tirano to cinque terra

One overnight the whole way? I would suggest Varenna on Lake Como, a beautiful small town on the lake and right on the train route between Tirsno and Milan. Very good connections from there to Cinque Terre: depart Varenna at 10:37 to Milan, catch the IC train departing at 12:10 that goes to Monterosso with no further changes. However, getting all the way to Varenna the first day would be a challenge, and puts the Bernina Express at the end of a long travel day where you might not enjoy it as much. Could you possibly add a night and spend it at Chur to break up the trip better? If not, then Tirano probably makes a better overnight, but that still leaves the Bernina Express to the end of your day. This would add 1.5 hours to your travel to Cinque Terre the following day. Or, with just one night, and focusing on the Bernina Express, you could spend your night in a mountain village on the route ( Pontresina or Samedan) and start out with the trip through the Alps the next morning. This makes for a long day getting to Cinque Terre.

thanks, lola. it sounds like the most relaxing visit would require spending 2 nights travelling from zurich to cinque terra. while that would require giving up a day somewhere in italy. it might be worth considering. thanks again for your help.

we are convinced that spending 2 nights en route is the way to go but we are not terribly excited about chur. as we enjoy smaller towns, we are thinking samedan or pontresina for our first night and one of 2 possibilities for our second night. varenna, as lola suggests or perhaps the bus section of the BE to lugano. Is zurich to pontressina on the first day a reasonable option? Any ideas about connections between lugano and milano?