Help with transportation logistics from Lake Como to Lucerne or Berner Oberland

Are you talking about construction on the Domodossola to Milan tracks? I believe the project will continue in 2025.

https://www.railtech.com/all/2024/05/15/domodossola-milan-track-modernisation-to-affect-sbb-services/?gdpr=accept

The effect will likely be a bus link like this summer. This route isn’t particularly scenic for reaching the BO anyway because of 2 long deep tunnels under the Alps between Spiez and Brig and Brig and Iselle.

The Gotthard Panorama Express does indeed only run once a day in each direction. But you could instead take the Treno Gottardo which runs over the exact same tracks hourly. This train connects Locarno with either Luzern or Zurich, alternating between them. You could, if you wish, leave this train at Flüelen and take a boat from there to Luzern, exactly duplicating the route of the GPE, at lesser cost.

https://www.travelswitzerland.com/en/download/image-treno-gottardo-with-the-church-of-wassen/?wpdmdl=30206&refresh=66cbd9fb1707b1724635643

You do not need to go to Locarno to ride this train; you can meet it at Bellinzona which is a 90-minute ride from Milano Centrale by direct Eurocity train, which runs every 2 hours. So your simplest route would be Varenna to Milano, then Milano to Bellinzona to catch the Treno Gottardo. The EC train from Milan stops in Bellinzona at xx:46 and the Treno Gottardo comes along 9 minutes later, at xx:55, departing there at 59 minutes after the hour. So you have 13 minutes to make the change, which is plenty.

EC 150 departs Milano Centrale at 11:10, which you should be able to make easily from Varenna. You would connect to the Treno Gottardo in Bellinzona at 12:59, which is a train going to Zurich rather than Luzern. No problem. You can either switch to the Luzern train at Arth-Goldau, or you could change to the boat up the lake at Flüelen (which would be my recommendation).

We did this boat + Treno Gottardo last September with our family on our way to Lago di Garda, and everyone loved it. We will be riding the Treno Gotthard twice this September, once in either direction, but without the boat. The route is very scenic, with beautiful valley, many waterfalls, peaks and hanging glaciers in the distance.

If you are staying in Varenna the most scenic way to enter Switzerland is via the Bernina Railway. So I would travel Varenna - Tirano - Pontressina, stay the night there (or two nights even), then on to your destination in the BO after that.

Thank you! This is super helpful! I believe we will do the Treno Gotthard trip. We are undecided if we will do the last part as a boat cruise across Lake Lucerne or continue with the train to have more time in the city. If we do the boat cruise, is there somewhere to purchase tickets at the dock or do we need to book ahead of time for this?

You can purchase tickets for the boat at the dock; there is no need to buy them ahead—-especially if you are not sure how you want to travel that day. But you can purchase them online if you wish. They are good for any boat on the specified day.

https://www.lakelucerne.ch/en/

Great! Thank you so much!

You can book the boat connection as one ticket from your start point to Luzern. It is a little tricky, but you can specify a stopover of 5 minutes in Fluelen (where you get the boat) and then at www.sbb.ch/en, you can specify the mode of transport from Fluelen to Luzern. Just deselect all the options except boat. The dock is right next to the train station, so you can easily buy a ticket there if you do not want to go through the excersise,

Hi again Lola! How did you book this train journey? The Treno Gottardo site doesn't offer English that I can see, so I can't figure out how to look at the timetables. Also, I'm not sure where to book the EC train. Thank you!

You can buy tickets for the Treno Gottardo on the SBB. H site—- just look for the train that goes from Luzern (or Zurich) to Locarno with no changes. From Luzern, I believe the southbound TrenomGottardomdepartures are at 9:18, 11:18, etc. if going northbound from Locarno. I believe it is 00:33 after the hour. At least it is for our train from Locarno to Zurich on Oct. 6.

You only need to use the Sudostbahn website if you want reserved seats.

Ok, I looked at the schedule. You are starting in Milan, I believe, but if you look on SBB for a route from Milano Centrale to Luzern, it will only show you routes going through the tunnel, unless you manipulate it. But you can find the Treno Gottardo by looking for direct trains from Locarno to Luzern—-it does indeed depart Locarno at 9:33, 11, 33, etc. Coming from Milano Centrale, you will need to meet this train at Bellinzona and board there. If you look at the route and schedule for the 9:33 TrenomGottardo, you will see that it stops at Bellinzona at 9:59. So you can look on Trenitalia for a train from Milano Centrale heading north to Luzern or Zurich, with a stop in Bellinzona a good bit ahead of 9:55, so you have time to transfer if it is running late.

I am sure there is a way to book this as one ticket on SBB, but I don’t know how to get it to show you the exact route. Maybe Sam can help you with that.

The way to see the routes over the old line on www.sbb.ch is to add a Göschenen as a via. That way you force the planner to consider only routes that go over the top.

Get yourself a Saver Day Pass as soon as you know what day you will be travelling. Then just add a Milano - Chiasso ticket.

Thank you both so much. I will look into both of these suggestions and come back to report what I ended up doing. Thank you!

We went from Bellagio to Lucerne last week. We took the ferry from Bellagio to Caddenabia, where our hotel arranged for a taxi to take us to Lugano train station for €115. Then we took the train from Lugano to Lucerne.

All direct trains from Lugano to Luzern, apart from the scenic Gotthard Panorama Express (train plus boat) will go through the long deep Gotthard Basistunnel. Fast, but not scenic.