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Hello, my husband and I will be traveling north from Florence to Lake Como late September. We want to go to Switzerland and focus on the western cities for about 3-4 days.
Q1 Should we fly into Rome or Milan and depart out of Zurich? Or should we fly round trip into Milan and then take the trains?
Q2 Is it possible to go from Lake Cumo to Lucerne and then Bern and then to interlakken, Grindlewald, Wengen, and then Zermatt and then fly out of Milan?
Q3 Or is it better to go from Lake Cumo to Zermatt, Interlakken, Grindelwalk, Wengen, Bern and then Lucerne and then fly out of Zurich?
Q4 Possible itinerary would be take the train from Lake Como to Interlaken and then do day trips to Bern, Lucerne and Zermatt?
Which trains? Thanks for your suggestions.
n.
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Hello nmowbray and Welcome to MySwissAlps,
You can use the Swiss Train Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to plan your travel and work out how to get from basically anywhere to anywhere in an around Switzerland and surrounding countries. You’ll need to used the advanced timetable on the right hand side of the page. If you haven’t used it before it will pay to read the instructions on that page before delving into the timetable.
Q1. Depends on what itnerary you settle on and whether you get better air fares arriving and departing same airport.
Q2. Yes. Use the timetable I linked to above. Note Lake Como is quite large – some parts are easier t get to Lucerne from than others.
Q3. Your Q2 route is probably more efficient in terms of travel time.
Q4. Yes but Interlaken is more of a tourist hub with lots of hotels and restaurants. It is not in the Alps. If you want to experience the Alps consider a stay in Wengen.
You might also want to consider a Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass). You should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).
What time of the year are you travelling?
Hello,
We will be traveling late September – early October. We are now thinking we would go from Florence to Lake Como and stay in Varenna for 2 nights. From there we would take the train to Interlakken (5 1/2 hour train ride) and stay there for 3 nights and do day hikes to Grindelwald, Murren, Wengen, and Jungfraujoch. if the weather is bad we would do a day trip to Bern or or Gruyes or Lucerne and then fly out of Zurich. We are a bit concerned the weather won’t be that nice in Lake Como and thinking maybe we avoid that entirely. Also, I recall their was a chocolate store at the top of the Alps? which city was that? What do you suggest? thanks,
Hi nmowbray,
The chocolate store is at the top of Jungfraujoch. Should you go to Gruyeres you may want to go to the Chocolate factory (Maison Cailler) in Broc as well.
Thanks for your help!!
Hi there,
We are getting excited as our trip plans become more clear. This is more specific of our travel – Unfortunately our trip is in Sept!
Day 1 Varenna Italy to Como via Ferry – Gestione Nvigazione Laghi Italia
Como to Lucerne – Swiss Railways or Gotthard Panorama Ex or is that the same?
Day 2 Lucerne to Interlaken – Zentralbahn or Golden Pass Line or is that the same? what do you suggest?
Any suggestions as to what to do in Interlaken for the afternoon? Our base will be in Interlaken for the next 2 nights.
Day 3 Day trip to Jungfrau, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Grindewald
Day 4 Day trip to Schilthorn, Gimmelwald and Murren
If the weather is bad we will go explore Bern
Day 5 Train from Interlaken to Zurich Airport
Which rail pass do you think is best?
Thanks again for your help!
The Gotthard Panorama Express (http://www.myswissalps.com/go tthardpanoramaexpress) departs Lugano once a day at 9:23am. Can you get there from Varrena by then? If not you can follow the same route Lugano to Flüelen (where steamers to Luzern depart) via Göschenen on regular trains.
The Luzern to Interlaken Express is part of the Golden Pass Line (http://www.myswissalps.com/go ldenpass).
Afternoon in Interlaken look at Harder Kulm, Schynige Platte or Lake Brienz or Lake Thun cruise.
Hi nmowbray,
Use the Swiss railways timetable to plan out your trips and make sure you can make connections and see the duration of the trips.
To know for sure which is the best rail pass you will need to plan out all of your trips and do the math to compare costs. Check out our page here for help: How to choose the best rail pass.
You might want to look at the Swiss Travel Pass for 4 days or perhaps the Swiss Half Fare Card. For convenience you can’t beat the Swiss Travel Pass.
For other ideas around Interlaken, see our Interlaken activities page here.
Hi, we are thinking of taking the Gotthard express train on Monday, October 8th. I think I read that the Gotthard express train does not run on Monday’s in October. Can you confirm that? If not possible, is their another train we could take from either Locarno or Lugano to Luzern? Thank you!!
The Gotthard Panorama Express runs up to 14th October 2018 but does not run on Mondays.
You can take a regular train from Lugano to Flüelen via Göschenen. At Flüelen you can connect with a steamer to Lucerne.
Make sure you go via Göschenen or you will end up going the fast route through the 57km-long Gotthard Base Tunnel. No scenery down there.
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