Logistics and itinerary questions for Switz., Germany, Austria and Italy.

Thanks for the advice. I had already google map'd it and it seems to make sense. No significant back tracking. Agree with you about the Berner Oberland. Delayed gratification I suppose. Going there first would cause back tracking, I think. Would you recommend skipping Lucerne and instead going straight to the Berner Oberland?

Thanks for the suggestion about Venice (we LOVE Venice, but since we've already been there we wanted to try something new). I'll check out bahn.de. Thanks for the tip. Raileurope was failing us.

We used Rick Steves' guide to Paris last year and it was GREAT! It's the first book we used from him and oh do we wish we'd his books sooner. We've been using the 2010 Guide to Europe for planning of this trip. It's also great. We've also been watching his TV shows on this website. They've piqued our interest and caused us to add some sites that we hadn't initially considered (e.g. Salzburg and the Cinque Terre).

I understand your concerns about cruising. Last summer we traveled via train through northern Europe, Paris and London, before embarking on a Baltic cruise. Totally different experiences. The first part of the trip was much better for getting a true sense of the people and places. The latter is a great way to see a bunch of places, be a tourist, eat well, have no stress about transportation and to wake up in a new city and country each day. A superficial trip, yes, but still a neat way to get a brief exposure to a country and make a decision on whether you want to return at a later date for a deeper experience (as we did with Venice in the past). Thanks again for your suggestions. Going to read the Scenic Railways article right now!

About every other connection from Fuessen to Munich is direct (i.e., no train changes). Others change trains in Buchloe. If the destination placard on the window says "Augsburg", you will need to get of in Buchloe and catch the next train to Munich. That will probably be a three minute cross-platform (2-3) change.

There are also two connections (at 2:05 PM and 8:03 PM) that change in Kaufbeuren. In that case, the train from Fuessen ends in Kaufbeuren, so you will have no choice but to get off and catch the train to Munich.

If you have any doubts, refer to the schedule board in the station.

You're backtracking...

From St. Moritz got to Fussen (7 hours/3 changes), then Munich, then Salzburg, then Innsbruck...Even going directly to Munich from St. Moritz is 6 12 hours with 2 changes. It's two hours with no change from Fussen to Munich.

Getting from Innsbruck to CT will be a royal pain. It will be a 9 hour trip with 3-4 changes.

My suggestion would be to skip the CT on this trip (you'll see plenty of water on your cruise.) Add a day in Salzburg, and then spend a couple of days traveling to Florence. The pass from Innsbruck to Venice is beautiful, you couldspend the time in Emilio Romagno--where the best food in Italy is found.

Getting from Fuessen to Innsbruck could be a bit of a challenge. The fastest way might be train back to Munich and an express train from Munich to Innsbruck (via Rosenheim and Kufstein). You can also go by train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck via Mittenwald and Seefeld, but getting to Garmisch from Fuessen will require some bus travel. There are buses from Fuessen to Pfronten or Reutte, where you can pick up the train (Ausserfernbahn) to Garmisch. There is also a bus from Fuessen to Garmisch via Oberammergau. That bus stops in Hohenschwangau, near the castles, on the way to Oberammergau.

Hi John,

It'll be hard to get from most anywhere in Switzerland to Munich without some "backtracking".

Just my opinions here:

Skip Zurich and stay in Lucerne first 2 nights OR head straight to the BO.

Skip Interlaken and stay "in" the Alps... we loved Wengen!

Skip St. Moritz (we found it expensive even for Switzerland, a bit redundant plus not as nice as the BO)

Add the St. Moritz night to Zermatt, giving you 2 nights here. Increases the chances of a clear day to see the Matterhorn.

If you go straight to the BO the day of arrival, put Lucerne after Zermatt.

Any chance of flying into Geneva?

From here the logical route would be:

Geneva, Monteaux, Zermatt, the BO, Lucerne and then to Munich.

Paul

Wow! I am amazed at all the helpful responses! Thank you all. I'm a little sad thinking about not visiting CT, but what you've said makes a lot of sense. Maybe next trip. I'll look into flying into Geneva. We had been planning flying Swiss Air out of Miami- direct nonstop flight to Zurich. One less transfer and opportunity to have lost luggage.

Regarding Rome... We've been once before and loved it. It's a little overwhelming, so we were actually thinking about boarding the ship, doing the cruise and then spending 2 full days there after we return. In watching one of Rick's TV shows (?one of the three part series describing traveling secrets) he mentioned that he has a small hotel that he loves to stay in while visting Rome, but he never mentioned the name. Does anyone know to which one he was referring?

Regarding Venice. We would love to go again, but the last time we went we stayed at the Hotel Antiche Figure (great hotel with wonderful staff) somewhat across the canal from the train station. The hotel was great. Location was good. Price was bad. We paid $400 USD/night. Considering everything else we're doing this trip that's more than we want to spend (by a long shot). Venice is probably too expensive for this vacation. Alas...

Has anyone has any personal experience with the Golden Rail Pass or the Glacier Express? Rick's webpage mentions that most people like the Golden Rail Pass. Both seem great to us. It would be nice to sit by the window and just enjoy the sights. The Golden Rail would let us stop in the BO, enjoy those sites and then head off (either to Montreux or Lucerne, depending on our direction). Or, did anyone find one of the trains to be over rated and a waste of time/money?

Thanks again. Your advice is really making a difference! Happy Holidays!

Hi John,

Just my opinion on the Glacier Express. We took it from St. Moritz to Zermatt. Wouldn't do it again. 9 hours for the trip! While we were looking forward to it for a long time, after that many hours we couldn't wait for it to finally end. Ww wouldn't do it again. Maybe if we had taken 2 days for the trip... In retrospect, we'd rather be out and about in the Alps (like the BO and Zermatt) than seeing them from a train window.

By the way, the trains are the best way to get around Switzerland. I just don't see the point in a "scenic train trip" for the purpose of seeing scenery. Get out and enjoy the Alps up close.

Have a Happy Holiday
Merry Christmas

Paul

I think it is the consensus that the name "Glacier Express" is a joke. Not that the train itself is a joke, but it is hardly an express. It spends a lot of time using the cog, and moves just slightly faster than a glacier. Very scenic, very slow.

To see the rail lines in Bavaria, go here. It's a pretty large file, 1.5MB, and might take a while to download. If your Internet connection is slow, and you want to use it in the future, you might want to save it to your HD.

Thanks for the Bavaria rail line pdf map. Very helpful.

Just spoke with a friend who visited the CT. They lived in London and flew to Pisa before catching the train to the CT. Flew Ryanair. Just looked into it. Seems as if we can flew from Munich to Pisa fairly easily and relatively cheaply (though there do appear to be severeal "hidden" or not obviously advertised fees). It might be worthwhile (as you can see it's hard for us to part with the idea of 3 or 4 relaxing days in the CT...).

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday (if you celebrate during this time of year).