Suggestions 3 day trip to visit Alps from Milan

Hello. We will be visiting Italy and staying in Milan. We would love to spend a few days touring the beautiful Alps and I was hoping you could answer a few questions to help me plan this.

1. What is the best way to get from Milan to an area in Switzerland where we can board a train to visit the Alps?

2. If you can offer any suggestions of which places would be the most breathtaking/ beautiful to visit via train during the month of October (19-23) or "must see" areas I would greatly appreciate it. I would love to see the most beautiful area of mountains but was also hoping to stay in a little town surrounded by the mountains but that offers shopping, things to do etc. We would like to stay for 1 or 2 nights so hotel suggestions in that area? What are the best trains that would take us to those areas? For ex does the train that travels to St. Moritz provide the type of scenery we are are hoping for and does that town 'fit the bill' as far as things to do but convenient to the train

3. We would need to return to Milan on Oct 22. via train. Which train would we take? IS there then transportation to return us to Milan?

Again, given the time constraints, do you have any suggestions for 'must see' breathtaking beautiful areas? Thank you in advance for any help

Hi travelinmama,

Thank you for your post! There are numerous places that are very beautiful. I would suggest to stick to the southern part of the Swiss Alps because you come from Milan and have limited time. St. Moritz is surrounded by mountains and offers shopping and other activities. Zermatt is such a town too, but feels more like a village and is car free. You may like that a bit better.

You can take a train to Zermatt and stay for a few days, then take the Glacier Express to St. Moritz, stay the night, and take a train via the Bernina Express route to Tirano and finally to Milan.

This is just one of many options. There are (customizable) rail holiday packages too.

Thanks so much. I appreciate the help. I have never heard of that town before so I will definitely look into it. I am assuming that we just buy the train tickets as we go? OR do we need /should we have reservations ahead of time?

Oh, for the train from Zermatt, is that a local train? Which one? I assume it is from Milan directly to Zermatt?

Someone told me that St. Moritz is only for skiing but it sounds like there is shopping there as well and that "small town feel?"

Finally for the Bernina Express frmo St. Moritz to Milan, do you suggest a reservation and will I need to change trains?

Thanks so much

You're welcome! You first need an itinerary, then decide whether regular tickets or passes fit your plan. You probably need some kind of pass to save money.

All train schedules are in the timetable. The trains I mentioned require reservations (please see the pages I linked to), other trains in Switzerland do not (please see here).

Skiing in St. Moritz is only possible a few months per year, in Winter. There's much more to do (see the link in my previous post).