbrunnen to Thun is about 1H, from Lauterbrunnen to Brienz about 50M and from Thun to Brienz about 1H. You could allocate one of your days in Lauterbrunnen to see both.
• Bern - if you only want a brief look at the city, you could do this as a day trip from Lauterbrunnen (about 1H:20M each way) or spend a few nights here.
• Ticino region - it would help to have some idea how much of the "Ticino region" you want to see, or any specific towns?
• Lake Maggiore - this will be easy to see as it's the first lake coming from Switzerland. Use Stresa as your home base. This is also an excellent choice for a day trip to Locarno (aka "Ticino region) via the scenic Cento Valli Railway, returning by boat in the early evening. If you decide to do that as a day trip, I'd suggest leaving early so that you'll have maximum time to see the sights in Locarno.
• Lake Como - the usual favourite for many here is the small town of Varenna in the east shore mid-lake area. From there you can take day trips to Bellagio or other points on the lake by Ferry.
• Lake Lugano - if you're going to be flying outbound from Milano / MXP, you could spend two nights in Milan prior to your flight and take a day trip to Lugano. It's only about an hour by train each way.

As I may have mentioned before, there are also some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy. If you're not aware of those, it would be prudent to do some research on the subject.

Once you've sorted out some of the details of your plans, I'm sure the group here will be able to suggest a reasonable and workable Itinerary.

i've never really used these forums before but am so impressed by all of the helpful input everyone volunteers. thank you all!

the mountains definitely convince me we'd like to stay at como but day trip to maggiore. and we'd been thinking of murren or wengen for our sleeping spot in BO so now we'll look into lauterbrunnen as an option too.

One of the main reasons for visiting Lake Maggiore is to see the Borromean Islands (admission cost: 21 euros), which are typically reached from Stresa. If that's something you might want to do, check on the boat schedules ahead of time to be sure your day trip aligns with them.

The GNL line has a schedule look-up page on its website. There may be a second company making island runs; I'm not sure.

Is there a migrant issue in Lake Cumo?