Please sign in to post.

looking for SNOW

Hi there, we are travelling to Italy in 5 days time. We will be in Varenna for a few days in the 1st week of April. We are from sunny South Africa and in the area we stay we have sunshine 80% of the year. The coldest it ever gets is around 15 degrees celcius. We will LOVE to take a day trip and see SNOW...what is the closest spot to Lake Como/Varenna area that we can reach by train for a snowy day trip? ( I do realize december will be a better time of the year to see snow but this is all we have to work with) THANK YOU

Posted by
21274 posts

If you take the train to Tirano, then change to a Swiss train over the Bernina Pass to St Moritz, pretty much guarantee you will see snow. It was a big snow year in the Alps.

Posted by
21274 posts

There are no border controls. It is all in Schengen treaty zone. I am not an expert, but I don't think it is a problem.
Why don't you post it as a question on the Switzerland forum. Chris will pick it up. He lives in Basel, so some expertise there.

Edit - Otherwise, you could take the train to Chiavenna, then a bus in the direction of St Moritz. You could get off at the top of the Maloja Pass, just before the Swiss border. Should be plenty of snow. Buses back are fairly frequent.

Posted by
1759 posts

Sam, the Swiss border is not at Maloja pass, but at Castasegna, much lower. Maloja pass is well into Switzerland. A place within Italy to look for snow could be Madesimo, north of Lake Como. I guess it can be reached by train up to Chiavenna and then by bus (please check).

(The reason the border is at Castasegna is because there is where the religious border was. South of Castasegna the valley was Catholic, up of Castasegna was - sparsely - populated with Italian speakers mostly descending from Protestants fleeing persecution. There was a time when most of the Protestant literature in Italian language was printed in Soglio or Vicosoprano).

Posted by
21274 posts

Serves me right for not having a detailed map in front of me when I posted. I am still thinking there is no problem traveling to Switzerland even if your visa is for Italy. Can anyone else comment?

I have seen many posts from travellers coming from India who will be traveling throughout Europe with just a visa for their point of entry.

Posted by
8889 posts

eljohtheron, you don't have an Italian visa, you have a Schengen Area visa. It will have been issued by the Italian embassy or consulate, you get it from the first Schengen Area country you enter, but it is valid for all Schengen Area countries.
it will look like this (photo): https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/visa-policy/docs/read_visa_sticker.jpg
and at the top it will say "valid for: Schengen Countries", but in Italian.

As a practical matter, there are no passport checks between Schengen countries. So there is nothing to stop you crossing into other Schengen countries. Therefore they have to issue visas to foreigners which are valid for the whole of the Schengen Area. You can travel to Portugal or Norway or anywhere in between on that visa. See map here: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/schengen_map.jpg

I agree from Varenna the best way to see SNOW is to take a train to Tirano, then the Bernina Pass route to St Moritz, and back again.
See video here, it was taken in June, April will have more snow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW9oET8CX5s

If you want to buy anything you will need some Swiss Franks. And Switzerland is a lot more expensive than Italy.