I am looking to finalize a 17 day trip in Switzerland following a 8-9 days in Italy in early-mid September. I would like some suggestions that would include train route recommendations. We will be wrapping up Italy in the Milan area but could change our plans to finalize in Venice. Currently flights are priced the same to return to the US from either Geneva or Zurich so either could be our final desintation. A few areas that have peaked interest are the Lake Como/Vienna area, Berner Oberland and would like to do any scenic train ride through the alps. At this point we are completely open to suggestions though. Will not have a car so will need transportation via Train.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Starting From Milan:
- Day 1 - "over the top" of the Alps via the Bernina Pass Line (Milan - Tirano - Chur). Overnight in Chur, or somewhere along the line on the way to Chur.
- Day 2 - on to Luzern. Fastest train from Chur (via Zürich) to Luzern. xx nights Luzern. Plenty of info on Luzern in other posts
- Day xx - On to Jungfrau region (Berner Oberland). Somewhere up in the hills (Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Wengen). Route from Luzern is first half scenic "Golden Pass route". yy nights. Local website: https://jungfrauregion.swiss/en/summer/
- Next on to Zermatt for a few days.
- One night Lausanne or Montreux to see lake Geneva
- Fly back from Geneva.
Look up train times in Switzerland on the Swiss Federal Railways site: https://www.sbb.ch/en
Train times are already available for Switzerland in September, but not yet past June for Italy.
early September should be OK, the later in September, the higher risk of the weather "turning" (rain and cloud).
"Lake Como/Vienna". Lake Como is between Milan and Tirano (day 1), so you could stop off here (Varenna) for a night or two. Vienna is in Austria, is that where you mean?
You can trace this out on this rail map of Switzerland: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/infrastruktur/trafimage/karten/karte-sts-pass-gueltigkeit.pdf
To be discussed: what tickets to get for all this (decide after deciding on route, unless you budget is likely to be a constraint, but as you have 17 days planned in Switzerland you must have a good budget)
Posted by
Washington DC
27142 posts
If I were starting a trip to Italy and Switzerland in September, I would definitely begin the trip in Switzerland and end it in Italy. I like to be in Switzerland as close to mid-summer as I can.
Posted by
Buchs SG, Switzerland
60 posts
As the ever vigilant Chris F already mentioned, Vienna is nowhere near lake Como. Regardless, if your plan is to start with lake como then Milan is the more logical end point for your Italy tour.
Since you're looking for scenic train rides consider heading to Tirano from lake Como for the Bernina Express. I know there are Bus services from Lugano to Tirano as an extension of the Bernina Express. I don't know how good Italian PT is for getting to Tirano but I assume there's something.
Flims/Laax would be a nice area to stay a while after the Bernina Express.
From there Option one would be: Glacier Express to Zermatt. Head to Lauterbrunnen/Jungfrau. Lucerne.
Option two: Lucerne, Lauterbrunnen/Jungfrau, Zermatt.
From either of these options it doesn't make too much of a difference whether you want to tack on Lausanne/Vevey/Lake Geneva or fly home (Zürich would be faster from both options in that case) If you do plan on adding Lausanne then I'd probably go for option two unless you really want to add the Glacier express. The reason being that the Valais valley is pretty nice where as Lucerne -> Lausanne is less so.
Putting ALL these places in the same itenerary is probably too much. With Como, Flims, Lucerne, Jungfrau, Zermatt and Lausanne I count 6 hubs for 17 days. That gives you less than 3 days on average including travel. Depending on what you plan on doing here you'll want some spare days to deal with rain.