[Anonymous]

29 July 2018 at 15:47:29 #817562

We are looking for the best option to do a day scenery trip to see the Alps (and stay for a night) in Switzerland. Can someone recommend the cheapest and best option from Milano Malpensa Airport to some beautiful village in Switzerland that have a view to a lake and the Alps. We don’t know if Thun is a right option. The Idea is to go to Switzerland the 10th of September and go back to Italy the 11th.

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[User]

Reply 1 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 6:08:32 #892779

Hi Alquinones83 and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Generally, the farther you travel in Switzerland, the more expensive the trip, so if you need to keep costs down, don’t stray too far from the Italian border. If I were looking for a Swiss mountain experience and just had 1 night from Italy I would go to Zermatt. https://www.myswissalp s.com/zermatt

Have a look at the train options, using the Swiss railways timetable: https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable and find tickets from Italy to Switzerland for sale here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly

[Peterli]

Reply 2 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 8:07:18 #892780

Hello,

You certainly aren’t giving yourself much time in Switzerland ! Lucas is correct about travel being expensive in Switzerland. Also, the further you travel into Switzerland, the more of both of your two days will be taken up by travel. I assume you are planning to do this little foray by train. Zermatt would certainly be the closest mountain experience. The Matterhorn (Monte Cervino) is on the Italian/Swiss border, but you can’t get to Zermatt directly from the Italian side (the Aosta Valley). But you say you want << a view to a lake and the Alps >> and if both of these are important, I suggest you consider going to Spiez, not far from Thun, or Thun itself, as you have suggested. Time-wise it might even be a quicker trip than to Zermatt, especially if you take the Lötschberg Base Tunnel. Here’s hoping that the weather will be great on September 10 and 11.

[User]

Reply 3 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 9:30:57 #892781

Yes, Thun and Spiez and good suggestions also considering the routing to Zermatt!

[AMerchant]

Reply 4 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 14:42:01 #892782

Lugano is only 1.5hr from Milan by direct train and has a lake, alps and a miniature museum

[Peterli]

Reply 5 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 19:41:03 #892783

Hello A,

I may be entirely wrong, but I suspect that Lugano would not be what our friend is looking for. True, Lugano is much closer than the other places we have discussed, and true it is located beside a lake (Lugano), but I’m pretty sure that the Alps aspect would not fit the bill. They are too far away to be appreciated in the way they are in places like Zermatt or Lake Thun. Add to this the fact that culturally (language, customs and architecture) and physiographically, going to Lugano is hardly an enormous change from surrounding areas in Italy. I think this is why Lucas and I did not give Lugano a thought.

I have been to SwissMiniatur in Melide a couple of times. I once took a photo of the model of Monte San Salvatore with the real one in the background. Kind of fun lining them up for that photo. They even have the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau but in miniature they kind of pale compared to the real thing.

[Arno]

Reply 6 of 8 • 30 July 2018 at 20:40:33 #892784

Lugano is more like a city than a village, and it’s in the pre-Alps as Peterli said. It’s a very nice area but it depends on your expectations if it qualifies for you. A ride with the cogwheel train to Monte Generoso is very nice. You can see the “actual” Alps in the distance from there.

[User]

Reply 7 of 8 • 1 August 2018 at 11:40:21 #892785

Thanks to everyone that took the time to reply to my message. Like I said the idea is to see the Alps and have that combination of the lake , the village and the awesome view of the mountains. So for what I read Spiez and Thun are good options. But what train pass is the best option in our case for my wife and I? And what train should we take that have the best views? I am worried that I reserve a pass and end up paying a lot more later. The short trip is because we are going to Italy to meet with some friends but they arrived later so we decided to make a short trip to see the Alps. But we will explore Switzerland in another occasion this is just a preview. Thanks again for your time and your suggestions!

[User]

Reply 8 of 8 • 1 August 2018 at 15:17:26 #892786

If your only trips on public transport in Switzerland is the train into and out of the country then I doubt any rail pass would save you money. The more you travel the more you save.

If you want to look at prices for tickets from Italy into Switzerland (to Spiez, Thun or other), there are some online sites here to check out: https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets/ita ly