Hi. I have just discovered it is possible to do the Bernina Express starting from Milan, which is advertised as an expdia on a travel website - but I don't have enough time to do the whole route and then return. So, I checked on a train website and saw that starting at Milan Centrale, you can take a train to Arth-Goldau in Switzerland. For this trip, I have been to Switzerland myself more than once so I have done the whole Bernina Express and much more in the past - but I will be hosting a college student from India and I think it would be nice to just go into Switzerland for a few hours and come back, if we would see enough good scenery on a short journey like this to be worthwhile. We will be at a conference in Italy (in March, so it will be chilly) and will do a few things in Milan and also in Verona, where the conference is, and we don't have a whole day even to spend in Switzerland. But the trip to Arth-Goldau is just under 3 hours each way and would be doable - but would we be seeing beautiful mountain scenery? We would not have time to get out and do things, but does anyone know if the scenery on that stretch is great to see? I don't think this student has ever seen mountains and it would be nice to show her the Alps. Thanks very much for any advice on this. I thought it might be relaxing and pleasant, but ... if anyone has done this or similar route, it would be helpful to get any opinions. I also noticed it would be easy to take a train to Lugano, but because it will be chilly, I'm not looking to do anything outdoors, just want to know about good scenery where we can see things from the train on a fairly short trip, probably 3 hours each way is the most we could manage and shorter is okay too, just to see mountains and nature.
Posted by
Chicago
7839 posts
look at youtube to get an idea to compare with opinions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TFqQhABa4
It looks pretty good but I would not want to go back to Milan
Posted by
Green Bay
20089 posts
You need to specify a route via Goeschenen, otherwise, you will be viewing the Alps from underneath them in the 35 mile long Gotthard Base Tunnel. That makes it a 4 hour journey if you leave Milano Centrale at 8:10 am.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thank you. Beautiful video.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thanks for info about route via Goeschenen - I would not have known. Will keep that in mind.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32752 posts
I wouldn't expect Lugano to be cold.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Martha, yes, you can do Milan to Arth Goldau as a day trip from Milan. It would be out and back by the same route, and you need to specify "via Göschenen" to get routed on the old line via the shorter original Gotthard tunnel. Note the spelling is NOT Goschenen. If you haven't got a ö on your keyboard type: Goeschenen
You can look up trains on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en/
I would say "why choose Arth-Goldau"? It is an arbitary location on the route over the Alps, not much there. You could turn around at an earlier or a later location.
If you do decide to do this, I would turn around at Flüelen, which is an earlier stop, but is on a lake and you could stop for lunch there.
Personally I would choose a different route, and make a circular trip for your students first view of mountains.
Milan --> Domodossola This route goes along the side of Lake Maggiore
Domodossola --> via "Centovalli" route to Locarno.
Back from Locarno to Milan via Lugano.
That is triangular, you get to see mountains and lakes, and you are not repeating yourself.
Weather-wise, I would say March is starting to get warm
Plan B: just go Milan - Lugano and back. You get to see mountains and lakes, and Lugano is a nice (if expensive) town.
On the way there, stop off at Capolago, which is the connection point for the train up Monte Generoso, so you can go to the top of a real mountain.
See website here: https://www.montegeneroso.ch/en
You can map out all these routes on the SBB map here: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1529 posts
The idea of Lugano and Monte Generoso is not a bad one, the trip is short and from the top of Monte Generoso you can see a good deal on a clear day.
The Lugano area has lakes and is quite scenic even by train, the south ramp of the old Gotthard line is moderately scenic (there is a place where you can see, on the left of the train traveling upwards, two stretches of railway you have already covered). The new line is completely in tunnel after Biasca so not scenic at all.
An idea of me could be train to Göschenen, then the short railway in a narrow gorge to Andermatt. Little to do in Andermatt, but it is completely surrounded by tall mountains and quite scenic in itself. A following trip by train up to the Oberalp pass would be Bernina-grade in scenery, but you probably have to trace back and I am not sure it can be done in a single day.
Another railway idea: Milan - Brig - Andermatt - Göschenen - Milan. We are talking about 7 or 8 hours on train, but the Brig - Göschenen section should be very fine (but for the Furka tunnel stretch).
When I had a friend of mine from the south of Italy in Milan and I wanted to show some real mountains we had a car, so I drove Milan - Bellinzona - Biasca - Lukmanier pass - Disentis; we had lunch in Disentis and back to MXP where he had his flight back. A glorious day but not possible with public transportation.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Iachera, and Chris F, thank you to both of you for these good suggestions. I waited to reply again to think about them and do some follow up - several many beautiful choices that I had not thought about before, thank you. I've looked at maps and you tube videos, and timetables, and it's hard to choose. I have not yet made a decision yet; it's still 3 months before my travel, so I don't have to decide right away. I may check back later on if I have more questions about these various options.
Nigel, thanks for your comment - I did look up temperatures for March in northern Italy, around Milan and Verona where I will be most of our time, and it may be in the 50's F during the day, maybe, so there it may be 11 - 16 C, which is not truly cold, but I was thinking chilly for someone used to tropical temperatures in India - and I get cold easily also - and yes, Lugano may actually be a bit warmer though I don't think truly warm in March? But I haven't been to Lugano - probably I should check a 10 day weather forecast before I go to see what temperatures are truly expected. Not that the temperature would keep me from the train travel, only with temps in that possible range, we might not be doing much outdoors, but just enjoying scenery from the train windows, that's all - I just looked and saw that for March, temps in Lugano are between 5 to 13 C, or 41-55 F, but Lugano, along with Locarno, are the warmest cities in Switzerland, which I'm sure you were thinking about, and I just read that there is barely any wind there during the cold months, so that would make it feel warmer. It won't matter if we stay on the train, but if we wanted to walk about some, that would be a consideration, Lugano may be a bit warmer than some other options.
Now that I'm seeing all these possibilities, I'll have to come back another time when I have more time to see more, and I'm sorry we won't have more time, but there certainly are some good options for a day trip.