Interlaken Switzerland to Venice

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Interlaken+to+Venice&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Hopefully the above Search has some helpful info regarding train routes.

Hopefully you know that Interlaken is a transit center, not a charming Swiss town. I'd recommend staying in Wengen or Murren instead.

Have a great trip!

Truthfully I'm a bit overwhelmed with the search info. :). Usually I'm decisive... but I think it is the train / time / scenic factors that are bogging me down here.

I do know Interlaken is a base / train station city. We're actually staying here https://www.parkhotel-gunten.swiss/ in Gunten. But I'll take a look at Wengen and Murren. Let me know if you have any hotels you'd recommend there.

Thanks very much for the suggestions!

Gunten is not Interlaken. And while that hotel is very nice, it is a suboptimal base if you want to explore the area. You will become very familiar with the Thun - Gunten - Interlaken bus...

From there the obvious route to Venice does not pass via Lake Como. The route would be Gunten (bus) Thun - Milano - Venice. See for yourself: You can actually enter "Gunten, Parkhotel" as origin in the SBB planner, and Venice as destination.

So do add a night to your stay in Gunten (or stay somewhere more convenient from a point of view of logistics). You want to spend enough time here. The weather is extremely variable and with only two days here you may end up not having an opportunity to see anything.

Note also that getting day passes for your arrival/departure days may not be the cheapest option. You can just book "Paris - Gunten Parkhotel on www.sbb.ch, and see what the cheapest option is there. Same for Gunten Parkhotel - Venice.

I'm so glad I asked this question! We definitely don't want to be in full transport mode every day.

I think we'll change our hotel to Murren or Wengen (and will do more research to find the place best for us). But assuming that is the case...

Which would you do?
Paris / Murren / Como / Venice (Cut Paris short = one day)
Paris / Murren / Venice (Skip Como = one day)

We really want to go to Como... but also don't want to be the idiots who try to do too much (or who don't understand reasonable transportation routes).

Thanks!

I guess it is a matter of how much time you want to spend in Como. Your fastest route from Muerren to Venice will take you through Como S. Giovanni station in the city of Como, a little more than half way on a 9 1/2 to 10 1/2 hour journey. So stopping for a day or to is possible.

The fastest route from the Berner Oberland to Venice is via Spiez, and does not pass through Como. If you want to break in Como you can, but it is a detour.

For the op’s travel date, October 2, SBB is showing only routes from Mürren to Milano Centrale via Zurich or Luzern and the Gotthard Basistunnel, not via Spiez. 6 hours 11 minutes to 6 hours 44 minutes to Milan, depending on the number of changes enroute. But all routes pass through Como San Giovanni.

So they could break up the journey by leaving the train at Como and taking the ferry up the lake as Sam suggests. Or they could leave at Lugano and take the local bus to Menaggio, directly across the lake from Varenna. Either way it is not much of a detour, and avoids that very long and unappealing 10-hour day on the train.

It would be nice to spend 2 nights at Varenna (or Menaggio) rather than one. Then on departure they take the train one hour from Varenna to Milano Centrale and catch the train to Venice. Total journey time that day 4 hours, and they could be in Venice by 13:00.

This is perfect info - thanks everyone so much!

I think we will cut Paris short a day and make a stop in Como. Just the mention of a 10 hour train ride was enough to sway me there. :)

Appreciate you all taking the time! Thanks again!