[Removed user]

8 January 2019 at 3:33:48 #819396

Hey,

We are flying to Milan from Melbourne in mid march(9th to be exact). The plan is to mainly go around italy however I am very keen to spend some days in Switzerland. Plan is to stay 2 nights in Milan to do some sight seeing and recover from the long flight. I then want to goto Locerno as it seems like a beautiful town. Ideally I would want to drive and go through the Gothard Pass. In Locerno i am thinking of taking the golden pass to Montreux. Can I get some guidance as below please:

1. I would like to not spend more than 3 nights on all this as I want to spend some more of the trip in Italy. Is the 3 nights too ambitious?

2. For the trip from Milan to Locerno will the pass be open for car travel in March? And either way is train to Locerno better or car

3. Generally what weather can I expect keeping in mind we have a toddler with us

4. Is taking the golden pass a good idea with a toddler. If yes whats the best way to get from Montreux back to Milan or Florence.

We are quite flexible with our plans. Ultimately the idea is to spend 2-3 nights in Switzerland and try and do as much sightseeing as possible.

Thanks.

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[rockoyster]

8 January 2019 at 4:25:30 #901689

Hello Faraaz and Welcome to MySwissAlps

Do you mean Lucerne? There is a city named Locarno (not far from Lugano) but that doesn’t correspond to some of the trips you have mentioned.

Suggest you read http://www.myswissalps.com/ca rversustrain.

You can catch a train from Milan to Lucerne. The faster route uses the 57km long Gotthard Base Tunnel or if you go via Göshenen you will follow the older shorter more scenic Gotthard Tunnel route. If you decide to use the Swiss Public Transport network you should use the SBB Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to plan your travel. If you are not familiar with using the timetable it will pay to first read the instructions on that page.

From Montreux the best way to return to Milan is via Domodossola. The SBB timetable will always show you the fastest connection by default.

You might also want to read http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/italy and “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).

March is still winter especially in the Alps. See http://www.myswissalps.com/be sttimetovisit and http://www.myswissalps.com/we ather.

[Removed user]

9 January 2019 at 4:56:43 #901690

Hey Rockoyster,

You are correct. The town i meant was Lucerene.Thanks for your response and links. I will check them out.

I am now thinking of doing 2nights at Lucenren and one night at Interlaken and then back down to italy. Will that be enough time for those 2 towns. Thanks.

[rockoyster]

9 January 2019 at 5:45:32 #901691

Well done Faraaz. You now have the record for the most variations on the spelling if Lucerne (which incidentally is Luzern in German). 😎

Whether that is a good number of nights in each town depends on what you plan to see when you are there. I presume if you go to Interlaken you will also want to travel into the Jungfrau Region to see some mountain peaks. You could easily fill in a week in both locations. See http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/activities and http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion/activitie s.

If you go from Interlaken back to Milan then use the SBB Timetable to find the route via Kandersteg for the most scenic ride. It takes a bit longer than going via Visp but is well worth it.

[Removed user]

10 January 2019 at 3:35:24 #901692

Hey Rockoyster thats a bit embarrassing to have a record in :). Again thanks for the help. I think this should be enough for me to get started. No more city names now.