Hello,
I will be staying at Lake Baveno area in July 2020. What will be the easiest way to do a day trip to Switzerland, or is it not possible? I have looked through a lot of information and am more confused than before!
Thank you all for any inputs/insights.
Sanjukta
Sap, I can't find a Lake Baveno. There is a town of Baveno on Lake Maggiore. I guess that is where you mean.
What method of transport do you want to use? Car, train, boat?
And to where in Switzerland? It is a whole country!
The good news is that Baveno (the town) is on one of the two main rail lines from Milan north to Switzerland, so trains are an option.
Possibilities are:
1) The far end of Lake Maggiore is in Switzerland. You could take a lake boat to the other end of the lake, for example to Locarno.
Boat company website here: https://www.navigazionelaghi.it/
You could spend the whole day in Locarno, or take a local train to Bellinzona, a World Heritage site with THREE castles.
2) Train north to Domodossola, then the Domodossola-Locarno railway, a scenic route.
Website: http://www.centovalli.ch/en/railway/centovalli-railway/
3) Train north, through the Simplon tunnel, to Brig. 2 hours, limited trains.
Look up times on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
Any further into Switzerland would take too, long for a day trip.
The Lake at Baveno is called Lago Maggiore and if you look with the right name you have a better chance to find informations. The north tip of the lake is in Swiss territory and Ascona and Locarno face the lake. You can get there by following by car the west coast of the lake. There is a railway on the east coast but not easy to reach from Baveno. Or there could be ferry services (now, with the winter timetable, there aren't, but they are more likely in summer - look for "Navigazione Lago Maggiore" on Google).
Another way to get into Switzerland is taking the railway north direction Domodossola. At Domodossola you can change to the scenic (but slow) Centovalli railway to Locarno. Or you can go north through the Simplon tunnel to Brig. Brig is the gateway to the Furka railway north and to the Zermatt railway south. By now, the day trip would be getting long (but very scenic) and has to be planned with care on railway timetables.
Do you mean from the town of Baveno on Lake Maggiore?
One option would be to take a regional train to Domodossala (still in Italy), then the very picturesque Centovalli train trip to Locarno (Switzerland). On weekdays there's a 9:19 AM departure from Baveno that would get you to Locarno at 12:22 PM. (There's also a 7:45 AM departure arriving at 10:22 AM.) There are returns at 3:47 PM and 5:44 PM.
I think there's also bus service to Locarno, but that Centovalli train line is special. I'd be inclined to use the train in one direction and the bus in the other, for different scenery.
If you prefer to go to Lugano (which I prefer to Locarno but doesn't allow you to use the Centovalli train), the train is again possible. The first good routing departs at 10:32 AM and arrives at 12:35 PM. The returns take a bit longer.
You can explore rail schedules on the user-friendly Deutsche Bahn website, though it will not show you fares.
Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions, truly appreciate it! This is a special trip for myself and my daughter and I want to want it as close to perfect as possible. I will explore all the suggestions provided.
Thanks you all again.
Sanjukta
