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Finishing up Italy trip in Switzerland - could use advice for very short stay

Posted by on

Hello --

We are finishing up our trip to Italy with a train ride into Switzerland from Lake Como and a morning flight out of Geneva two days later. I've been going back and forth about what to do -- the Bernina Express seems like a more scenic train ride than Milan>Geneva (and I have strong memories of a train ride in from Milan to Lucerne when I was 12, almost 40 years ago!) -- but we're flying out of Geneva and it seems like a hassle to get from Zurich to Geneva by train. I'm not sure what to do. I don't really have any specific interests in CH, other than the train ride, some Swiss fondue, and my daughters want Swiss chocolate (they are 13 and 17). So, I'm really open to seeing and experiencing either place, or something else if it makes more sense, as long as I leave Varenna (Lake Como) on Wednesday at some point and end up at GVA early Friday monring.

Any advice? Thanks!

To clarify -- the train experience I'm looking for is the Italy to Switzerland experience with the scenery to match, but I'm open to other options to get this, like traveling to Lucerne from Milan, and then Lucerne to Geneva. I'm also not opposed to renting a car at some point, if it makes more sense, although I've heard that one-way rentals with multiple countries involved can get tricky.

Posted by
4961 posts

I don't know the logistics of Italy to Switzerland travel, but I do know there is a "chocolate train" out of Montreux: https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/experiences/chocolate-train/.
It's a fabulous lakeside town (with a castle!) within easy reach of Geneva so if your flight is not crack-of-dawn early, you could put your two nights together. For such a short amount of time, I would try to maximize the stay.
But there are several Switzerland experts here so I'm sure you'll get good train suggestions.

Posted by
4961 posts

There is also the Golden Pass, from Lucerne to Montreux. That is the only other scenic route I know of other than the Glacier and Bernina Express, but I don't grasp the time table logistics of those very well. I'm sure one of the train experts will chime in over the next few days--they run on time to be sure, but Swiss trains can be very complicated!

Posted by
19 posts

My favorite chocolate is Laterach. There is a store in St. Moritz. My favorite is the milk chocolate that comes in a large sheet pan. The Bernina Express from Italy goes to St. Moritz or very near it. There is a wonderful easy hike called Panoramawig out of near by Ponsterisna. The Bernina Express does stop there.

Posted by
2493 posts

From the point of logistics Luzern would be a good option. Plenty of things to do and see, and direct trains from Como to Luzern and from Luzern to Geneva. And in both cases there exist scenic alternatives to the direct trains if you don't mind to trade time for better views .

Como to Luzern to get the scenic route add "Gösschenen" as a via when planning your train trip on www.sbb.ch (as you should). For the scenic route from Luzern to Montreux and Geneva add "Brienz" and "Gstaad" as via's (you will need to select "advanced search" for that).

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