We are planning our first trip to Italy this October, flying into Zurich to get a brief taste of Switzerland before taking a scenic train to the Lake Como area. We have three nights booked in Lauterbrunnen and want to take a train to Italy on the 4th day. I now realize that getting from Lauterbrunnen to Chur to take the Bernina Express will be impossible to do in one day. Does it make sense to cancel our third night in Lauterbrunnen and travel to Chur, spend the night there, and take the Bernina Express in the the next day? Or would it be a better use of our time to transfer to (closer) Lucerne for our last night in Switzerland and take the Gotthard Panorama train to Lugano? Or skip the scenic train idea altogether? I don't want to shortchange our time in Lauterbrunnen but the scenic trains, especially the Bernina, sound wonderful!
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
So, you'll have plenty of scenic train rides around Lauterbrunnen to start with. Getting from Zürich to Lauterbrunnen via Luzern (not via Bern) is already very scenic. I do not suggest you shorten your Lauterbrunnen stay for a scenic train ride in another part of the country.
However, you can make your ride to Milan/Lake Como more scenic by using the old Lötschberg railway instead of the base tunnel that the fast trains use. To do so, looking at the SBB (Swiss railways) journey planner, you need to set Kandersteg as a "via" waypoint.
Also, if you are staying on the west side of lake Como, like Menaggio, it makes sense to go from Spiez/Brig to Domodossola (instead of all the way to Milan), change there to Locarno (very scenic Centovalli railway), again to Lugano, and take the bus to Menaggio. Or if you are close to Como town, you could continue to Como by train from Lugano. Yes, it's a lot of steps, but it flows quite well together. If you do that, skip the Lötschberg idea above - too many changes of trains.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17418 posts
To Balso’s suggestions, I will add the Treno Gottardo, which follows the same route as the Gotthard Panorama Express over the Gotthard Pass route, but skips the lake cruise portion of the Panorama Express. So it is a shorter journey, time-wise (3 hours from Luzern to Locarno). Change at Bellinzona or Gubbiasco if you want to end at Lugano or Milan instead.
https://unterwegs.sob.ch/de/stories/ciao-ticino-en
Here is a map of the Swiss railways, with the named scenic trains highlighted. #5 is the Gotthard route used by both the Treno Gottardo and the Gotthard Panorama Express. You can see just how far east one must travel to take the Bernina Express—-and then back west to reach Milan, gateway to the rest of Italy..
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Thank you for the suggestions! I will look into these alternate routes. This is just what I needed, ideas from folks who know the area.