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Train travel from Varenna Italy to Murren Switzerland

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Will be a first time train traveler in Europe flying into Rome and out of Zurich next September. Want a mix of cities--Rome and Florence and nature/hiking. My overall itinerary for the trip is as follows:
Rome: 3 nights, Florence: 3 nights, Pisa/Lucca 1 night, Cinque Terre 2 nights. Varenna/Lake Como 1 or 2 nights?, Murren 3 or 4 nights, Lucerne 1 or 2 nights, Zurich 1 night. I've figured out the train travel between Rome to Florence to Pisa and Lucca.

Struggling deciding what the best route would be going from Varenna to Murren. Would love suggestions on the following:

  1. Best train routes (both in cost and time) going from Bonasolla (Cinque Terre area) to Varenna (Lake Como).
  2. Best train route from Varenna to Murren? How long and how expensive.
  3. Since I will be traveling in 2 countries what's my best/cheapest option for buying tickets. Keeping in mind I would like to get discounts on boat/train/cable cars in Switzerland.
  4. Is 4 nights too long for Murren, should I consider a couple of nights in another village in Berland Oberland (Grindewald or Lauterbrunnen). We're hoping for nice hikes and scenery during this portion of the trip.

Thanks for all suggestions!

Marge

Posted by
11294 posts

This should be a great trip!

I can answer number 4: Stay in Mürren, and 4 nights is not too long! From Mürren, you can get to Lauterbrunnen in 20 minutes (Gimmelwald is farther), so there's no advantage in changing hotels. And four nights is great here, as it's a hedge against the weather, and you won't run out of things to do.

I stayed 4 nights in Mürren. On arrival day (partial since I didn't get there until about noon), I went up the Allmendhubel. On day 2, I went up the Schilthorn and walked around Gimmelwald and Mürren. On day 3, I went up the Jungfraujoch, and took a side trip to Interlaken. These three days all had good to very good weather. On day 4, which was cloudy, I walked the valley floor and saw the Trümmelbach Falls. I didn't even get to the highly recommended Maennlichen to Kleine Scheidegg walk - next time.

You didn't ask, but there's no need to spend a night in Zurich unless your flight is VERY early. Trains go direct from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich airport in about 70 minutes and are frequent (once an hour direct, more with changes).

As for transit, you'll want to pre-buy tickets for Italy to get the best prices, as long as you can commit to non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets. For Switzerland a pass of some kind is often a good deal. You can't lose with the Half Fare Card; it costs 120 CHF, so if you are definitely taking more than 240 CHF worth of rides, you come out ahead. If you want a Swiss Pass instead, you have to do the math to see if it's cheaper. It is convenient, though; you only have to buy tickets for things not fully covered (like the Schilthorn, Jungfraujoch, and Allmendhubel). For anything fully covered, you just hop on and show your Swiss Pass when asked.

Posted by
32344 posts

I provided a reply in your other thread on this subject.

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