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

Posted by jonicaweiler on 08/25/24 10:42 PM

Hello! We are planning to leave from Lake Como to Lucerne and were looking at the Gotthard Panorama Express. It looks like it only leaves once a day from Lugano at 9:18am (at least for this year). We are traveling by train and thinking we will stay in Varenna, which looks like we would need to ferry to Menaggio and then take a bus to Lugano. I'm worried about actually making it to Lugano and not missing the train. I've had a few other suggestions to forget about the Gotthard and take a faster train along the same route.

Our itinerary looks like this:

Arrival Day into Milan, train to Cinque Terre
Day 2: CT
Day 3: CT to Venice
Day 4: Venice
Day 5: Venice
Day 6: Venice to Lake Como
Day 7: Lake Como
Day 8: Lake Como

After this, we want to visit Berner Oberland and Lucerne, mainly staying in BO. Then will fly out of Zurich on Day 14. I'm having trouble deciding if the Gotthard Panorama Express is worth the seemingly difficult transportation logistics to get to it on time from the Lake Como area. And if it is indeed worth it, what is the best way to get from the Lake Como area to Lugano and is there a better place to stay than Varenna for this? If we travel via the GPE, we would stay the night in Lucerne, then travel to BO area the next afternoon and stay for the next 3-4 nights before heading back to Zurich to fly out.

I've also looked into switching the order of our Switzerland itinerary and taking the train from Varenna through Milan, Dossodomola, Brig, Spiez to Interlaken. Doing this seems to be the same travel time as the GPE and we would just reverse the order (BO area then Lucerne). I've heard there is planned construction on this route for next year but I don't know exactly what that would mean for us. I've also heard this is very scenic as well.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has done either of these options and how they have done them and what they thought.

Posted by Lola

Seattle, WA

08/26/24 02:07 AM

17222 posts

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.