My kids and I are going to be in Venice the end of July. We would like to take a week and go to Dachau and the Swiss Alps.
Is a week long enough?
Whats the best transportation (train or car?
What town in the alps would be best with a lift (ie. Zermatt, Gimmelwald, etc.)?
Dachau is in the Munich area, it was not one of the big death camps like Auschwitz but it will make you want to cry when you confront the place, face to face, where these things actually happened. Some people choose to think carefully about whether they want to take their children, under a certain age, to confront ovens face to face--hundreds of thousands of children were slaughtered in these death factories and this could be troubling to some children. At some of the death camps they recommend children under 13 not be taken there.Take the train from Venice to Munich, here's the best train website for schedules, you won't use it to buy tickets, however: clickIt's a 7 hr ride. Input Venezia Santa Lucia and Muenchen (American keyboard equivalent of German spelling of Munich) for best results. The exact date doesn't matter but you can input it if you know it, change the time to morning to see all schedules.There's a lot to do in Muenchen, some people give it 3 days.Then you can take a train from Muenchen to Lauterbrunnen in the Berner Oberland, which probably makes the most sense for your Alps experience, coming from Muenchen.
Looks to me like you could make a straight shot north. If by train, go west to Verona (stop to see the Coliseum in the city center and all the Romeo/Juliet sites), then north on the trains leading to Munich. You will soon pass into one of the loveliest Alpine regions - very popular with Europeans, and for some reason almost ignored by American travel writers. South Tirol and the towering Dolomites will take your breath away (and make you forget you wanted to go through Switzerland too). We are planning this year's trip directly there. (See www.suedtirol.it) This mostly German-speaking area is linked to what is now Austrian Tirol by autostrada and rapid train. Stop in Bozen/Bolzano, the main city, and explore. Also make a stop in Innsbruck, Tirol's capital, before heading into the low plains of Bavaria. Munich is worth at least 2 days' visit - as the capital of Germany's most powerful kingdom, there is a lot more to see than a beer hall.
Is there any reason you specifically want to visit the Swiss Alps? Your route of travel from Venice to Dachau will pass through some breathtaking Alpine scenery in Italy, Austria and Germany, with plenty of wonderful towns on the way. Although many people on this site insist that the Swiss Alps can't be missed, in my opinion, it's like comparing a $500 bottle of wine to a $495 bottle. They're all gorgeous, so if time and money are tight, you don't need to add an extra leg to your trip through Switzerland, which by the way, is expensive beyond belief.
