What's the best way to get from Venice , IT to Wengen,Switzerland without spending an arm and leg ?
Thanks for any input.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Take slower and cheaper trains in Italy is the easy answer. In Italy, Regionale trains go on the same tracks as the Eurostars. They cost about 50% less and take at least twice as long. But, you can't get to the Swiss border on any one Regionale train. You will be on several. You might even make it in the same day. As you might imagine, this is not practical. Taking the fastest trains possible, you can get there in 7hrs46min. You will be on at least 5 different trains including the 3-track cog train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. Here's your suggested route. Venice->Milan->Spiez->Interlaken Ost->Lauterbrunnen->Wengen. You won't see this routing on Trenitalia. In fact, the Italian train website www.trenitalia.com cannot see past Interlaken Ost. Thus, the Italians cannot sell you a ticket from Venice to Wengen. This comment comes from our personal experience with the same trip. We bought our tickets in Venice. You can buy a ticket from Venice to Interlaken Ost and then buy the remainder of the journey when you get there. As an alternative, you can see the entire journey on the Swiss train website (www.rail.ch). Finally, you don't say when you will be traveling. Discounts are available on both the Italian and Swiss train websites depending on how far out you book and the run you choose. For example, I can see a mini-fare on Trenitalia for the run from Venice to Domodossola (near Swiss Border) of 18Euro (regular fare 51Euro). On the Swiss train website, I see a fare of 32.80CHF from Domodossola to Wengen. About $65 without looking up all of the currency exchanges. I hope that you are not looking at RailEurope.
Posted by
OP
Nokomis, FL, USA
13 posts
Larry, Thanks so much for the awesome info. I know better than to look at RailEurope. This is our second trip to Europe, but we went north last time. We'll be in Italy in Sept this year. Holy Moly--that's a lot of train changes and 8 hrs ?? Gee, it looks a lot closer on the map ! You gave some great advice, so now I need to get to work. My hubby says buy tickets now, but I say wait and buy there--which way ?
Mary