Basel to Lake Como

Generally on trains you haul luggage yourself, from start to finish.

You bring your luggage with you as you travel. So you carry it onto the train and store it your self on the train. When you change trains, you gather your luggage just before the train arrives at your transfer point, and carry it off as you exit the train. Then carry it with you to your new platform (if necessary) then carry it to the next train as before.

Swiss trains do have a luggage forwarding service, but it costs and it may take a day or two for your luggage to catch up to you. Does not appear that the service is available in Italy.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/before-your-journey/luggage/luggage.html

Does not appear that the service is available in Italy.

But, lake Como is not that far from the border. The south eastern tip of the lake is within walking distance from Switzerland. So depending on where the OP is staying, sending the luggage to Chiasso can be an option.

Although I have to admit that it sounds a lot easier to just bring it on the train.

If this is your first river cruise you will likely make the same mistake most of us do and over pack - especially on dressy clothing. Try to resist the urge to bring everything you think you might need. Plan a wardrobe that is mid way between jeans/t-shirts and sport coat/tie/dress. That is - comfortable enough for daily sight seeing but nice enough for dinner most nights. We've taken 4 cruises and another scheduled for 2022 so have done a lot of river cruise packing.

Bottom line, to make your luggage easier to handle bring less and lighter luggage.

are you doing the train trip all in one day, or spreading it out so you can take scenic trains through Switzerland?

If you are going straight through you won't need many changes. Basel to Zürich, then Zürich to Como, then a boat. Just the one train change.

What did you have in mind?

Thank you for all the great info. We have researched all river cruise lines and the Uniworld was the only one that aligned with our date range plus.
Uniworld has been very accommodating and holding our reservation for more than a week without any deposit.

We don’t plan to take train from Basel to Lake Como in one day so we will make stops but have not finalized details. Definitely want to take the most scenic route which I believe is the Bernia Express (sp?) .

Will probably try and find an Airbnb in Varenna not Lake Como but want it to be down near/on water limiting the number of steps my mother would have to maneuver. I am thinking 3 days in the Lake Como area then take the train to Milan to fly home.

I know there are a lot of moving parts when traveling by train and I may enlist the help of a professional travel planner as our group of four includes my daughters (16 & 22) and my mother who is in her 80’s- she is in great health but moves slowly.
Thanks again for all the great info..

Professional travel planners are pretty clueless as far as European trains go. Fortunately, SBB, the Swiss rail company, has an excellent website that is easy to use, https://www.sbb.ch/en. You can get just about anywhere in Switzerland by train, including places cars can't go. Also, except for special tourist trains like the Bernina Express, reservations are not required or even necessary. Also, if you did miss a connection, there are a minimum of one train per hour on every line, so worst case you'd just have to cool your heels for an hour waiting for the next train. You'll find some pretty good advice on this site once you have an idea where in Switzerland you want to go.

Finally, pay particular heed to cj-traveler's advice re luggage. if you could each get by with a single air-line sized wheeled suitcase and a small back pack, life will be so much easier. Maybe take a little down time at your first Swiss destination to visit a laundromat. The girls can help grand ma with her bags.

Thank you and I will definitely check out their website and 100% agree- daughters will help grandma!!!!

A professional travel planner will be much more willing to help with the train (which pays little to no commission) if you also let them book the cruise (which pays a handsome commission.)

Highly suggest you enlist that help before putting money on the cruise.

And a good travel planner will be very savy about European trains.

...limiting the number of steps my mother would have to maneuver.

You may want to arrange a transfer or call a cab from/to your accommodation in Varenna and station, at least when catching your train to Milan? It's a downhill slope from the station to the waterfront but uphill going the opposite way. I day-tripped through there with two seniors a few years ago and one of them struggled a bit with the hill.

And apologies if you already know this but elevators in Italian hotels can be in short supply - lovely but old buildings, you know - so book carefully for mom so she isn't faced with a lot of stairs? :O)

So I failed to mention a very important detail-our river cruise is THIS July 2021!!!

It is on hold and I have not put a deposit down as I was still researching itinerary and COVID restrictions.

I keep getting conflicting information, but the consensus is that July 2021 Rhine River Cruise is highly unlikely.. due to lingering travel restrictions.

Is anyone traveling to Europe this summer?

Is anyone traveling to Europe this summer?

This thread might answer that question:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/covid19/back-to-europe-this-summer