LEAVING FOR ITALY AND SWITZERLAND, need advice re: itinerary Posted: Sat August 5, 2006 05:51 AM UTC
I am leaving for next weekend, and still could not determine my itinerary. PLEASE HELP. Here are the variables. I can fly in any larger city in Italy via either Munich or Frankfurt, I think it would be Florence ( I have been to Milan and Venice recently). I would like to spend a day or two there, and head north. I am traveling with two kids, 5 and 7 yrs. There is only that much of Uffizi they are going to let me enjoy. BUT they are good walkers, thus I am thinking ...Dolomites or Alps…castles.
Here is a problem. I do not drive, so would have to take a train (or plain again). I never traveled by train in Italy, so my be I am romanticizing the experience. Advice? I would like to spend a couple more days in Northern Italy ( at this point not sure north east or north west), best case scenario is to be able to hike, walk and take trips from there to Switzerland, then maybe head to Innsbruck or Zurich.
I could not find a nice destination with good train connection in the north-west, that would allow me to take some scenic trains to Switzerland and do some moderate hiking. The only town that has a fare train connection in the Dolomites is Bozen, but it seems that it is far from nicer hiking destinations, and has no connection to Switzerland. I would have to go to Innsbruck and then come back to Switzerland. I have 10 days, but with the kids I cannot be on the move every night. I am looking for towns in Italy, Austria, Switzerland (preferably not St. Moritz type of towns) with train or very good bus connection where I can stay for 2-4 days.
Any advice is appreciated, also re: train pass vs. point -to -point tickets.
thanks
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