Intro

The mountains of Switzerland and the Italian Dolomites are every photographer's dream and we had been drooling over pictures on Instagram for years. This trip was a long time coming, but it took us a while to get there. We had originally planned to visit Switzerland and Northern Italy in July 2020. We kept thinking, “Surely all of this COVID stuff will be done by the summer…” We could not have been more wrong! After two years of restrictions, we were finally able to travel to Europe with minimal limitations.

Are you interested in visiting this beautiful part of the world? Keep reading!

Before you go

It was really hard to choose between all of the different cities, hikes, lakes, and sights across these two beautiful countries and regions. I almost drove myself crazy thinking of all the things we were missing versus just being excited about all we were going to get to see! We eventually came up with an itinerary that hit some pretty incredible places. Did we miss some beautiful spots? Of course. Did we see plenty of amazing places? We sure did.

Reservations

We both used the credit card points we had been saving up to pay for our plane tickets. The end of the summer is a really expensive time to visit Europe and it was great we both had enough points on our Chase credit cards to pay for the tickets. I used Booking.com for all the hotel reservations and Kayak for the rental car. I downloaded the SBB Mobile app to buy our Swiss train tickets the night before each train ride. I had looked into Swiss Rail Passes, but I determined buying the tickets individually each day would save money based on the train routes we were taking. The app was really easy to navigate and use and the tickets were saved to my phone to show the train attendant.

Weather & Packing

While mountains can cause chilly weather no matter the season, we experienced a very hot summer. There were a few days where it rained in the late afternoon or evening, but otherwise, it was in the high 80s and 90s on our trip to both countries. Lake Como was especially hot and humid. We packed layers to prepare ourselves for potentially chilly hikes, but we ended up not really needing any of the light jackets we brought with the exception of needing our rain jackets during a hike. We were walking a lot every day, whether we were just walking around a city or going on long hikes, so make sure you bring comfortable shoes. Because the majority of Europe does not have air conditioning, we were sleeping in shorts and tank tops at night because it was so hot. Be prepared for a very warm night's sleep.

Phone

I kept my phone on airplane mode the whole time and used Wifi when available. Rebecca used the AT&T international $10/day pass when she needed service. If you have AT&T, you can turn on your data and use your phone normally for $10 per 24 hours. Wifi was available in most places, but it wasn’t always the strongest. I downloaded offline Google maps for the major cities we visited and it was helpful for navigating without data.

Money

In Switzerland, they use the Swiss Franc. We were able to use our credit card the entire time in Switzerland with the exception of needing coins to do our laundry, so we didn’t exchange any money. In Italy, they take Euros. While credit cards were also widely accepted, we did need cash for certain activities. I was able to exchange Dollars for Euros at a bank in Bellagio, but I had to go to more than one to find one that would do the exchange.

Real Talk: Switzerland is expensive! The meals were expensive and also taking cable cars and gondolas up and down the mountains added up. Be prepared to spend more money than you typically do on vacations to other European countries.

Our 15-day itinerary through Switzerland and Northern Italy

Day 1: Travel Day

Real Talk: Our original flightpath was Dallas to Chicago to Zurich. A week before we left, our flight from Dallas to Chicago was canceled and the only flightpath available was Dallas to San Francisco to Zurich… Talk about going backward to go forwards. While it made for a much longer flight to Zurich, we still got to the country around the same time, so we can’t really complain.

Day 2: Arrive in Zurich and take the train to Stoos

Take the train, bus, and funicular to Stoos

Located about two hours from Zurich, we decided our first stop in Switzerland was going to be Stoos. Located via the world’s steepest funicular, the cute little village in Switzerland is beautiful during the winter for skiing and also in the summer for its lush green views.

Check into the hotel

Stoos Hutta was the perfect little place to stay in Stoos, but be warned. While it looked close on the map to everything, I did not check the topography. The path to our hotel was straight up a very steep hill and was quite the hike from the funicular station.

Hike the Stoos Ridgeline (2.75 miles/2 hours)

When I saw this hike on a blog a few years ago, I knew we had to do it. We took the Klingenstock chairlift up and the Fronalpstock chairlift down. I would call it a moderate hike with some flat parts and then some pretty intense elevation changes, both up and down. We didn’t spend much time taking pictures because we were unclear of when the chair lifts stop running (we had heard different times from different people) and I was worried we were going to get stuck up there and have to hike all the way down. We ended up being completely fine with the time, but do make sure you know when the chair lifts stop running.

Eat dinner

We ended up eating dinner at our hotel and it was good! (We also didn’t feel like walking down the hill to find something else.)

Real Talk: They speak German in Switzerland and in some of the smaller villages (like Stoos), English may or may not be spoken well or at all. Some of the hotel employees did not know any English and Rebecca had to use some of her German to get us by.

Also, the cows! I had no idea about the cows and the bells we would be hearing throughout our time in this region. Since it was warm, we had to keep our windows open and the sound of the cow bells were all we could hear at night. Pretty cool but also kind of loud.

Day 3: Interlaken

Take the bus and train to Interlaken (3.5 hours)

The SBB mobile app made it really easy to transfer between buses and trains to get from city to city.

Check into the hotel

We stayed at Walters Hostel Interlaken which was a good distance from the train station and downtown. The room was quite large and we shared a bathroom.

Walk around the city

The city of Interlaken is a beautiful town and fun to explore. We walked around the shops and admired the river running through the town.

Real Talk: We went on a Monday and a lot of restaurants and coffee shops I had picked out were closed. I didn’t realize this until we got there.

Eat lunch

We ended up finding a restaurant Stadthaus open for lunch and then got a dessert at Mohler.

Take a lake cruise

We chose to do a cruise on Lake Thun. This is a great way to sit and see the views of the lake. We got off at the last stop and took the train back to Interlaken.

Eat dinner

We ate dinner at a restaurant called Tavern because we saw they had fondue and when in Switzerland… You have the cheese fondue for dinner AND the chocolate fondue for dessert.

Day 4: Lauterbrunnen

Take the train to Lauterbrunnen (30 minutes)
Check into the hotel

We had a private room at Valley Hostel with a shared bathroom. It was clean and we did laundry here easily.

Hike in the mountains

This was an incredible hike we loved and it wasn’t too difficult. Here are the steps:

Take the cable car up to Grutschalp and hike to Murren (3 miles/1 hour)
Hike from Murren to Gimmewald (45 minutes)
Eat pizza at Mountain Hostel Gimmewald
Take the cable car down to Stechelberg
Walk through valley back to Lauterbrunnen (3 miles/1 hour)

Take pictures by Chalet Pironnet

This is where the epic pictures of Lauterbrunnen are taken. There were about 5 or 6 other people also there taking pictures, so be prepared to wait for a little bit.

Eat dinner

We ate dinner at Hotel Steinbock and we had no complaints.

Day 5: Grindelwald

Take the train to Grindelwald (40 minutes)
Check into the hotel

We stayed at Hotel Alpenblick and while it wasn’t right downtown, there was a bus stop right outside of the hotel. The bus fare was covered by staying at the hotel.

Hike to Bachalpsee Lake (3.7 miles/1.5 hours)

This was one of our favorite hikes on the trip! The views were amazing and there were plenty of cute cows who liked to have their heads scratched along the way.

Eat lunch

We ate lunch at C und M Bar. While the menu was limited because we got there between lunch and dinner, it was still a nice meal after a long hike.

Walk around town

This is your typical alpine city with sporting goods stores and souvenir shops. We walked up and down the street to browse some of the fun stores.

Eat dinner

We had dinner at our hotel because we were tired and it was raining and they served a very good dinner!

Day 6: Take the train to Milan, pick up the rental car, and drive to Lake Como

Take a train and bus to the Milan airport to pick up a rental car (5 hours)

When I looked at the map, Milan was the closest point between Switzerland and Lake Como. Airports also typically have cheaper rates for rental cars. Once we got off the train in Italy, we had to take a van to the Milan airport. From the Milan airport, we called the rental car company to come to pick us up.

Drive to Bellagio (1.5 hours)

We ended up stopping at a McDonald’s on the way to Bellagio and stopped at a grocery store for a few road trip snacks.

Check into the hotel in Bellagio

In a place like Lake Como, you could end up spending a lot of money on accommodations. We stayed at Appartamienti Casa La Rosa. It was nice and clean, had great views of both sides of the lake, and included free parking (which was the biggest thing I was looking for since we had a car.) It was a walk downhill to downtown Bellagio, which meant it was a walk uphill back to the apartment… If you want something without walking, this one isn’t for you.

Walk around town and grab dinner

There are so many great options. We just picked a random pizza place we saw and grabbed gelato afterward. (When in Italy, eat gelato wherever, whenever.)

Day 7: Lake Como

Eat breakfast

We ate breakfast at Bar Pasticceria Rossi because it was across from the ferry dock.

Take ferry to Lenno to See Villa del Balbianello

Check the ferry schedule from where you want to go and buy tickets. Lines can be long for tickets, so make sure you get your tickets 15-30 minutes before your ferry leaves.
If you’re a Star Wars fan or just a fan of big, pretty houses, Villa del Balbianello is a great place to visit on Lake Como. The garden has been the filming location for many movies. We also took a tour of the inside of the house which was owned by a rich Italian in the 80s before he passed away. I wouldn’t say the tour is unmissable, but it was interesting. The villa is a 20-minute walk from the ferry dock.

Eat lunch and grab a gelato

We ate lunch at Bar II Golfo and grabbed gelato at La Fabbrica Del Gelato while we waited for our next ferry.

Take the ferry back to Bellagio, relax, and do laundry

After we took the ferry back to Bellagio, we walked back to our hotel and rested, and started laundry.

Eat dinner

We chose to eat dinner at Ittiturismo Ristorante Mella in the nearby village of San Giovanni. We watched the Netflix series “Dogs” a few years ago and it featured this restaurant, the owner, and his dog named Ice. We did get to meet Ice, which was exciting, and the seafood was very good as well.

Day 8: Drive your own boat

Real Talk: I contacted a boat company in Bellagio a few months before our trip to reserve a boat for us to drive and they told me I could only reserve the boat a few days before the day. When I called a few days before to reserve a boat, they told me all the boats were reserved… All the boats in Bellagio were already reserved across all the boat rental companies. I did find a company in Varenna that had an opening in the morning, but in the morning when we got there, the waves were too big and we couldn’t take out the boat…. We ended up coming back a few hours later and they let us rent and drive the boat on the still side of the lake. All of that to say, it didn’t work out perfectly, but we did get to drive a boat on Lake Como. A boat license for the smaller boat was not a requirement, but it was helpful Rebecca had driven a boat previously.

Take the ferry to Varenna

We took the passenger ferry to Lenno the day before, but we took the car ferry to get to Varenna. These are two different ticket stations and docks in Bellagio.

See Villa Monastero

While we were waiting for the waves to calm down, we toured this villa and it was beautiful.

Rent a boat

We rented a boat from Lake Como Boat Varenna. The owner was an interesting guy, but I think it is a stressful job renting boats for tourists to drive. Even with the waves still being a little big, I told him that Rebecca had experience driving a boat and we would be careful, so he let us take it out on the condition we would be careful.

Eat lunch and grab a gelato

After the boat ride, we ate lunch at Al Prato and it was one of our favorite restaurants on the trip. We also grabbed gelato at La Passerella before getting back on the ferry.

Take the ferry back to Bellagio
Eat dinner

We had wine and charcuterie at Angolo DiVino Enoteca Wine Bar. We had been eating pretty heavy meals the past few days, and so we were happy with the charcuterie board and bruschetta.

Day 9: Drive to the Dolomites and go on a hike

Pick up McDonald’s and drive to the Dolomites (4 hours)
Hike the Adolf Munkel Trail (6 miles/3 hours) or potentially more if you make a wrong turn (see below)
- Real Talk: This was one of my biggest blunders on the trip. I had double-checked the trailhead for parking purposes, but I did not properly review the hiking directions for this hike. I just thought we would be following the “Adolf Munkel Trail” signs. Typically when we go on hikes in the United States, we choose a hike, the hike has a name, and we follow the signs for that specific hike. After we had been hiking for too long in one direction, I checked my phone and realized we had hiked two miles in the wrong direction after missing a turn. We also hadn’t eaten lunch, didn’t pack any food, and ran out of water… After I realized our mistake, we turned around and attempted to go back the way we came to get to our car, but we made another wrong turn and ended up going a different way. We did stop to finally eat at a little hut called Glatschalm and you had never seen two people more thankful for food. All of that to say, take screenshots - screenshots of the map and screenshots of the verbal turn-by-turn directions written in a blog. We did that on the rest of the hikes in the Dolomites and still felt like things could be confusing on the trails with the different directional signs and trail numbers.
Get pictures of the church of St. Johann in Ranuai and the Church of St. Magdelena
Check into the hotel in Ortisei

We stayed at the Hotel Scherlin. The views of the valley were incredible and the breakfast provided in the morning was top-notch.

Day 10: Alpe di Siusi

Drive to Ortisei, park at the garage at the valley station, and take the Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm cable car up to the top
Walk across Alpe di Siusi all-day

This was another place we had drooled over on Instagram. Alpe di Siusi is Europe’s largest mountain plateau. While there isn’t really a wrong way to walk around this beautiful area, we did attempt to follow some directional signs to make a loop. We ate lunch at Malga Sanon and it was very good, but get there early because it was packed by the time we left.

Eat Dinner

We ended up picking up a pizza at Genuine Pizza E-Quattro to-go and eating it in our hotel room as we relaxed. This hotel has great views, a bar, pools, and a sauna, so we took it easy in the evenings.

Day 11: Seceda

Drive to the Ortisei-Furnes-Seceda cable car station and park
Hike the Seceda to Regensburger Hütte Trail (5.5 miles/3 hours)

This was another incredible hike with great views! It was pretty intense (straight uphill at the end), so we were glad we stopped at the Regensburger Hutte for lunch. It probably had my favorite food of any of the huts we stopped at while hiking! This is also another one you will want to have taken screenshots of the directions for the path you want to take. I had to keep referencing these when we were deciding to go left or right a few times.

Eat dinner

We had dinner at this really cute restaurant called Mauriz Keller. The inside felt very quaint and authentic to the area and the food was delicious.

Day 12: Lake and Hike

Drive to Lago di Braies (2 hours)

Real Talk: This was another hiccup we had on the trip. When we drove up to the entrance of the park where the lake is located, they were asking people to make reservations on their website for entrance and for parking. We had to loop around and get back in line as I immediately started navigating their website on the phone. I am pretty sure we got one of the last parking spots available. I know this because I didn’t know our license plate number and put “XXX-XXX” on our reservation, got worried we were going to get in trouble, tried to make another reservation and all the parking lots were full. All that to say, make sure you make reservations for parking ahead of time.

Rent a boat & eat lunch

We rented a boat for an hour and the weather was just perfect for amazing pictures! We ended up eating at a restaurant by the lake called Emma’s Bistro, which was nothing remarkable, but we needed food for energy to go on our next hike.

Drive trailhead (1 hour) and hike Tre Cime Di Laverdo (6 miles/3 hours)

This is another iconic hike in the Dolomites I am glad we did. We stopped for dessert and a drink at Dreizinnenhütte. There are also tiny caves a short distance (but on a steep incline) behind this hut where we got some pretty epic pictures. It started to rain on us, so I am glad we had our rain jackets.

Drive to Cortina d’Ampezzo and check into the hotel (40 minutes)

This is a famous city in the Dolomites, known for its winter sports - specifically downhill skiing. We stayed at Hotel Villa Blu Cortina D'Ampezzo. This town has a cute square I wanted to explore, but we were very tired from our long day and it was starting to rain, so we ate dinner at the hotel.

Day 13: Venice

Real Talk: This is not a comprehensive guide to Venice. With this being the last stop of our trip, we were exhausted. I had been to Venice before and we were both exhausted, so we didn’t see everything that Venice had to offer while still seeing a lot and having a nice time.

Drive to Venice (2.5 hours) and drop off the rental car
Take the bus into town
Check into the hotel

We stayed at Hinc Domus - Residenza Da Qui Venice. While it was up two flights of stairs and a little difficult to find, this was a great place to stay. Bonus - it had air conditioning!

Eat lunch

We ate lunch at Farini which has a few bistros in Venice and grabbed gelato next door.

Walk to St. Mark’s Basilica and Square and explore along the way
Drink coffee

We had drinks at Cafe Florian in the square. The live music was magical and it’s included in your bill.

Wander the streets, explore shops, take a gondola

Gondolas are very expensive, so we didn’t take one, but there are plenty willing to give you a ride. A department store, T Fondaco dei Tedeschi by DFS, has an incredible view from their balcony where you can reserve a ticket for free. I reserved a ticket, we went up there, and found out I had ordered it for the next time… We unfortunately couldn’t go the next day, but I heard it’s a great view and you can’t beat free.

Eat dinner

We wanted to eat at La Zucca, but it was booked up, so we ate at Barcaro Quebrado because it was close to our hotel and it was just ok… I would recommend going elsewhere.

Day 14: Venice

Eat breakfast

We had a lovely breakfast at All 133. Their coffee maker was unfortunately broken, but the food was delicious.

Take a cooking class

We had originally booked another cooking class, but it was canceled a few days before the chef got COVID. This one had availability and it was a nice class! We cooked different types of pasta and sauces and made appetizers and desserts. I would definitely recommend taking a cooking class somewhere during your time in Italy.

Explore the city more

We continued to walk around Venice, cross bridges, and see different parts. Our feet were so tired by the end of the day, we took the boat ferry back to our hotel.

Take the bus to a hotel close to the airport

While we weren’t leaving extremely early in the morning, I wanted us to stay closer to the airport for our last night. We stayed at Venicegreen Agriresort. While our room was decorated interestingly, the grounds of this hotel were beautiful and breakfast was provided in the morning. It was also close to the bus stop for us to take in the morning to the airport.

Day 15: Fly home!

That’s it!

Wow! What a whirlwind. This trip was definitely one of mountains and lakes, hiking and walking, food, food, and more food. We tend to go pretty hard and fast on our trips and this one was no exception. We were both exhausted afterward, but so happy we did it all. I felt like we ate so much food, but I think both of us lost a few pounds with how much hiking and walking we did.

Do you have any questions or are you planning a similar trip in the future? Comment below!

Travel Guide: Switzerland and Northern Italy