My 22 year old son and I are in the planning stages of our trip and would like feedback. We love hiking and are planning on flying into Zurich (mid June) and then traveling to Berner Oberland (staying in Gimmelwald). We'd like to stay there 3-4 days and then travel on to Lake Como in Italy for some more hiking for 3 days. From there we were going to travel to Cinque Terre for another 3 days before heading back to Zurich for our return home. We have 14 days total time. Is this a reasonable itinerary? Should we rent a car or travel by rail? Any suggestions on lodging (cheap) is also appreciated. Thanks! Nanci
Posted by
San Clemente, Ca.
408 posts
Nanci,
I love Switzerland and the hiking is great. I am not very good on distance of all the places you have planned, but I have been to Cinque Terre and the Berner Oberland area.(Lauterbrunnen) I was on a R/S tour so we used his hotels which we liked very much. The hiking in the Cinque Terre is wonderful. A lot of up hill climbing but worth the view. Have a great trip!
Posted by
Colorado Springs
334 posts
Your itinerary should be ok. If you don't have plane tickets yet, fly into Zurich but home from Milan or Pisa. Much easier and shouldn't be much more expensive.Since you can't take cars to Gimmelwald or Cinque Terre and the trains in Italy are cheap (car rental is very expensive in both Switzerland and Italy), I stick with the trains. Just a note on hiking above Gimmelwald - we hiked from Murren down to Gimmelwald, but I'd take the gondola back up - it's a narrow road - foot or bike traffic only, but quite a hill. There are lots of hiking trails out of Murren. There's also a great hike out of Wengen (take the gondola up). Both sides of the valley have awesome views.
It will probably take most of a day to get to Lake Como and again to get to Cinque Terre. Do some research on Die Bahn (use Interlaken from the Berner Oberland) - you'll probably have to go through Milano to get to Como. From Como you'll probably connect in Milano again, then through Genova to Monterroso to Cinque Terre
Posted by
OP
Midlothian, VA, USA
5 posts
Darla and Karen,
Thanks so much for your replies. I agree...I think the train is the way to go, just nervous about getting the correct pass. There are so many options!