Time required from train arrival to flight departure at Geneva airport

Where does the trip originate? If you're changing in Zürich it might be faster to just take the train from Geneva to Venice, it will also give you some great alpine views.

take an earlier train so you arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight.

I'm doing a hike that begins in Engleberg and ends in Saanen. Then I'm doing another hike beginning in Cortina d'Ampezzo. I looked at many different routes, but the fastest one was to take the train to Geneva and fly to Venice. Even with a layover of an hour and a half in Zurich, it was still faster than any other route, including trains from Saanen to Cortina. Most routes required traveling more than one day.

There might be an earlier train. I'll look into that.
Chuck

There is a train at 5:39 that gets you there by 8:44.

Of course, you could take a later train to Zurich Airport and get the nonstop to Venice. It is only about 30 minutes longer to ZRH than GVA from Saanen.

Thanks! It looks like I have more options than I thought.

If your hike ends in Saanen then going to Geneva to fly to Zurich makes no sense whatsoever. You are adding time and cost. You are better off just going to Zurich from Saanen.

Or travel Saanen - Venice by train. That would take you about 8 hours. But Saanen is about three hours to any airport, so flying is not going to be that much faster.

But once you are in Venice you are still 4 hours away from Cortina. No matter which way you slice this, this is going to take time. You can travel by train all the way from Saanen to Calalzo in about 12 hours. Train is probably going to be cheaper and less complicated than train + flight + train.

IF you need to get to Cortina from Saanen that is going to be a long and complicated trip no matter which way yoiu do this.
Its about 4 hours from Saanen to any airport. Its about 4 hours from Venice to Cortina. So you are looking at 12 hours at least.

You can do Saanen - Cortina in about 14 hours by ground transportation, and yes you can do it in one day. (If you believe otherwise you maybe have not found the right route).

What I would do in your place however would be something like this: On the afternoon/evening you finish your hike in Saanen take the train to Brig. Spend the night there. Travel Brig - Cortina the next morning. You can book Brig - Cortina in advance on www.trenitalia.com, for about 75,- euro. Saanen - Brig book in advance on www.sbb.ch to get a supersaver ticket.

I looked at many different routes, but the fastest one was to take the
train to Geneva and fly to Venice. Even with a layover of an hour and
a half in Zurich, it was still faster than any other route, including
trains from Saanen to Cortina.

Look again.

Train from Saanen to Geneva airport: 3 h
Check in and security: 1:15 (according to your plan, I'd recommend a bit more.)
Flight to Zürich: 45 min
Wait time in Zürich: 1:30
Flight to Venice: 1:05
Getting out of the airport: 15 minutes
Bus to Mestre: 20 minutes.
Total travel time to Mestre if flying: 8:10

Which can be compared to:

Train from Saanen to Venice Mestre: 7:30 with one change.

I'm obviously not looking in the right places. I have a lot to learn. I've been looking on rome2rio, and it does not show any way to get from Saanen to Venice by train with only one change. I'll try to find another way to search, because that sounds the most attractive if it can be done in one day.

Many thanks to all who have been offering help.

the best advice I can give you is forget you have ever heard of Rome2Rio. It lures you in and appears ok, then has a really really nasty habit of throwing insane curveballs that seem believable.

Please use the websites or apps of the actual providers of the transportation. If it is within Switzerland the SBB will take you from street address to street address accurately and precisely without curveballs.

Rome2rio's results should be taken with a grain of salt, it might be correct but there might be better options missing.

But there is a once daily connection with a change in Montreux. It means an early start though, departure from Saanen is 04.59, and you arrive at Venice Mestre 12.30. There are later options available as well with 2 or 3 changes, via Zweisimmen and Spiez.

What is your travel date? That could effect if the EC direct train to Venice is actually running on your travel date.

I'm traveling August 15th. I wasn't able to find a train that arrives in Venice before the last bus to Cortina departs. The route that includes flying from Geneva to Zurich to Venice arrives four hours earlier, in time to catch the 2:20 pm bus. Since it gets me there in time and I found no other option that did, I booked it. It might be that the train that would have been faster just doesn't run that day.

Friday June 6, is the last day the EC direct train is running, after then, it is with connections only.

August 15 is months away. That means that trip planners will not yet have all the schedules.
If you want to have an idea of what is available pick a day in May.
90% of the confusion non Europeans experience when trying to book ground transportation in Europe stems from wanting to book to early...

Use www.trenitalia.com to plan either Spiez or Montreux to Cortina. And yes, they can sell you a through ticket. For Saanen to Montreux or Spiez just use SBB.

That explains why it didn't come up in my searches. And teaches me that when asking for help I should provide all the information needed to answer my question!

Yes, there is a lot more transportation available than you thought. For example, the last connection from Mestre to Cortina is actually at 17:56.

Americans are used to public transport being sparse, and thus often do not notice when planning travel that only having one or two trains or busses is not normal for Italy. So when you see that, you are looking at incomplete data.