Locarno to Frankfurt

Here is what Rick has to say about scenic Swiss railways. From Lucarno, one of the most scenic, the Glacier Express, runs roughly perpendicular to how you want to go. Another, the Berlina, is far to the east. The Gotthard line, however, runs from Chiasso to Luzern. You could pick it up in Bellinzona and go to Luzern. From Luzern, the Brunig line goes over mountains to Interlaken, in the Berner Oberland. The route over Brunig Pass includes sections of rack rail.

Dan, the most direct route from Locarno will take you to Basel SBB via the Gotthard pass. If you have a few more hours available, I would suggest considering the following so that you can pick up the Golden Pass scenic train out of Interlaken. Buy your ticketing as follows: 1. Leave Locarno very early. 2. Locarno to Interlaken Ost via Domodossola and Spiez. At Interlaken Ost, you can have lunch. If you have another 2 hours, take the Jungfraubahn train into Lauterbrunnen and see the Alps on steroids. Go across the street and take the gondola up to Grutshalp and then Muerren. Best views. Go back down to Interlaken Ost. 3. Interlaken Ost to Lucerne on the Golden Pass scenic train. This goes over the scenic Brunig Pass. 4. Lucerne to Basel SBB.
5. Basel SBB to Frankfurt. Could be a long day.

Dan, Are you planning to do this in one day, or do you have several days? There are lots of possibilities, and one that you could consider is: > Travel via the scenic Cento Valli Railway from Locarno to Domodossola (about 2 hours). > From Domodossola travel to Brig via regular train (28 minutes if you use a direct train). > From Brig take the Glacier Express to Chur (about 4H:10M). Latest departure from Brig appears to be 11:37, so you'd have to get an early start from Locarno. I believe the connections are all possible, but I'd have to do some research. > Stay one night in Chur and then continue to Frankfurt via regular train (5H:52M with 1 change). This method would allow you to travel two scenic routes in a fairly short period of time. Happy travels!

First of all, thanks for the inputs. I can take 2-3 days to get to Frankfurt, so time really is not an issue. I just want to ride a combination of the most scenic train rides, and possible short excursions, with the goal of eventually getting to Frankfurt, so zig-zagging through the Alps is fine with me.