We will be traveling by train from the cinque terre region to brig switzerland in early october and are unsure of the best route to get there. Is it best to go to Milano from La Spezia and then connect to Brig? We want to arrive in Brig as early as possible. Thank you for any help you can give us.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16321 posts
You definitely want to get to Milan to connect with the train to Brig. Generally you would take a regional train from your CT village north to Monterosso to pick up the IC train to Milan, rather than backtracking south to La Spezia. The trouble is that the trains from Milan to Brig depart at 7:25 and 8:25, and then there is a gap to 11:25. You can't make the earlier ones coming from Cinque Terre, so you will be on that 11:25 train (IC 52) at the earliest. The train schedules (Bahn.de, rail.ch) both show that to catch that train, you need to depart your Cinque Terre village on the first morning train (before 6 am) to Monterosso. Then you will have a wait of almost an hour, to 6:55 am, to catch the IC 35058 that goes to Milan with no changes. You'll arrive in Milan at 10:00 and have 1 hour 25 minutes before your train to Brig. In other words, lots of waiting time. You can see these routes and schedules at rail.ch or bahn.de. Trenitalia will show you the schedule for the regionale train between the villages, but only for the coming week. Still, they should not change much if at all between now and early October.
Posted by
OP
Lake Geneva, WI, USA
3 posts
Great information. Thank you!