Hey,
We are two friends traveling around Europe for 5 weeks and we're making a stop in Switzerland for 4 days. We don't really know what we should go, see, and do. Help!
We will be there in July, and we'd love to get a good view of the Alps, the Matterhorn, etc. We just want to see the best of the best! We've thought about Interlaken and Lucerne..but we don't really know what to see or do around there if we do...
Please help us out...
Thanks!
Also..we wanna hike around a bit! We're not very experienced though..so maybe a moderate hike...
Can you tell us where you'll arrive and depart from, your meaning of "best of the best"?
My suggestion would be to take a copy of the LP Switzerland and read it. ALso read some Internet resources (like this site; do a search on TT) to find more.
Well..we'll be coming from Venice...so we really can arrive wherever. It's just about deciding where to go. I've read that Interlaken is both good and bad, so I was hoping for some "insider" advice. Also, we'll be going to Salzburg after that. So we're trying to just get the best out of the small amount of time that we have.
Personally, I really liked Lucerne. I've just spent a few hours there but I found the Old Town very nice. The lakeside is beautiful and there's a famous wooden bridge called Kapallabrucke, from where you have great views of the city. There's also good shopping in the form of chocolates, souvenours etc in the Old Town.. It's a very easy-to-onavigate place.
Train timetable here.
by train ?
-Venice -Zermatt
-Zermatt-Gornergrat and hiking
-Lucerne
-Lake Lucerne steamboat stema train to Rigi
-leave for Salzburg
If you only want to stay a few days in the mountains, you don't need to go to expensive Switzerland. There are marvellous glaciers and hiking possiblities not far away from the Venice - Salzburg itinerary.
Check Grossglockner, Zillertal, Sulden, Kaunertal, Oetztal.
Possible intineraries:
Venice - Calalzo - Cortina - Toblach - Lienz - Grossglockner - Zell am See - Salzburg
Venice - Verona - Merano - Timmelsjoch - Soelden/Hochsoelden - Oetztal - Salzburg
Venice - Verona - Merano - (Sulden) - Nauders - (Kaunertal) - Landeck - Salzburg
Venice - Verona - Innsbruck - Jenbach - Zillertal - Salzburg
If it must be Switzerland, be aware that Matterhorn is just at the Western side of Switzerland, whereas both, Venice and Salzburg are some 200 km east of the Eastern border of Switzerland.
St. Moritz/Pontresina would be closer to Austria and could be combined with the Swiss town of St. Gallen (baroque cathedral) and Lake Constance: train Venice - Bergamo - Colico - Tirano - Berninapass - Pontresina - St. Moritz - Albulapass - Chur - St. Gallen - Munich or Innsbruck - Salzburg.
Zermatt is easy to reach from Venice, but the journey from there to Salzburg will be long and expensive (unless you have a eurailpass or so):
Venice dp 16.20 - Zermatt ar 23.44, change at Brig. Stay 2 days there and stop over at Bern (2 hrs from Zermatt, trains every hour) and may be Lucerne on your way to Salzburg. Bern/Lucerne - Salzburg: 4 daily train connections via Zurich - Innsbruck ( 6 1/2 hrs).
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