Looking for someone to verify my planned itinerary to make sure i haven't messed something up! I do feel it is 'ambitious' but trying to make the most of our time. Two adult travelers arriving in Basel (via cruise) and departing out of Venice 9 days later. Nights 1 & 2 in Wengen, plan to spend full days 1-3 in this area.
Night 3 in Brig (for the train AM departure on Glacier Express).
Night 4 in St Moritz (traveling via Glacier Exp).
Night 5 in Milan, via the Bernia Exp (St Moritz to Tirano) then Tirano to Milan. I'm aware this is almost 2 days of train travel, however after the cruise and first few days in Switzerland, I feel like it would be a welcome rest to sit and enjoy the views.
Night 6 in Milan.
Nights 7 & 8 in Venice - depart Venice on day 9!
Looking for any feedback or tips!
Posted by
Nashville, TN
1098 posts
Doable? Sure. Would I do it? No, absolutely not.
You’re taking what would be a 4 connection 8 hour trip from Wengen to Venice and turning it into 11 connections and around 20 hours. It's more than ambitious and I don't really see it as "making the most of your time" unless you really just want to spend a week on trains.
Night 1 in Wengen is pretty much a wash because you had to depart your cruise and get from Basel and you’re leaving on the 3rd day, that leaves you 1 full day in Wengen. 1.5 days if you plan to leave for Brig late in the day. Then you’re going to spend around 20 hours in trains, 1 full day in Milan and 1 full day in Venice. So basically out of 9 days you’re getting 3 days for exploring and the rest is all in train logistics.
To get the most out of your time, don't move so much. You can do an incredible amount of day trips from Wengen to really get the best out of Switzerland. Stay there for 4-5 nights, go to Milan for 1 night if that city is really of interest to you and then end in Venice for 2-3 nights. Or skip Milan and just do all your moving in 1 day.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
This is the input i was looking for (i think) when i map Basel to Wengen it tells me its a 2 1/2 hr train ride? We are off the ship in Basel early AM. And yes, we don't plan on heading to Brig until the evening. We (thought) we really wanted to ride the Glacier Exp and that puts us in St Moritz. My heart is not set on Milan, but we have to fly out of Venice (already booked). Wanted to spend 2 nights there - how else do we get there? (if we keep the Glacier Exp)
Posted by
Nashville, TN
1098 posts
Why do you want to ride the Glacier Express? These specialty train rides get a lot of press, but you will go on so many breathtaking train rides and cable cars just around Wengen, that I promise you won't be missing out on epic scenery from a train. Fitting Wengen in with your other plans is just a lot.
If Glacier Express is non-negotiable, then skip Wengen and try something like this...
Basel to Zermatt 3 nights > Glacier Express to St. Moritz - Pontresina 2-3 nights > Train to Venice all in 1 long day - stay 2 nights
The most efficient way to get from Basel to Venice is through Luzern, Lugano, Lake Como, so you could also do a few nights in Luzern to experience the mountains, a couple nights in Lake Como and then on to Venice.