Hello,
I am traveling throughout Europe from late May to mid-July this summer and am having probems planning the part from Milan, Italy to Barcelona, Spain. Preferably I would like to somehow incorporate a train ride through the Swiss Alps to a connecting train somewhere to take me to Barcelona through France. My major problem is finding a good railway that would take me from somewhere not far from Milan, Italy through the Swiss Alps, then through France (non-stop, or one night stay) and then onward to Barcelona. I have been incredibly excited to go through the Swiss Alps, and unfortunately I will be unable to take much time besides to ride through them and maybe stay one night somewhere, but regardless, it is something I would love to see. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fill this gap so I can go from Milan, Italy through the Swiss Alps and then onward to Barcelona I would be very grateful. Thanks!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Rather than go out of your way into Switzerland, why not just take the direct route through the Graian Alps into France? The Alpine region on the border of France and Italy contains some of the highest peaks of the entire range. I see no good reason for an expensive side trip north to Switzerland when there's plenty of amazing scenery along your direct route of travel.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
You are getting too much out of the way. If your intent is doing some scenic Swiss rail trips, you need 2 nights for that, doing something like this: day 1 - Milano-St. Moritz (or somewhere on the area). day 2 - cross Switzerland, with an intermediate stop somewhere (there are some mountains in Valais easy to reach from adjacent train stations + cable car), then an overnight in Geneve day 3 - a long day (10h+ travelling on mostly high-speed trains via Lyon and Figueres). Alternatively. you can travel on a single day between Milano and Barcelona by train, but the trip takes around 12 hours and require changes. Less than 2h of it will be scenic, the rest is fast and efficient (the whole trip takes 1700km after all!), but not particularly scenic. That requires transfers in Bourg, Valence and Figueres.
Posted by
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
168 posts
If you want to do this its doable. Go to www.sbb.ch Choose English. Go from Milano to Barcelona via a Swiss location. I tried both Lucerne and interlaken. For both it gave me routes 22hrs long but I didn't put in overnight stops. You can always choose a stop along that route to overnight it.