Hi all - we're going to head south for the long weekend next week. Plan is to head off on Friday evening, and back Monday evening. So have 3 full days.
What we know:
1) The traffic is going to be heavy. Not much we can do about it, earliest we can leave is prob 4 or 5pm
2) People are saying to stay away from the Gotthard tunnel, and take the scenic route instead. Fine by us, sounds nice to go the long way
3) Accomodation is going to be hard to get - so we're bringing a tent as a backup plan
4) We spent 1 day in Lugano before, and have gotten the train from Milan to Zurich in the past, but thats all we've seen of it.
What we're looking for:
1) Scenery - would love to see some more of the amazing Swiss countryside, the alps, some lakes etc
2) Sun be nice to head a little bit further south and maybe have a day chilling in the sun at a lake
We're happy to mix it up in campsites or in cheaper accomodation as we go. So what we're looking for is your tips on
.... where should we go?
.... what should we see?
.... where should we stay? (recommendations for campsites even be great!)
Are sort of thinking of something like ... start in Zurich. ... work way through alps .... down towards locarno, or maybe even further south
Why not make the journey part of your Holiday. Head up to St Moritz via the Julier Pass and stop overnight in St Moritz. Head down to Lugan via lake como on the Majola pass the next morning, hub the western side of the lake then veer left at Menaggio to Lugano. Beautiful breathtaking scenery and amazing roads to drive.
In Ticino I would definetely visit the Valle Verzasca, it is difficult to explain how beautiful this valley is. It is not very well signposted so I would look for Frasco on the Map, the road to Frasco takes you through the best bits of the valley, the Vezasca dam, stop off at Corrippo it is well worth the 20 min walk uphill you can also go for a swim in the river at lots of spots along the way.
Monte Lema will give you amazing panoramic views if the weather is good
Interesting... so something like Zurich - St Moritz (via Davos?) - then down south towards Lugano, then come back up via Gotthard pass etc Via Luzern to Zurich...
so 1 night in St Moritz, 2 down in Ticino... think looking at prob total of 600km drive, which is ok I think, Prob talking 2-3 hours a day I guess....
1st night, looking for somewhere near Chur... is Chur as good as anywhere? Collecting car at 6pm in Zurich, so sort of want to be somewhere say for 8pm.
Sat - drive down and settle in Locarno. Is Locarno as nice as anywhere here, or are there other options. We're probably going to be camping
Sun - we will prob start to make our way north again, this time heading towards the Gotthardpass side. Where would you stay if you were us, options are still in Locarno, or somewhere between here and either side of the Gotthard pass heading for say Luzern.
So 1st night - within say 30 mins of Chur
2nd night - say near Locarno
3rd night - another option between Locarno and Luzern