Europe Itinerary

[Parveen_Choudhary]

Hello friends
I am planning a 10 days vacation in Europe in April 19.Like to visit Paris,Interlaken,Lucerne and Zurich.Suggesion required for how much time to spend where?Any modification/addition required.Also share Airbnb experience with the perspective of Indian Family travellers.
Regards


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[fine69]

Are you going to just Paris in France? You may want to include the southern coast, its mesmerizing. Not sure what all you like but Paris is just like any other major European city and usually people go there for Disneyland.

I find true charm of Europe in being away from major cities but then a lot of folks spend days touring major cities like Paris, Rome etc.

Switzerland has enough to keep you occupied for 10 days if mountains n lakes interest you but then at times 10 days of mountains n lakes might be overwhelming when being out with the whole family. I wound never recommend Zermatt n Zurich to anyone unless they want to see something specific in that city. Interlaken as a city doesn't have much but is a good place to make base when exploring Switzerland, by road or by train.

Go have a look at the Switzerland tourism website and see what all places appeal to you/wife the most, its the best place to start for a Swiss itinerary.

 

[Parveen_Choudhary]

Are you going to just Paris in France? You may want to include the southern coast, its mesmerizing. Not sure what all you like but Paris is just like any other major European city and usually people go there for Disneyland.

I find true charm of Europe in being away from major cities but then a lot of folks spend days touring major cities like Paris, Rome etc.

Switzerland has enough to keep you occupied for 10 days if mountains n lakes interest you but then at times 10 days of mountains n lakes might be overwhelming when being out with the whole family. I wound never recommend Zermatt n Zurich to anyone unless they want to see something specific in that city. Interlaken as a city doesn't have much but is a good place to make base when exploring Switzerland, by road or by train.

Go have a look at the Switzerland tourism website and see what all places appeal to you/wife the most, its the best place to start for a Swiss itinerary.

Thanks,Infact we too are not much interested in major cities .It’s the kids who want to show off among friends .Kindly suggest a itinerary as per your taste.It will be a great help to us.Thanks again.


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[fine69]

Would you be renting a self-drive vehicle or planning to do this by train? Still, you would need to go through the site to at least include places that look appealing to you.

Reason is that I could suggest you to only look at lakes & mountains for 10 days but it may not work for you. You have ample time, spend an hour together with your family exploring the Swiss tourism site and you can then at least list down 10 or 15 or 20 places that look worth visiting. Based on that we can chart out a plan.

If you really want to include France in this trip then look at the southern part and maybe you'd want to start from, say Paris, drive down across Southern France and then enter Switzerland.

 

[Shaq]

Besides Disneyland, Paris has too may amazing sightseeing spots to keep you busy for atleast 2-3 days.
Zurich, a very cool city, you should be able to cover the city surroundings in a day or two (if you include a hike up the Uetliberg and boat ride over the Limmtquai).
Lucerne, a lovely town can be done in half a day.
Interlaken, is the base to explore the Swiss alps. A nice ride upto the "top of of Europe" Jungfrau alone will be a days trip (bonus - Indian food at the top in Bollywood restaurant). If you add in the nearby Lauterbrunnen and other areas, that's another day.
Near Lucerne a ride up the Rigi is also awesome.

 

[pink vagabond]

10 days good enough for a short swiss tour. Lucerne for 2 days, 4 days in lauterbrunnen (oberland) and 2 days in Lausanne / Montreux would be good. If you want you can take the train to from lausanne to Paris for 2-3 days or instead move over to Lugano for couple of days. Or even can think of adding a day in Montreux for a travel to the chocolate factory. Just check out the sbb site for train timings etc. the whole countryside is so pretty, we used to get in a train, get down at any pretty village and just move around the place, hike around and take a return train later in the day. Staying ahead of interlaken (in lauterbrunnen/murren/grindelwald) would be preferable, but you might have to change a short train to reach there from interlaken.

Take a swiss pass / half price card, which would be pretty handy. Family pass would be handy for a 3-5 member family.

 

[alhaad]

Even I am planning Europe trip in May'19 with wife and kid. We have zeroed down group tour. Any suggestions / feedback?

 

[pink vagabond]

Personally dont like group tours (have only used once, that too i just used them for hotel, airport transfers and two half day city tours, rest 6 days at leisure for us to enjoy) as they herd you through locations. Their target is to cover maximum locations in minimum time, so you dont have time to spend and feel a location. they advertise their trips as 10 countries in 12 days and you literally tick mark places, rather than getting a feel of those places.
But they do offer some advantages, at times the food is included (so if you are fussy about only having indian food, they tend to be cheaper and more convenient), no worries about logistics as they would manage everything. On the flip side, most of the vacation is typically in a coach, as you move around the places.
Nowadays, you can plan better and then book online and can space your travel accordingly. Countries like france, swiss specially, austria, germany can be easily planned with good public transport or affordable car rent services. Eastern europe, unless it is self driving, may be a little problematic. countryside in alpine areas is very pretty and would suggest you to look at spending some time their doing some hikes or just enjoy the laid back village life, atleast for a few days for your trip.

 

[gsarkhel]

I'm planning a similar trip on November of Zurich -> Interlaken -> Zermatt -> Milan -> Venice -> Salsburg -> Insbruck -> Zurich. Which is coming around 1700 kms. First of all is this really doable? Or is it too much? And how to find out the cost of a rental car including fuel? Is Indian driving license is accepted there?

I'm travelling with my wife and a 12 year kid. I prefer AirBNB over staying in hotels as to get the local flavour. Is there any better website for local houses or chalets?

Elaborated:
Zurich - 1 days (rest and see around)
Interlaken - 2 days
Zermatt - on the way
Milan - 2 day (on wife's request)
Venice - on the way
Salsburg - 1 day
Insbruck - 2 days
Zurich - 1 day

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[pink vagabond]

Personally, it seems like a tick-mark trip where you are trying to go to maximum places in minimum time. But everyones' vacation ideas are different. there is such a beautiful countryside in all the countries mentioned. Driving too much depends on person to person, but given the country-side is so beautiful, you might have to stop very regularly, so time taken may be more.

If you are interested in hiking, you can hike around these villages, which is probably the best way to explore. May be stick to 1 or two countries. for eg., interlaken or bernese oberland itself has so many beautiful villages like Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Grindlewald, and the might Jungfrau. You can spend 3-4 days easily hopping villages, going on a boat on the lake. Near venice, you have the dolomites where you can again stay in beautiful villages. Similarly, in austria you can stay at hallstatt or any lakeside village.

Regarding rental car. Swiss side you could easily use the family swiss pass or the half fare card, depending on usage, available for 4 and 8 days. swiss is more comfortable with public transport than driving your own car. you can also fly in and out at different airports, which gives you more flexibility. you need to get an international drivers licence i think, as i used public transport and inter-country trains on my visit

You could also use goopti also in case public transport is not readily available.