Hi,
We are planning a Italy-Switzerland trip that starts with Rome->Florence->Venice.
We are going to leave Venice on August 6th or 7th and we fly home from Zurich on Aug 12.
I’d like to spend most of our time in Switzerland in the mountains, but I’m not sure the best way to get there from Venice to maximize our time there.
Thanks for any insights you might have!
The fastest way to the Berner Oberland is probably to fly from Venice to Zurich. I hate mid-trip flights, so I'd be exploring other options. Two scenic rail trips I'm aware of that connect Italy and Switzerland are the Bernina Express and the Centovalli line. Both would begin with a fast train from Venice to Milan.
For the Bernina Express you'd then need to head back east on a regional train to Tirano; that's the terminus of the Bernina Express, which is sometimes called Europe's most beautiful train ride. It ends in Chur (Switzerland).
For the Centovalli line you'd continue westward from Milan to the small town of Domodossola, which is west of Lake Maggiore. There you'd pick up the Centovalli train to Locarno (Switzerland). That's a sort of back-of-beyond trip.
Both of those trips would be scenic but long, significantly cutting into the time you have in the Berner Oberland (if that's your preferred Alpine destination). A faster route--again beginning with a fast train to Milan--would route you from Milan through Brig and Spiez; it looks like that would take at least 8-1/2 hours. I believe we have some Swiss-rail experts who can tell you how you might tweak that routing to avoid excessive time traveling through tunnels (at the expense of more time on the trains, naturally).
I believe any train route is going to involve multiple train changes, just so you know.
Swiss rail website: https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html
A quick search on sbb.ch reveals that Venice to Thun is 5:45 by train at the fastest with one change in Brig. So I don't think you will save that much (if any) time by flying since the train from Zürich airport to the Oberland also will take a while. Depending on where in the Oberland you want to go, the train trip might be a bit shorter or a bit longer.
It could be even a little faster, instead of changing in Thun and backtracking the place I would change would be Spiez. Saves about 20 minutes plus dwell time.
Zurich Airport to Spiez is just under 2 hours.
If the destination is Lauterbrunnen, Spiez to Lauterbrunnen is about 50 minutes via Interlaken Ost.
True, Spiez is a better option. But if your plan is to get to "the mountains" and not necessarily Berner Oberland there are other good options as well.
Well, 99% of the people on this site say "Berner Oberland" when they mean Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Muerren.
And my SBB site says it is 6 hours and 45 minutes from Venice SL to Thun with the single change connection at Brig. Nonetheless, flying to Zurich, it will take at least 5 hours when you factor travel time to Venice airport to check in at least 1 hour before flight time and deplaning and collecting luggage and walking to the train station waiting for the next train to Thun (or beyond). Add in all the hassles with flying, the train looks better and better.
The following is not the fastest, but we did it this way and found it scenic, convenient and fun:
1. Venice to Milan by any train you choose.
2. Milan to Tirano by Trenord regional train (just get a ticket on the day and sit down, no reservations).
3. Bernina Express to Chur (book in advance at their website; just Google it).
4. Overnight in Chur. An underrated town in our view.
5. Rent a car in Chur (Europcar is adjacent to the station) and drive to Berner Oberland. If you want to keep your car, there is long term parking at Lauterbrunnen Station and at the base of the Schilthornbahn in Stechelberg. If you want to drop the car, you can do that in Interlaken, and take public transit to Murren or wherever you are staying. Many on this site advocate for trains, but we much preferred to drive. You can go wherever and whenever you want, stop when you see something interesting. And if there are two or more of you we found it cheaper than Swiss trains -- so much cheaper we could even pay to park at Stechelberg for 3 days and still be cheaper than the train). The route from Chur to Berner Oberland will take you very close to Liechtenstein (if you want to tick another country off your box) and right through Lucerne.
6. Either drive to Zurich and drop your car at the airport, or take train from Interlaken.
