Travel Muse Magazine

My first time in Milan was for my honeymoon. We had planned to take the train to Zermatt and around Switzerland, but then there were transportation strikes and had to drive instead to keep our pre-paid reservations. So we rented a car. I would not recommend this to anyone. It is a last resort. The insanity of Italy by car was uncool & horrible experience that I won’t go into here. Nothing so bad that I wouldn’t go back, but I’m amongst those travelers who will tell you train travel is superior in Europe. (Read more about my tips for trains and Euro-travel planning.) That said, going to Zermatt from Milan, itself, is a great plan, which I would recommend, as is time spent in Switzerland and the Italian lakes region. (I’ll write more about that in the future.) But for today, let’s focus on a sample cross-mainland Europe trip that a fellow traveler recently asked me for, wanting specifically a sample itinerary that would take them from Milan to Amsterdam with a stop in Zermatt. I’ll also add a London alternative at the end there, for those of you that want to hit an English speaking country as part of this trip too.

Milan

First, two nights in Milan. And that’s the absolute minimum. I’d say three, unless you are swinging back around to fly out of here too. That’s what we did and it was a great plan of starting and ending in Milan after a trip through southeastern Switzerland and the Italian northern lakes region. Milan was actually my least favorite of all the wonderful places we went on that vacation, which is saying something about how amazing all the other places were. Because Milan, too, is worth your time.

Zermatt

You can do just one night in Zermatt. That is if you take the 7am train with only two connections and have a travel time of just about five hours, as you’ll be here by noon in that scenario. That should give you time to walk around town and get up to the glacier museum actually in the Matterhorn! Two nights would be better so you get that next full day here and then on day three can push off after an early breakfast to your next cool Swiss mountain town. I pretty much am always going to recommend a two night minimum of any place you really want to spend time.

Geneva

Next, you’re pushing on to Geneva via a gorgeous train ride through the Swiss Alps. The quickest route is going to be about four hours from Zermatt to Geneva with one train change. Lots of seeing without doing on this route but still okay. There’s amazing views!! And you can enjoy the journey with coffee and looking out window, so at least you’re enjoying instead of just hurrying. If you catch the 9:30am, you’ll be there at the Swiss-France boarder by about 1:30pm.

My suggestion is to aim to always arrive around hotel check in (generally 3-4p), so you could take a bit later train to time that out. There’s generally one every two hours. But if you get to Geneva before check-in, go to hotel first, pre-check in and check your bags at the front desk and off you go to lunch and then a walking tour and whatever your “top thing” is in Geneva.

I’d recommend three nights in Geneva so you can do a full day trip down to Annecy (aka the Venice of the Alps) for one of those days. It’s a 45-minute or so direct bus ride (faster than by train, as there’s no direct route). Even if you did only two nights in Geneva, I’d spend a chunk of that one full day down in Annecy!

Paris

After coffee and breakfast, head out to Paris on the TGV Lyria train. You’ll be there in just over 3 hours! Again, check your bags at your hotel and off you go with plenty of time for a lunch, museum and night boat ride on the Seine. (The last one of the night is the best!)

Check out my Paris hotel rec for a great place to stay on the Left Bank

Paris is a three night minimum, if you ask me. Can you do just two here, sure. But it’s SO good, you really want to do longer so that it’s not all rushing or check-list completion. I’d advise against treating any vacationing like a check list anyway.

Check out my rec for a lovely and leisurely day in Paris

Amsterdam… or London

Off you go now to Amsterdam… or London by Eurostar high speed train. It’s about two and a half hours to London (so quick!) or about three and a half to Amsterdam (not too shabby either!). Which you pick depends on which one you can find the better flight home from. Both have airports that have lots of direct to America routes.

Either one of these is two nights minimum IF you have an evening flight back to US, but again give yourself at least three nights here, especially if you have a morning or lunch-time flight (as you want to get to the airport three hours ahead of time to account for customs and security lines and getting through the big airports). You’ll be so glad you did a third night. There are so many excellent museums in both these cities plus other cool sites, restaurants galore and historic/scenic boat rides to enjoy.

In London, you’ve got to do a West End musical or catch a play at Shakespeare’s The Globe one of those nights. Then you’ve got the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, an afternoon tea and at least the British Museum, but also probably the National Gallery and the Science Museum (all of which are free!). And those are just the basics. In Amsterdam, you must do a canal ride, markets, Ann Frank’s house and the Van Gogh Museum, not to mention quirky things like the cat museum too. Again, just the basics.

11 nights & Four Countries

Whew! What a trip. You’ve just gone to four countries (and if you’ve opted for Amsterdam as your final destination, you’ve seen five, in that you’ll pass through Belgium on your way to The Netherlands). If you go for two nights in Milan, one in Zermatt, two in Geneva, three in Paris and three in Amsterdam/London… that’s 11 nights/12 days (not counting your overnight transatlantic flight over to Europe, of course). I’d add a few more nights on, if at all possible, and make it a nice even 14 days for a really great trip with quite a bit of traveling around but not so much that you skip the real flavor of a place. If you go for 14, and want to keep racking up countries visited, you could add those one of those in Brussels, Belgium, as it is right on the Eurostar route. Spend that other extra night in Milan. You’re gonna have a great time! Bon voyage!