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Transportation from Cinque Terre to Gimmelwald

Posted by (SW Florida) on

I wasn't sure where to post this because one country is "to the Boot" and the other is "to the West." Since it's technically a transportation question, I figured this was the logical choice.

My friend and I will be staying in Cinque Terre for 3 days between visits to Venice and Gimmelwald next summer. We are trying to figure out the best way to get to Gimmelwald by train. We found the following information on the "Getting There Chart" on the Gimmelwald site (linked from RS site): From Cinque Terre (Monterosso). Depart 10:55 arrive 19:00. Via Milan, Brig, Spiez. Travel time: 8 hours 05 minutes. However, it doesn't say any more than that.

Our questions are:

  1. Is this the best route? What other places will have transfers besides the three listed? We understand the transportation from Interlaken to Gimmelwald, it's the transportation from Cinque Terre to Interlaken that we are unsure about.

  2. Is the time estimate somewhat accurate (which I'm sure doesn't take into account late trains, etc)? Is that the only time frame (11a-7p) or is there more than one scheduled time to make the 8 hour trip? We planned an entire day for travel.

  3. Should we plan on spending the night in Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen before heading to Gimmelwald or is the entire trip doable in one day? We'd planned on spending two nights in Gimmelwald but we can split them up if it would be better.

  4. If this is the best way, where/how do we book this trip Is it on TrenItalia or some other website? We are only doing point-to-point tickets because we figured out it is cheaper for the amount of overall traveling we need to do on our trip.

Any suggestions/information would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!

Posted by
1589 posts

Addressing only #3

It's under 90 minutes from Interlaken to Gimmelwald, so I wouldn't stay in Interlaken overnight.

Posted by
32325 posts

Kristina,

Keeping in mind that rail schedules may change slightly before next summer, I'd probably arrange things along these lines...

I found a train departing Monterosso at 07:36, arriving Interlaken Ost at 14:28 (time 6H:52M, 4 changes at Sestri Levante, Genova Piazza Principe, Milano Centrale and Spiez, reservations compulsory for some legs).

I wouldn't bother spending a night in Interlaken, as there's really no reason to do that. The trip from Interlaken Ost to Gimmelwald is relatively short and with arrival at ~14:30 you should be in Gimmelwald by late afternoon.

The method I'd probably use would be to buy the tickets (with reservations) when you arrive in Monterosso. As I recall, there's a full service station there so you shouldn't have any problems with that. Possibly one of the "rail experts" here will have an alternate method to suggest, but I don't think you'll have any problems. You could also buy the tickets at Venezia Santa Lucia or one of the travel agents in Venice (listed in Rick's book).

Happy travels!

Posted by
88 posts

Hi Kristina,

1./2. I looked into this path a lot in the reverse & those were the best connections. It took seven hours with these transfers. Interlaken - Spiez and Spiez - Brig were short trips and they run more than once if you happen to miss one. Brig - Milan was the longer route that needed reservations and didn't run as frequently. I can't sit on a train for seven hours straight, so I took a break in Milan for four/five hours. It's a good spot to take a break, as it's right in the middle of the lengthy trip (and then you have something interesting to remember from the day instead of just train cars). There were several Milan - CT trains throughout the day, so that wasn't a major concern. They definitely run earlier than 11AM. Check Deutsche Bahn for all the schedules. I left Lauterbrunnen at around 7:30, got to Milan around 11:30, left Milan around 4, and arrived in Manarola at around 7.

3./4. If you aren't set on Gimmelwald, I ended up staying in Lauterbrunnen instead & found it was much, much more convenient and faster and cheaper to travel around from there. But, if you are set on Gimmelwald, it's still doable--just plan on waking up earlier to take the cable car down to the station. It's probably easiest to just buy your Swiss tickets when you arrive & your Italy tickets when you stop in Milan.

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