Northern Italy and Switzerland

Hi Kate,

I'll share an itinerary that we did a few years ago that worked very well for us.

Flew into Zurich & immediately took the trains to Wengen (Lauterbrunnen area) - breathtakingly beautiful! We were there 4 days.
Took the train to Stresa (stopped off briefly at Spiez for lunch). Stesa - 2 days

The rest of our itinerary was Florence, Siena, Grosseto, Rome. And flew home from Rome.

We traveled by train in the areas you're considering. All were good connections, and nice modern trains. The Borromean Islands are wonderful, and Stresa is very walkable with nice areas to stroll along the lake and quaint restaurant/shop area without cars.

Hi kate,

I am working on a similar itinerary for this July. We are flying into Zurich going to Murren, Zermatt (10 days) and then onto Stresa Italy for two nights. We are heading from Stresa to Varenna via Milan by rail. We will then take the train From Varenna to Tirano to catch the Bernina Express (or regional train on same route). We plan to stop in Samedan for the night before continuing the next day to Chur and on to Zurich. You can do all this by train. I would not rent a car.

You certainly don't need a car in Switzerland, and you probably don't need one in Italy, depending on where you want to go. Last fall we did northern Italy, with a dip into Switzerland, all by train plus one bus. We flew into Venice, then went to Ortisei in the Dolomites, Verona, Varenna on Lake Como, and Milan. From Milan we took the train to Murren in the Berner Oberland, which is where I recommend you go if this is your first time in Switzerland and you have limited time. (We did a longer trip to Switzerland a two years ago.) We were happy not to have to rent a car.