ITALY AND SWITZERLAND BY TRAIN

Hello Ritu! This is a beautiful area and you will have a nice trip. I have 2 suggestions for routes for you: 1) From MIlan (Milano Centrale station) take the train to Verenna on Lake Como. 1 hour travel time. This is a pretty little village on the lake. Spend 2 or 3 nights here. You have several options to get to Switzerland. The one I suggest is to meet the main train going between Milan and Zurich at either Como town or Lugano. You can get to Como by ferry from Varenna. To get to Lugano, you take a ferry across to Menaggio and then bus to Lugano. You will not go all the way to Zurich on that train. Get off at Arth-Goldau and transfer there for a train to Lucerne, a beautiful small city on a lake with mountains in the view. Spend the night there. The next day take the train to Interlaken Ost and transfer to Lauterbrunnen. Spend 2 or 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen or in one of the little villages above the valley (Wengen or Muerren). Then return to Interlaken Ost and follow the route to Zermatt: go west to Speiz, Brig, Visp and then Zermatt. You have 2 nights left for Zermatt. 2) A shorter trip would be to go to Stresa on Lago Maggiore instead of Varenna. spend 2 nights there. Then continue north to Brig and transfer to the train to Zermatt, 2 nights. From Zermatt, you just reverse what I suggested above (go to Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights, then Lucerne, then return to Milan). Hope this is helpful!

Ritu, did you see this answer? Anyone else want to suggest other options?

First, how much time do you really have in Milan? Does the two days include the day you arrive by plane? If yes, you don't have much time. Hopefully, you can spent one night in a wonderful lake town like Varenna. Sasha also suggested Como, Menaggio and Lugano. All are also nice choices. Lugano will get you closer to your pathway into Switzerland. My suggestion is Varenna. It's also known as Varenna-Esino if you look it up on Trenitalia. After you clear Immigration and walk outside, you are two hours away from Varenna. Your journey will most likely take you to Milano Centrale where you will change trains for the remainder of the journey to Varenna. This is a beautiful area on Lake Como. When you are ready to leave Lake Como, the most expedient way to to return to Milano Centrale. You can go west by ferry and bus to Lugano but you will get higher-speed trains once you get to Milan. From Milano Centrale, I would suggest heading right for Zermatt since that is on your list. Zermatt is near the southern border of Switzerland so this could be first. I suggest spending 2 nights there. The reason is that you will most likely arrive in the afternoon. The Matterhorn is often most visible in the morning - weather permitting. It often clouds up in the afternoon. You may need that extra day to see the best of the area. The morning after the second night, I suggest that you head for Muerren. Muerren sits at 5,200' (1,585m). It's everything you will want to see in a Swiss village. No tourist cars permitted. The views are breathtaking. Here's a LINK to a picture of one of the main streets in Muerren. I would suggest spending at least 3 nights there and vistiing other towns and villages in the area (Gimmlewald and Wengen for sure and then possibly the two mountain tops - Schilthorn and Jungfrau.

After the Berner Oberland, I would suggest going back out to the Interlaken Ost train station and taking the train to Lucerne. I suggest 3 nights there. Get to nearby Rigi and take the train to the top of Mt. Rigi. Take a boat trip on Lake Lucerne. Lots to see from this area. For more suggestions, here is a LINK to a list of the top 10 places to visit in Switzerland. There's a lot to see.

Larry, actually suggested they spend 2 nights in Varenna. Como, Menaggio, and Lugano were just suggestions for possible routes from Varenna to Switzerland. They don't have to return to Milan to catch the train; they can go by ferry or ferry + bus and meet it at Como or Lugano. I wasn't suggesting they stay in those places, just pick up the train there.

I know about the ferry and bus to Lugano but it's just as fast to go back through Milan (I checked). I did concede above that Lugano will place them closer to their pathway to Switzerland but its almost 3hrs from Lugano to Domodossola via Locarno. It's also 3hrs from Varenna to Domodossola via Milan. No big difference in travel time.

The Lugano suggestion was for going the other way round---anti-clockwise, with Luzern first (Lugano is pretty close there) and Zermatt last. But if they are heading to Zermatt first then yes, Lugano makes no sense; they should just return to Milan by train and head to Zermatt that way.

If one is already at Varenna or Lecco or else on the lake Como, a good proposition is to reach Switzerland via the Bernina Exress, taking a train to Tirano and connecting there to St. Moritz/Chur and from Chur anywhere else in Switzerland west of it.