COtraveltrip

A note for the moderators: I wasn't sure if I should post this in Italy, Germany, or this forum. Please let me know if I should repost elsewhere.

Due to some peculiarities in the reward booking, my return flight from a trip to Germany leaves from Milan. This does afford me a good opportunity to take 4 nights in the area and I'm curious about preferred ways to spend this time.

For reference, this is over Memorial Day (in the USA), so early summer shoulder season.

Budget isn't so much the issue here as I have priced both options out and they are fine. Here are the two itineraries I've put together.

1) Spending 2 nights in Munich then taking the train directly and spending two nights in Milan.

2) Spending 1 night in Munich, renting a car and driving through the mountains while spending 2 nights in Lucerne (or similar) and then 1 night in Milan

I am traveling alone and enjoy both city/cultural breaks and the hiking/outdoor options (I'm a hobbyist photographer and will enjoy both quite a bit). I also live in the US Rockies so mountain driving and the amount isn't much of a concern to me.

I do think just one day of day trips is a bit limiting in Switzerland, but it looks beautiful. Any recommendations are appreciated.

pbiflyer

If you haven't been to Switzerland, it is stunning.We stayed in Interlaken and it offered quick trips to other spectacular places, by car, train and boat.
I think most here would say that Milan is for the most part just another big city. And if you are flying out of Milan, the airport is quite the distance from the city, so I would almost opt to stay near the airport unless you have a later flight.

KLouis

OP: Apples or oranges?

COtraveltrip

Ok, well put another way then. How would you spend the 4 days starting in Munich and ending in Milan?

KLouis

OK, let's try again! Both of what you have in mind are very good ideas but it's almost impossible to answer your question without going into lengthy details. Since you don't care about cost, there's obviously no reason to avoid Switzerland. Choosing the first option would provide you with some more "cultural" possibilities (e.g. museums, art, concerts, etc.) while the second one provides you with nice views of the Alps. Given that you were not entirely convinced by my first answer, let me put it in a different way: breast or leg? A matter of taste!

PS Personally I'd go for Munich and Milan, and try to include 2-3 concerts of classical music or Opera evenings, especially since I lived in Switzerland for a long time.. But what do I know? You may be more into jazz or R&B, or you may have a strong urge to eat Egli Fitets and Geschnetzeltes on the way to eating a good risotto or an ossobuco alla milanese...

KayVeeBee

Note that renting a car in Munich to drop of in Milan is going to be eyewateringly expensive. Renting a car just to et from A to B is not something Europeans do, and doing it cross border is something we would never even consider. You will be paying for someone to repatriate the car back to where it came from...

If you want to do a stopover in Switzerland just take the train. You could easily spend a few nights in Luzern. Book Munich - Luzern at bahn.de, and Luzern - Milano at sbb.ch

COtraveltrip

And of course I wouldn't expect you to be able to design the perfect itinerary to fit my trip. I'm more just trying to get a sense from those that have spent time in the region on what they consider to be their preferred options. So, thank you for the help!

ieChicago

This isn't really the case in my experience, after several recent trips through these countries. The one-way "premium" from Sixt for an Audi A6 or similar was around EUR 300. Since there were 4 of us, this was significantly cheaper than going by train and offered more flexibility.

This is coming from someone who is 100% pro-train by the way - I was surprised at how cheap the one-way car rental option was.

sydunipete

You could do a slow rail thing. Munich to maybe Zurich. (Be prepared Switzerland is very expensive.) Then to St Moritz for the Bernina Express to Tirano (Italy). That's a very scenic railway and you can stop off at little places such as Alp Grum for some great photos. From Tirano you can pick up TrenItalia to Lake Como - maybe a night at Varenna (touristic but for a good reason), Mandello del Lario (more quaint and village style with some great walks), or Lecco (larger and less pretty). There are regular ferries up and down Lake Como from all three of these - Varenna is the most central. From there it's about an hour to Milano.

Milano to me is one of the least interesting Italian cities, but Il Cenacolo (the last supper) is fantastic to see but tickets can be hard to get unless you join a tour.

flyingfkb

Or you skip Switzerland and go via Austria and South-Tirol. There is a train going from Munich to Verona where you can get a train to Milan. On the way you can stop at Innsbruck, Bozen and Verona.

BobFF68

As other mentioned the fastest way from Munich to Milano either by train or car is via Austria/Italy Tyrol where there are gorgeous mountains (western edge of Dolomites) lakes and art cities with less eye watering prices too. Then if for you Switzerland is a must that is another story, traveling by car you are definitely more free to stop the places you like even without necessity of booking hotel in advance, for sure trans border rental between 3 countries may be expensive.

ente_09

Chambery is a nice city along the way, and you can drive around the lake
Milan is unlike the rest of italy, not very pretty .

puchong

I would second this idea and add an overnight stop in Salzburg (though Innsbruck is directly on the way); otherwise you will need to backtrack via Rosenheim

realworld

Switzerland is magical, even for someone that lives in the Rockies. And you get both the city experience and nature.

worldiswide

Just did Milan to Zurich via Bernina Express last week. Beautiful ride highly enjoyable. We went straight from Chur to Zurich but would have been nice to have more time to see Zermatt St Moritz. Zurich is pretty compact for tourism related activities. Also spent a day in Milan and agree not much from tourist perspective. It was a holiday and Monday so Last Supper viewing wasn't in the cards.