My husband and I are planning a trip to Switzerland in September. We'd like to spend a couple days in Venice at the end of the trip. Are there any issues/problems with flying in to Zurich from the US and out from Venice back to the US?
Also, do you recommend taking the train from Switzerland to Italy or renting a car?
1) No problems flying into Zurich and home from Venice. Open jaw flying is actually the most practical way to travel as you don't waste time backtracking.
2) Train is less expensive and more convenient than driving. 1 way rentals require a hefty foreign drop fee. And of all the cities in Italy Venice is the #1 place where you do not WANT a car.
Thank you!
No issues at all with that "open-jaw" flight plan. On airline web sites, look for a "multi-city" flight search, which will be priced similar to roundtrip tickets (rather than usually-expensive one-way tickets).
Take a train between countries. You can get from Luzern to Venezia S. Lucia station in 6.5 hours with one connection or from Interlaken Ost in either 6.5 or 8.5 hours with two connections.
A car rental is too expensive when dropping in a different country, and it would be a full day of driving, with some tolls.
Train to Venice! Never pass up a chance to go through the Alps by rail.
The route I would recommend is the one we did last summer. From Zurich, take a leisurely train ride to Chur. Or better yet, rent a car from Europcar in Zurich and drop it off at the Chur train station. Chur is a nice little town in the foothills of the Alps. Was once a Roman settlement, now the centre of Swiss wine country. Downtown is eminently walkable. We stayed at the Hotel Freieck and walked from there to the train station.
Next morning, take the Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano, Italy. The most spectacular scenery including the train passing over a VERY high viaduct, and later around a most interesting figure 8 spiral. Train leave Chur around 8:45 am and gets into Tirano around 1:00.
When you get off at the Swiss train station in Tirano, walk across the town square to the Italian train station. From there, take a regional train to Milan, which goes along the shores of beautiful Lake Como.
At Milan, connect to a regular intercity train to Venice. You should be there by 8:00 pm, in time for supper and some Amarone wine.
Enjoy!
That sounds wonderful! THank you!
On the Bernina route you actually see the Alps instead of going under them in a tunnel.
The train does not have to be the designated Bernina Express train if the schedule does not fit. Regular regional trains run that route hourly, on the same tracks with the same scenery.
The only problem I want to flag up is that most flights back to the US from Venice are very early in the day which involves leaving Venice in the middle of the night and having to navigate around or across the Lagoon before dawn.
Check your potential departure times and the time you will have to leave your hotel.
Piggybacking on Nigel's post, British Airways has flights back to the US that leave Venice around noon. I flew from Venice to Philadelphia in September and the price was great! Many flights do leave quite early in the morning but this one seems to be one of the exceptions.
I flew Delta home from Venice last summer with an 11 am departure. Also, an option for an early flight is to stay on the mainland the night before ... perhaps near the airport, or maybe in Vicenza or Padova.
If you have a super early morning flight and you choose to stay in a hotel on Venice Island you won't be stranded. Although public transport may not be able to get you to the airport early enough - a water taxi is available all hours of the day/night. Yes it will cost you extra to book a water taxi during those early morning and late night hours, but at least you do know you have an option to stay on the island.
