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Best Route Combining Venice and Swiss Trains?

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My idea is to combine as much of the Swiss Scenic Railroad as possible with a few days in Venice. We've taken the Golden Pass, but otherwise... it all looks fantastic!

I'm thinking about the Glacier Express from Zermatt to the Bernina Express via Chur... which would take us into Italy... spending a few days in Venice.

Then maybe back up into Switzerland via the Gotthard Express which starts in Lugano and goes through Andermatt, to Lucerne -- which is only about 45 minutes from the Zurich airport.

We live in the Boston area, so have the option of a direct flight in and out of Zurich -- though open to open-jaw route if it's the best option. I can see that there's no direct or simple way to get from Zurich to Zermatt to start the Golden Pass, but as Switzerland is so small it may not be an issue...

Posted by
17418 posts

Actually, Zurich to Zermatt is very easy. Every two hours there is a train leaving the airport station that heads straight to Visp, where you change to the train to Zermatt. Total travel time is 3.5 hours.

In between those, there are other options on the route with 2 or more changes. Still not as complicated as getting to, say Mürren in the Berner Oberland, which has a minimum of 3-4 changes from the airport.

Take a look at the rail map on this page, with the scenic routes highlighted. You will see that it is pretty amazing that one can get from Zurich to Zermatt, on the other side of the Alps, in so little time, with only one train change on the way. That is due to a deep tunnel under the Alps ( shown as a dotted line on the map). But no worries, you will see plenty of scenery on your other train rides.

https://myswisstravelpass.com/Map2024_swissasap.pdf

From Tirano, you may want to head to Milan to catch the train to Venice, rather than riding the bus portion of the Bernina Express to Lugano. If you do this, make an overnight stop at Varenna on Lake Como, which is right on the way to Milan. You can then continue to Venice the next day, changing trains in Milan without an overnight there. Unless, of course, you want to see the beautiful Duomo and/or the Last Supper.

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