Originally Posted by
bdemaria
If you are traveling w/ltd luggage, I wouldn't bother w/staying the night in Pisa - simply stop there for lunch, see the tower, and be on your way.
+1
If you need an in between to stay the night, I’d do Florence over Pisa. There are many more options for hotels and it’s a cool city at night. Pisa is pretty limited in things to do and is a day trip like Stonehenge would be in England. I believe that you have to change trains in Florence to get to Venice anyhow.
I think you’ll be happy with that revised itinerary. We were going to do Switzerland for a few days next spring but it is just too comprehensive of a place to make an add-on. Unless you make it your primary destination, you’ll see most of your scenery from a train or mountain lift. Especially if you want to get to the meat of the country in places like Gimmelwald or Interlaken. Almost everything routes through Zurich, so there is a lot of zig-zagging. From Munich and Salzburg, it didn’t look like it would be too cumbersome on the map. But, those mountains disagree.
Good call on flying to Madrid. The train path doesn’t take you through the countryside and vineyards that you see on TV. I did a Paris-Rome sleeper car train one time and I swore that I would never do it again. I couldn’t even imagine doing that with kids. Venice to Paris is a better view, albeit, you will have to change trains.