Where to go in Switzerland from Varenna

I suggest a return to the Berner Oberland. There are nice playgrounds our grandchildren have enjoyed, such as these above Wengen and Mürren:

https://www.maennlichen.ch/en/summer/experiences/alpine-herdsmans-playground.html

https://schilthorn.ch/26/en/Adventure_playground_Flower_Park

From Varenna, your best route is to return to Milano Centrale and then make your way to the BO. Via either Brig or Luzern. Or you could take the train north Tom Tirano and then the Bernina route via Chur, but that may take longer.

Why not go to Graubunden? (Girsons). It is a wonderful area, different from the places in Switzerland you have visited so far, and easy to get to from Varenna. The altitude will also help keeping it agreeable if we are really hit with a heatwave in the next week.

And one there getting to Luzern is pretty straightfoward too. Will still require a few changes, but you are now in Switzerland, so that is all going to be easy.

Thanks @lola for your suggestion. This is my backup option.

@WengenK - thanks for your suggestion. The Grisons area is pretty big. Which parts there would you recommend?

The upper Engadine area is nice. Pontresina is nice. St. Moritz is a bit more upmarket. Then there is Sils. The whole place is pretty well connected. Some hotels in the area will give you the Engadine Card which gives you free public transit, and access to most cable cars.

4 days in Milan sounds like a long time if you already have time set aside for lake Como. 3 would be enough, and I would visit Milan before Varenna from a logistics standpoint, before continuing to the Engadine as suggested.

It sounds like they are skipping Milan (due to the heat) and heading straight to Switzerland.

Graubünden would be the simplest choice from Varenna. From what I can find online, it does not seem to be as well-supplied with interesting playgrounds as the Jungfrau and Luzern areas, but there a few listed in this Swiss Family Fun blog, which I have found useful:

https://swissfamilyfun.com/best-swissalps-playgrounds/

Scroll down; they start at #21.

Thanks Everyone for your feedback. Due to very rainy conditions in the Switzerland currently, we decided to spend time in Cinque Terre and French Riviera till the weather gets better in Switzerland.

Thanks

It is not rainy at all at the moment. Yesterday was sunny, and so is today.

Agree with the Graubunden. Stay in Pontresina. It's on the route you would normally take. The thing I like about the Graubunden is that if you look closely, you'll see signage and other evidence of Romansch, Switzerland's fourth language.

It's raining quite a bit starting 29th. I will follow the advice on this thread starting July 7th when it gets sunny.

It's raining quite a bit starting 29th. I will follow the advice on this thread starting July 7th when it gets sunny.

Don't hold too much faith in those forecasts. Anything beyond 3 days is not reliable in mountain areas. Just go to Switzerland when you are ready to do so, I would say.

I just returned from Switzerland and many times the forecast the night before changed by morning time. And I was using 3 different weather apps. None of them were very reliable. So, I wouldn’t put much faith in forecasts that are days out. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

If you look at the forecast on Meteoblue you will see that for today they give it a predictability of "medium", and it gets lower for the rest of the week. From July 1st it is "very low", which basically means "we have no idea whatsoever what the weather is going to be that week, so we just give you a guess..."

Usually the uncertainty on a day like to day is due to the fact that they know that it will start raining sometime later today, but they do not know when...

Just get up early, and check the forecast on meteoswiss. And look at the sky. And be flexible, and always pack a rain jacket...