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Europe

Europe — Switzerland, France & Italy

Alpine cogwheels, Seine evenings, Venice without a road

Flight from India
9 hrs
Currency
EUR / CHF
Best months
Apr – Sep
Visa
Embassy visa

The place

This is the trip a Gujarati family saves for, and it deserves to be planned properly rather than compressed. The classic circuit — Switzerland, then Paris, then Venice, Florence and Rome — is ten to twelve nights, and every night you take out of it turns a holiday into a coach schedule.

Switzerland is the emotional centre of the trip for most Indian travellers, and it earns it: Interlaken between two lakes, the cogwheel railway to Jungfraujoch at 3,454 metres, and Lucerne with a wooden bridge from 1333. France is Paris and almost nothing else on a first visit. Italy is where the trip stops being scenery and starts being history — the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Uffizi, and Venice, a city with no roads at all.

April to September is the window. July and August bring European holidays and Indian school breaks together, so hotels are full and Rome is 33°C; May, June and September are noticeably better value and better weather. Budget the visa timeline before the flights — fifteen working days is the promise, and it is not always kept in peak season.

Best months

Best time to visit

The months in gold are when Europe — Switzerland, France & Italy is at its best — weather, crowds and price together.

  • January: high 6°C, low -1°C. Wet.
  • February: high 8°C, low 0°C. Wet.
  • March: high 12°C, low 3°C. Wet.
  • April: high 16°C, low 6°C. Wet. Recommended month to travel.
  • May: high 21°C, low 10°C. Wet. Recommended month to travel.
  • June: high 25°C, low 14°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • July: high 28°C, low 16°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • August: high 27°C, low 16°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • September: high 23°C, low 13°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • October: high 17°C, low 9°C. Wet.
  • November: high 11°C, low 4°C. Wet.
  • December: high 7°C, low 1°C. Wet.

Gold = best months to travelDroplets = how wet the month isHigh / low °C

Holiday Packages

Holidays here

See all
The Eiffel Tower seen straight down the Champ de Mars in ParisBest seller8N / 9D · Flights included

Classic Europe: Paris, Switzerland, Venice & Rome, 8 Nights

Paris 3N · Lucerne 2N · Venice 1N · Rome 2N

The first Europe most Gujarati families take, done without the shortcuts — three nights in Paris rather than two, Mt Titlis and a Lake Lucerne cruise, a full day inside Venice, and the Colosseum and Vatican Museums both booked in Rome. Eight Indian dinners included.

₹1,96,800 on Flamingo Travels

from₹1,72,431per personView details

*Indicative — final price confirmed on live availability.

Worth your days

What to do

  • The Rialto Bridge arching over the Grand Canal in Venice

    Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe

    Two and a half hours of cogwheel railway from Interlaken, the last seven kilometres inside a tunnel bored through the Eiger, ending at 3,454 metres with an ice palace and a glacier plateau. It is expensive and weather-dependent — check the summit webcam the night before and swap the day if the cloud is down.

  • Wooden chalets scattered across a green Swiss valley below the treeline

    Paris in two days: the tower, the river, the Louvre

    Book the Eiffel Tower summit lift weeks ahead or accept the second floor. The one-hour Bateaux Mouches at dusk is the cheapest good hour in Paris. At the Louvre, pick three rooms and leave; trying to see it all is how people end a day exhausted having looked at nothing.

  • A snow-covered Alpine peak sharp against a deep blue sky

    Venice: vaporetto 1, and Murano at the furnace

    Take the number 1 waterbus down the Grand Canal instead of a gondola, sit at the open stern, and you get forty minutes of palace facades for the price of a bus ticket. Murano glass is worth buying at a working furnace with a certificate — the pieces sold near San Marco are mostly imported.

  • Rome: the Colosseum and the Vatican, on separate days

    Both need timed tickets bought online and both take half a day properly. The Vatican Museums are three hours before you even reach the Sistine Chapel — go on the first entry or on a Friday evening opening. St Peter dome climb is 551 steps and worth every one of them.

  • Lucerne, Mount Titlis and the lake steamer

    Titlis has the rotating cable car and a glacier cave, and is the easier alternative when Jungfrau is closed. In Lucerne itself, the Chapel Bridge and a lake steamer to Weggis cost very little and are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass, which also covers the boats and most museums.

  • Disneyland Paris, if the children are the reason you came

    Forty minutes on the RER A from central Paris, and a full day rather than a half. Two parks share the entrance — the main park is the one worth the ticket for under-tens. Book the date-specific ticket; the flexible one costs more and still needs a reservation in peak weeks.

Indicative

What it costs

Spending money on the ground, per person per day — food, local transport and entry tickets outside your package.

Shoestring

₹3,500

a day, per person

Street food, public transport, one paid sight

Comfort

₹8,000

a day, per person

Sit-down meals, taxis, a tour or two

Luxury

₹22,000

a day, per person

Fine dining, private car, premium experiences

Visa

Visa snapshot

Visa type
Embassy visa
Fee
₹10,500
Processing
15 working days
Stay up to
90 days
Entry
Multiple
Documents you need
8 items
The Schengen short-stay fee is EUR 90 for an adult and EUR 45 for a child aged six to eleven, plus the VFS service charge; the INR figure here is the two added together at a typical rate and moves with the euro. Indians are now issued long-validity multiple-entry visas more readily under the cascade rules, but the 90-days-in-any-180 limit still governs the stay. The EU Entry/Exit System takes fingerprints and a facial scan on first crossing, so allow extra time at the border, and ETIAS is expected to follow — we confirm the current position before every departure.
Full visa detail

Practicalities

Know before you go

What to eat

Vegetarian or Jain? Safe picks here: Italy is the easy country, France is the hard one, Switzerland: rösti, fondue and the mountain lunch, Gelato, macarons and hot chocolate, Indian food, and how Gujarati groups actually eat.
  • Italy is the easy countryVegetarian

    Pizza margherita, pasta al pomodoro, risotto ai funghi, caprese — a vegetarian eats extremely well in Italy. Two things to check: dried pasta is egg-free but fresh pasta usually is not, and traditional Parmigiano is made with animal rennet, so ask for a vegetarian hard cheese if that matters.

  • France is the hard oneVegetarian

    Butter, cream and meat stock run through French cooking, and a salad often arrives with lardons. Reliable vegetarian ground: a plain crêpe or a galette with cheese and mushroom, ratatouille, onion soup made without beef stock, and the boulangerie counter. Croissants are butter, not lard, and are safe.

  • Switzerland: rösti, fondue and the mountain lunchVegetarian

    Rösti is grated potato fried in butter and is vegetarian by default. Cheese fondue usually contains kirsch and occasionally a meat stock cube, so ask. Swiss mountain restaurants are extremely expensive — a packed lunch from a Coop or Migros supermarket is what experienced travellers do.

  • Gelato, macarons and hot chocolateVegetarian

    Real gelato is stored in covered steel tins, not piled into coloured mountains — that is the tourist tell. Fruit sorbets are dairy-free. Macarons are egg white and almond, so vegetarian but not vegan, and gelatin can appear in the fillings.

  • Indian food, and how Gujarati groups actually eatJain friendly

    Interlaken, Paris La Chapelle, Milan and Rome all have Indian restaurants, but they are expensive and inconsistent. The honest answer for a Jain or strict vegetarian group is the arrangement the trade already uses: an Indian cook travelling with the coach and cooking at the hotel, which we can build into the package. Say so at the time of booking, not at the airport.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

What to bring home

  • Swiss watches and Victorinox knives — knives go in checked baggage, never in the cabin
  • Lindt, Läderach and Sprüngli chocolate; buy at a Coop rather than at the airport
  • Paris: perfume and cosmetics at Galeries Lafayette, with the tourist discount card from the welcome desk
  • Murano glass from a certified furnace on the island, with the shipping arranged there
  • Florence leather at the San Lorenzo market, and paper marbling from the old binderies
  • Claim the VAT refund at the last EU airport before you fly home — allow an extra hour and keep goods unused

Getting around

Switzerland runs on the Swiss Travel Pass, which covers trains, boats, city trams and most museums and gives a discount on the mountain railways — for a four-day Swiss leg it usually pays for itself. Between countries, the TGV and Frecciarossa are faster than flying once you count airport time, but seats are reserved and cheap fares vanish early. Inside cities, Paris Navigo, Rome ATAC and the Venice vaporetto day pass are the sensible buys. One practical warning: European trains have no porters and platform changes are announced late, so pack what each traveller can lift alone.

Good to know

  • Pickpocketing is not a risk here, it is a near-certainty if you are careless. The hotspots are specific: Paris Metro line 1 and Gare du Nord, Rome Termini and the number 64 bus to the Vatican, and the Venice vaporetto at San Marco. Cross-body bag, zipped, worn in front, and nothing in a back pocket.
  • The distraction teams work in pairs — a friendship bracelet tied on your wrist outside Sacré-Coeur, a clipboard petition at the Colosseum, a dropped ring on the pavement. The moment someone touches you or hands you something, put a hand on your bag.
  • Travel insurance covering EUR 30,000 of medical care is a legal condition of the Schengen visa, not an upsell, and the policy must cover every night of the trip. Buy it before the appointment, because the consulate checks it.
  • The EU Entry/Exit System registers fingerprints and a facial image at the first Schengen border crossing. Queues at Zurich, Paris and Rome have been long while it beds in — allow two hours on a first entry and be careful with tight onward connections.
  • Mountain excursions are weather-dependent and the tickets are timed. Jungfraujoch, Titlis and Schilthorn all close for wind and cloud, and a closed summit is refunded but not rescheduled — keep a spare day in the Swiss leg.
  • In Italy a coperto or service charge is added per person, and sitting at a table in a piazza costs more than standing at the bar. Tap water is safe everywhere on this circuit, including from the public fountains in Rome.

Travel Guide

Read the full travel guide

Month-by-month weather, money, plugs, food, shopping and the small things nobody tells you.

Europe — Switzerland, France & Italy travel guide