Need help with a 9 day trip to Switzerland and Rome

Hi elakshmi85,

Switzerland is quite small, although many of the trains and roads circumvent the mountains and don't allow a direct route. As you are arriving Zurich I suggest you first go to Lucerne as it is a short train ride and eliminates the need to backtrack if you stop in Zermatt. The route to Zermatt is a bit long and is a 'one way' so you are backtracking in and out of there.

I have found Interlaken (especially Grindewald, Lauterbrunnen, etc.) to be some of the very best for hiking. The proximity to transportation is also excellent and provides excellent views of mountains, waterfalls, etc. Also depending on budget I highly recommend taking the scenic trains available such as Bernina Express or Glacier Express.

Zermatt then can lead easily to Milan which is just over 3 hours by train to Rome. If you have never been to Europe, I suggest you might consider at least 2-3 days in Rome depending on your likes. Just to see the Colosseum is 1/2 day. Also to see St. Peters/Vatican is generally a full day. Be very careful to get there very early in the morning as the queues can be over 2 hours long by late morning.

To reiterate, you can easily go from Zurich to Lucerne to Zermatt to Milan/Rome in a more direct route; no need to backtrack. Enjoy! - John

Are you sure that you want 3 nights in Zermatt and 1 night in Lucerne, versus 2 nights in each? I can't advise which is best for hiking, but Lucerne has plenty of sightseeing options. I assume that you plan to fly from Zurich to Rome.

Why are you going "Lucerne to Zurich. Zurich to Rome."? That makes no sense, if you are going by train you are doubling back on yourself.
Either go: Zürich --> Zermatt (3 nights) --> Luzern (1 night) --> Rome.
Or, as the previous poster suggested: Zürich --> Luzern (1 night) --> Zermatt (3 nights) --> Rome.

"Luzern" is the German spelling. When you look up train times this is the spelling you will see.
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