[Removed user]

12 May 2019 at 22:10:17 #821603

Hallo,

Would you be willing to check our itinerary?My husband and I are traveling with our 2 children, 17 and 19. Our main objective is to spend time together relaxing. Also, we are not planning to purchase a rail pass. We would like to combine train and car travel. Not sure which portions of the itinerary below would be best by train versus by car–would love your thoughts on that.

6/10: Mother/son Arrive Milan from Los Angeles- overnight in Milan

6/11: Father/daughter Arrive Milan from Copenhagen – meet at airport or central train station. Bus or train to Lugano.

6/11-6/14: 3 nights in Lugano

6/14: Drive or train to hotel in flüeli-ranft (20 minutes from Luzern–Do you think that is too far away? We prefer a country setting.). 3 nights: old town, Mt. Pilatus w/luge ride, etc.

6/17: Drive to Bern–stopping at scenic towns along way such as Brienz–avoid highways.

Spend 2 nights in Bern- try to see Murten and Avenches by car.

6/19: Daughter: Train or bus from Bern to Zurich Airport- fly to NYC

Other 3: spend another night in Bern (see Murten and Avenches?) or drive or train to Lausanne

6/20: Lausanne- old town

6/21: Montreux: Chateau de Chillon

6/22: Fly Geneva to London

This itinerary doesn’t include time for Schilthorn or Jungfrauhoch–wondering if we will regret not summiting? I guess it depends on the weather.

Danke & Merci & Grazie for any advice! We just starting planning this trip yesterday, and we know we don’t have much time to finalize everything.

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[rockoyster]

13 May 2019 at 0:52:19 #912208

Hello Junie and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

You might want to have a second thought about getting rail passes. The Swiss public transport network is a formidable thing!

Read http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain then if/when converted read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass), download the handy spreadsheet calculator and do the math.

[Removed user]

13 May 2019 at 2:25:49 #912209

Thank you, rockoyster. I love the idea of combining rail and car. As you look at our proposed itinerary, is there a section that you think would be best and easiest by car? We want to have the flexibility to be spontaneous- stop and see interesting little towns in the moment. Thanks again!

[rockoyster]

13 May 2019 at 2:45:10 #912210

I’ve never driven a car in Switzerland so I’m not qualified to comment. Another forum member will know doubt be along soon to offer some words of wisdom,

[Removed user]

13 May 2019 at 3:54:53 #912211

Hello Junie,

Everyone has their own way of travelling and that’s fine. The only “issue” I see with combining the two modes of transportation is that you will only be able to do daytrips by train that bring you back to the same destination, otherwise you would have to leave the car behind. Or how do you see this, how have you planned?!

E.g. you could take the Gotthard Panorama Express scenic train from Lugano towards Lucerne, but if you have a car in Lugano, then how will this end up in Lucerne?! Splitting the family, one driving, the other ones riding the train?
– http://www.myswissalps.com/go tthardpanoramaexpress

To plan car rides I normally use viamichelin:
– http://www.viamichelin.com/

For more information about travelling by car, in the mountains and scenic routes use:
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/scenictrips/c ar
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ca r

Just as an input, also on public transportation you will be able to be spontaneous and just hop off a train if you like a village that it passes. If you download the very helpful SBB mobile app you will also be able to see further connections on the spot.
– http://www.sbb.ch/en/timetabl e/mobile-apps.html

To find out about travelling times by train use our timetable. Make surer you read how it works to fully profit from it.
– http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Hope this helps you set up your routing. Get back to us for further support.

Best,
Steph