Florence to Interlaken

If you just want t see the schedule, best site is www.bahn.com/en, but you cannot buy a ticket there.

Fastest way by train per the current schedule is 5 1/4 hours with 2 train changes, at Milan and Spiez. A flight from Florence to Zurich, then a train to Interlaken would take longer than that.

Thetrainline.com shows a train from Firenze (Florence) Santa Maria Novella station to Interlaken Ost (5h 45m) with two transfers for $123.59.
Skyscanner shows a nonstop flight from Florence to Zurich on Swiss Air for $109. You can also check Google flights. The problem with this is you still need to get to Interlaken. There is a train from Zurich airport to Interlaken Ost (2h 15m) that requires a change.

Zurich is still 2+ hours from Interlaken, so I would suggest taking a train from Milan in the direction of Basel. Get off at Spiez and change to a train to Interlaken.

You might have to buy 2 tickets. Trenitalia will sell you a ticket from Florence to Spiez, then buy a separate ticket from SBB to Interlaken. Or you could buy a separate ticket from Trenitalia for the Florence-Milan leg, then a ticket from SBB for the Milan-Interlaken leg. The first is probably the cheapest, as the Spiez-Interlaken ticket is only 9.60 CHF.

Thank you so much, this is very helpful.

Since it's your first trip to Europe, here is a small introduction to train travel in Europe.

Trains are very much a national thing in Europe, and in some countries they are better than other. But in general there is a big national railway company in each country that runs most of the routes. In addition, there can regional/local companies in many countries. And in some countries there are private companies that compete with the big national companies. The best way to buy tickets is to buy them from the company that operates the trains. The Trainline was mentioned, that is a 3rd party ticket agent that only adds an extra layer and charges a bit of money for that.

For international trains, they are often run in cooperation by the national railway companies in both countries, but sometimes one big railway company runs international trains on their own to another country. So for an international trip, try both countries and see what the suggestions are. In your case, those companies are Trenitalia in Italy and SBB in Switzerland. It should also be noted that since Switzerland is a multilingual country you can also see the railway company being called CFF (French) or FFS (Italian), but in English the German abbreviation is usually used.

The big German railway company, DB, has as mentioned an excellent website where you can find trains in most of Europe. www.bahn.com is usually a good start. And if you want to learn more about how train travel work, a great start is to visit The Man in Seat 61, www.seat61.com

Badger,
Thank you so much for all this information, I really do appreciate it. I have been reading seat61 and it’s a great source!

When is this trip? You can save money by buying the ticket a month or more in advance on the national rail sites. Trenitalia price for a ticket bought now for mid-December is €62,90 for the train from Firenze to Spiez in Switzerland, with a single change in Milan. Journeys with more changes and a regional train in the mix are even cheaper, like 47,90, but not worth the extra time and trouble, in my opinion.

Add CHF 9,20 for the short ride from Spiez to Interlaken—- you can buy this ahead on SBB or at the station when you arrive. No discount for advance purchase on that train.

Thanks Lola, our trip is in mid May. With this being my first time traveling to Europe I have a lot to research. We will be spending time in both Switzerland & Italy and just when I feel content with my itinerary I start questioning my decisions. My plans look like this:
Rome - 4 nights
Cinque Terre - 3nights
Florence - 2 nights
Interlaken - 3 nights
Lucern - 3 nights

I know the trains are the best source of transportation but once I started looking into the process I suddenly became very overwhelmed. I appreciate all the advice, it helps so much.

It can be a bit overwhelming, but is really not that complicated. And if you have any questions you can always post them here.

I took my first trip to Europe this year and I too was worried about the trains. They can seem overwhelming until you actually start using them. One thing I did before my trip, which might help you, is too watch videos on You Tube of all things train related—purchasing tickets, the specific train stations, the trains themselves, etc. For instance, if you go to You Tube and do a search for “rome train station” you will get multiple search results with videos that take you around the train station.

For Switzerland, I like the You Tube channel “How to Switzerland.” She has several videos on the Swiss trains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTGV1eVhqT8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWateJhVsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSu2QkM0Ho

The train apps will be a big help. I suggest you download them ahead of time and become familiar with them. I’ll focus on the SBB app for Switzerland as that was the one I used. You enter your starting and ending point and will get all sorts of information. The different times for instance. You can see how many train changes each option has and can pick the one with the least changes if that is easier for you. If you clink on a specific time, it will pull up the info. for that train—what platform the train will be at, you can see which train cars will be 1st and 2nd class so you know which section (A,B, C,D) to stand by on the platform. You can also follow along with the train journey on the app and see when the train is getting close to a stop you may need to get off at. You’ll also want to become familiar with the departure boards at the train station so you know how to read those and double check the info. There are usually electric signs too on the train platforms so you can once again double check that you are getting on the correct train. I did a lot of checking and double checking which helped me feel more comfortable. And I found the train employees at the train stations and on the trains to be very helpful. So, asking for help if you are unsure is an option too. If i can get the hang of things, you can too. 😊 Good luck!!

Carrie, thank you for taking the time to provide all this info and words of encouragement. I have been looking at YouTube which has been so helpful. I will check out the links you sent, thanks again😀

My plans look like this:

Rome - 4 nights

Cinque Terre - 3nights

Florence - 2 nights

Interlaken - 3 nights

Lucern - 3 nights

Might I suggest 3 nights in either the Alpine Villages of Murren or Wengen instead of Interlaken. Interlaken doesn't have the magnificent views of the Alps as the other villages.