Traveling from Venice to Zurich: Bernina Panorama vs Gotthard Panorama Express?

We have done both routes by regional train rather than the special named trains. Most recent trip was over the Gotthard Pass route on the Treno Gottardo, without the boat section on the Vierwaldstättersee. The Bernina Pass route was 7 years ago so I don’t recall it quite as clearly, but I do have lots of photos to review.

I would say I honestly cannot put one over the other in terms of scenery. And I am a connoisseur of mountain scenery—-as avid hikers, we travel to see and experience mountains. I’ll bet the views from the boat as it sails up the lake are pretty nice too.

So for your purposes, going from Venice to Luzern to Zurich, the Gotthard Pass route is so much simpler I would choose that over the Bernina route. In fact I am planning on doing this in reverse (north to south) with my son’s family next September.

I assume you have found the EC308 train that departs Venice at 13:18 and goes to Lugano without a change at Milano Centrale? That would be my recommendation, because we had enough of Milano Centrale on our September trip to last a long time. But if you would like to arrive in Lugano earlier than 17:28 there are trains with just the single connection Milan.

are you aware that every route in Switzerland, including the ones you mention, have normal trains at least hourly which cover the same routes and have the same views as the named tourist trains?

When will your trip be?

You do not need to buy separate tickets for the different trains that get you from Tirano to Luzern. You would just buy a ticket Tirano - Luzern via Chur, as you plan to do the whole trip in one day. WIth that ticket you can take any train on the route. On the Bernina Express you need a reservation for the Panoramic cars, but not for the normal cars.

If you were wondering why you needed to get ticket and reservation separately this is because a reservation is for a train, but a ticket is for travel on a route, and not tied to a train. You always buy one ticket for the whole route you intend to travel, in this case thus Tirano - Luzern.

There is also no need to hang around Chur station. Just take the next train (12:37) on the way to Luzern. If you go to www.sbb.ch you can plan your trip there. Just look up "Tirano" to "Luzern" and ad a via "Chur". You will see that the whole thing takes about 7 hours.

Thanks, everyone, for your input! We will be leaving Venice on June 8, 2023 and plan to fly out of Zurich on 6/11, so we don't have a lot of time. Beginner's error in planning.

I have read that there are local trains - If we don't plan to get on/off due to time constraints, is the Panorama Express a better option?

@Lola - Thank you for the suggestion to do the non-stop to Lugano, if we go with the Gotthard Express option! Otherwise it would be two days in a row of being on the train nearly the entire day, but we might be ready for that by then!

Here is another option for a scenic trip over the Gotthard Pass route that is faster than the Gotthard Paroranma Express train + boat trip: the Treno Gottardo. This train runs between Locarno (rather than Lugano) and Luzern with no changes required. The journey takes 3 hours.

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/experiences/treno-gottardo/

So your train journey could be:

Day 1 depart Venice Santa Lucia at 10:48 on the Frecciargento fast train to Milano CentrLe. Change there to the R80 regional train to Locarno, arriving there at 15:35 ( travel time 4.75 hours). You have time to explore Locarno or enjoy the lake. There are reasonably priced hotels between the train station and the lake, easy walking distance to both. ( This benefit is harder to find in Lugano).

Day 2 depart Locarno on the Treno Gottardo regional train at 9:35 or 11:35, arriving in Luzern 3 hours 6 minutes later.

We rode this train southbound in late August and shared the first-class carriage with only two other people—-2 Swiss women taking a daytrip to Locarno, specifically to ride that train. They were impressed that we Americans knew about the train and booked it intentionally. They were happy to point out some special features to us, such as the church that the train passes 3 times as it switchbacks down the mountain.

This was much less expensive than the Gotthard Panorama Express and faster as well. The only difference was we road alongside the lake ( part of it, not all) on tracks instead of across the lake on a boat.

Lola's suggestion is great. Locarno is a lovely place to spend an evening!

Thank you all! With everyone's help, we are electing to go with Lola's suggestion and travel through Locarno. Thanks again!

That's a good choice.

And I have talked myself into going that route ourselves next September, even though it adds time to our trip. It will be worth it!