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Thanks for the feedback everyone. We decided that one of our countries will be Switzerland because the cities look to be very nice, and we are big fans of hiking so perhaps we can find a national park in the Alps to do some outdoors stuff in. For those who have been to Switzerland, would you recommend Bern, Geneva, or Zurich? Or some other city? We will probably take a day trip to Liechtenstein since it doesn't seem to be too far.
Now, we need another country. The countries within 7 hours of Switzerland are France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, and Czech Republic. I know I said I was going to do study abroad in Czech Republic and visit Austria and Slovakia, so I didn't want to go to those countries during my summer trip, but that's not set in stone yet. And besides, it might be good to visit them before I go and live there for 4 months. So don't hesitate to suggest them.
Is Austria too similar to Switzerland? Also, if Google Maps said that it's 5 hours driving distance between two cities, how does that compare to train times?
We also think it might be cool to do outdoors mountains in Switzerland and then do a beach resort for the 2nd half of the trip, so like 2 types of vacations in one. What beach cities would you recommend? Is Monaco/Nice super expensive?
There's also the option of Ryanair, Germanwings, and other cheap airlines.
It might be cheaper for you to travel by train... petrol prices are €1.60+ per liter.
There's a small mountain town called Lauterbrunnen not too far from Interlaken.
We had great views of Jungfrau and took some wonderful hikes.
I would do Italy and Switzerland....
the contrast between the organization of Switzerland and the dis-organisation of Italy will amuse you !! Maybe Milan ?? Maybe Portifino for a beach bit.... ??
Which Swiss City is a personal thing... google them and see what appeals... you can drive between them easily...
As someone else said Switzerland in expensive... but comparatively Italy is cheap....
Yeah, I am hearing that Switzerland is very expensive, so it's not my top choice anymore. Since people keep pointing out here and other threads I've read about how costly Switzerland is, it makes me think that it's a lot more expensive than other European countries.
Given that you have to be able to drive from one place to another. I'd rather visit Ireland, but driving to any other country is out of the question (except Northern Ireland) as they are on an island. At least with England, you have two other countries to pick from (Wales).
The other thing is not having to worry about being bilingual.
Having seen your answer--I'd pick Germany as the other country. I don't speak that much German (even though America almost adopted German as a national language). I just feel that they are closer in character to the Swiss.
Given that you have to be able to drive from one place to another. I'd rather visit Ireland, but driving to any other country is out of the question (except Northern Ireland) as they are on an island. At least with England, you have two other countries to pick from (Wales).
You can bring your car from Ireland to England. Lots of ferries to choose from. Park up on the ferry, drive off when you reach the other side. Very common.
You could visit Barcelona in Spain and Provence in France. Both on the Mediterranean coast.
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