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Sunday, August 19, 2018

Italy-Switzerland itinerary


 Two beautiful countries. Tons of history. Beautiful paintings, sculptures, monuments and wallpaper sceneries. Italy and Switzerland make quite a couple. One ancient and mature with thousands of years of the history, art, culture, stories and monuments while the other sits innocently in the lap of nature, with meadows, lakes and snow-capped mountains everywhere. Long as your vacation might be, it will always leave you wanting for more.

Before you start looking at your flight options, do check if you are one of those unlucky ones that need a visa to the schengen area.

One primary ingredient to the visa recipe would be the trip itinerary. So as soon as your mind is set, pin the places you would love to visit down to specific dates and list them up in order for the dear embassy.

So here's a brief itinerary of my sweet 12-day trip to Italy and Switzerland.

1. Rome (The Eternal City) - 3 days

Colosseum
    Spent 3 wonderful days trotting up and down the cobbled streets of the eternal city. From one monument to the other, having pizzas and gelatos and grinning to selfies, time simply flies. Rome is enchanting even to those who are not history buffs and to spend 3 days is simply taking a sniff of a vintage wine.

2. Pisa (For all the crooked ones :P) - 1/2 day

Leaning Tower & the Cathedral
    Quaint  little Tuscan town made famous by the leaning tower. Once recognized as one of the wonders of the world, its a perfect half day trip from Florence.

3. Venice - 2 days

Rialto Bridge
   City unlike any other, literally. If you are in Italy, you have to see Venice.
   Undoubtedly the romance capital of the world. The mood here is always festive, with cool breeze blowing over the cool canals. Canals adorned by the gondolas give a very royal look. Its just out of this world.

4. Interlaken - 2 days

Green is in!
      Vast stretches of grasslands, cows grazing with bells around their necks, surrounded by mountains and the emerald lakes on either side, Interlaken is indeed a one-stop experience for all Swiss delights. Excursion to Mt. Jungfraujoch start from here.
 

5. Kanderstag - 1 day

Tobaggan Run
    Mountain tobaggan, meadows, hiking trails and a lake. If you love all these, one day is surely less. My favorite in this list.
     

6. Lucerne - 2 days

Chapel Bridge
  Larger city than Interlaken. Base for various mountain excursions like Mt. Titlis, Mt. Pilatus and Mt. Rigi.

7. Zurich - 1 day


     One of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, Zurich is an important Swiss city and offers good flight connections in and out of Switzerland but seemed to offer less to the tourists.

Some alternatives to the above itinerary:

Although above travel plan was as per my taste and research, you could also look at following if you have a longer journey or just want some more options. These are almost on the same route and easier to accomodate.

1. Florence

    - Add this if you want to enjoy art and culture of Tuscany. Visiting Pisa from here is easier and flexible as there are many train options at very short intervals whole day.

2. Milan

   - One of the largest cities in Italy better known as a fashion hub. Stop here for some shopping of renowned Italian brands, visiting the Duomo or even Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting 'The Last Supper' (it requires an advance reservation which are booked very early). 

3. More of Switzerland

  - If you love hills more than plains/coast, ditch Italy completely and journey far and across Swiss hinterland. Go on a full on Bollywood tour, tracing the steps of Raj and Simran (DDLJ) in Montreux, Gstaad, Zweissimen, Interlaken. You can even pose alongside the cutouts of DDLJ on Mt. Titlis(Luzern).

I will be coming up with detailed guide for each of these cities shortly. Till then, do let me know your views in Comment section.