My husband and I will be traveling from Switzerland (visiting the Berner Oberland area) to Venice, Italy. Was wondering if one of the scenic rail journeys could easily be incorporated in that trip...is one "on the way"? Or should we just take the regular train (maybe an overnight)?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
In my opinion, the short answer is "none". The most scenic railway would be the Bernina Express (IMO) followed by the Glacier Express. To get to St. Moritz or Chur to pick up the Bernina Express would actually put you on the Golden Pass scenic train from Interlaken Ost to Lucerne/Zurich and then to St. Mortiz or Chur. From a travel time standpoint, taking the most direct trains will take 8.0hrs. This routing would be Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken Ost/Spiez/Milan/Venice. Taking the Golden Pass train to St. Moritz or Chur to pick up the Bernina Express, will take 9.0hrs-11hrs. Then, it's 4.0hrs to take the Express to Tirano, Italy. From Tirano to Venice is another 9.0hrs. That's about 20hrs overall to make this alternate journey. There is no night train. The sad part is that this cicuritous routing takes you right back to Milan before going to Venice. In summary, going directly from Interlaken Ost to Milan takes about 3.35hrs. Going the alternate way via the Bernina Express (and a bit of the Golden Pass scenic train), will take about 15hrs to get to the same Milan location. If you have the time, the alternate routing is just great. Stay the night in St. Moritz (not Chur). One compromise would be to take the Golden Pass scenic train from Interlaken Ost to Arth-Goldau and take the high-speed train through the Gotthard tunnel. A bit of scenery on this routing but note that you will be going through the long Gotthard tunnel. This routing will take about 2hrs longer than to most direct routing mentioned above.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3107 posts
Erin, you have three answers on your other thread under Transportation.