My husband has business in Zurich, so that seems to be the best place to start. We're taking our kids, age 12 and 14, for 2 weeks in mid-June. I'm thinking Zurich, Paris, Rome. I'm totally flexible on route. What would you recommend.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32350 posts
tammy,
I'm assuming that you have return flights booked from Zürich so will have to return there for your trip home? Using open-jaw flights would be a better idea.
While it would be possible to visit both locations, it would be a more efficient use of your very limited two weeks to choose one and do a "loop", returning to Zürich at the end. However, you could also travel by train to Paris (about four hours via high speed train) and spend some time there, take a budget flight to Rome and then return to Zürich via Florence or the Cinque Terre and then the Berner Oberland. There are all kinds of possibilities.
Good luck with your planning!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Tammy, Starting from Zürich, Paris and Rome are totally in the opposite direction (look at a map).
You don't say where you are flying from (what country do you live in?). Do you have to fly back (to wherever) from Zürich, or can you fly back from somewhere else?
If you want to do Paris-Switzerland-Italy. It makes sense to fly into one, out of the other and do Switzerland in the middle. Also, Switzerland is mountains, not cities. Do not spend more time in Zürich than you have to, instead go to the mountains.
- Paris (4 nights)
- Swiss Alps (4 nights)
- Venice (2 nights)
- Florence (2 nights)
- Rome (2 nights)
That's 14 nights = 2 weeks. All do-able by train. That is a minimum schedule. Could you stand the pace?
Posted by
OP
21 posts
I thought my husband could go to Zurich a few days early, have his meetings, then we could fly in and meet him. Doing that means his airfare is 100% paid for, so that's very attractive. We have 2ish weeks. I assume I'd do an open jaw ticket but don't know where to fly out of. Of course, having a Zurich flight adds a lot of $ to the trip unless flying through Dublin.
Another idea is to do a self-drive barge in France, which maybe makes Rome less do-able?
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11775 posts
I suggest you pick Italy OR France, not both, with two weeks. You could go to Paris and do your self-drive barge trip, or go to Italy and maybe do the classic tour: Venice, Florence with a bit of Tuscan countryside, and Rome. In either case, some time in the Swiss Alps should be enjoyable for all. We prefer the Bernese Oberland to anywhere else we have been in several trips to Switzerland.