Best train ticket: Lyon-Lucerne-Lauterbrunnen-Chur

Hi we are wanting to take the train from Lyon to Lucerne on the 19th June this year. We will use Lucerne as our base leaving on the 22nd June travelling to Chur. We will take the Bernina Express to Castelfranco Veneto (or as far as it goes) on the 23rd June and then take a train to Castelfranco.

On the 20th we want to look around Lucerne and go up the Hammetschwand Lift and then on the 21st June go to Lauterbrunnen for the day.

We will leave Lucerne on the 22nd and stay overnight in Chur.

As we are travelling from Australia we will have our luggage with us and hand luggage (hence using Lucerne as a base and doing the day trip to Lauterbrunnen.

Nothing is finalised so any suggestions you can give us regarding the best way of buying train tickets, which ones to buy, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

G'day Deni61 and Welcome to MySwissAlps

A base in Lucerne makes sense. On 22nd you could consider taking boat to Flüelen, then train to Andermatt and follow Glacier Express (www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress) route across to Chur. If the boat doesn't appeal you could probably get to Andermatt to in time to catch the actual Glacier Express.

You can use the Swiss Train Timetable (www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to figure out how long various trips take. If you haven’t used it before it will pay to read the instructions on that page before delving into the timetable.

The Bernina Express (www.myswissalps.com/be rninaexpress) runs between Chur to Tirano and takes 4h 17m. You are then in Italy. From there to Castelfranco Veneto is going to take you anywhere between 6 and almost 8 hours depending on connections. See www.rome2rio.com/s/Tir ano/Castelfranco-Veneto for a rough guide.

Hi Rockoyster thanks for replying. If we are doing the Bernina Express, would we want to do the Glacier Express as well or would it be better to get to Chur and have a look at the town?

Or are you saying catching a normal train that does the same route as the Glacier Express?

Hi Deni,

The Glacier Express (route) is just a more scenic way of getting to Chur from Lucerne then the standard Lucerne to Zurich to Chur route. You can take the actual Glacier Express or regular trains following the same route.

The boat trip to Flüelen is wonderful.

Andermatt to Chur is only 2h 21m. The latest GEX (as the Glacier Express is denoted on the timetable) departs Andermatt 12:54. and arrives Chur at 15:15. Chur has a nice old town but there is not much else to see there. I'd say you could walk right round it in a couple of hours.

You could of course spend the morning in Lucerne visiting Rigi or Pilatus or Titlis even and still make it to Chur at a reasonable hour. The fastest connection is just over 2 hours via Thalwil near Zurich.

If you are at Lauterbrunnen a very nice circuit to do is to Grütschalp (cable car), Mürren (cogwheel train), Gimmelwald (cable car), Stechelberg (cable car), Lauterbrunnen (bus). From Mürren you can easily visit Schiltorn if you have time. In between Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen the bus stops at the Trummelbach Falls. Well worth a look.

All these places mentioned above are searcheable on the MySwissAlps website.

PS Out of interest I had a look at the Swiss Timetable for February. There is a train leaving Tirano at 13:08 taking 5h 50m to reach Castlefranco Veneto with 2 changes. Connections are not yet showing for June but should be pretty similar. See attached.

Hi Deni,

We have a page here on how to choose the best rail pass that has a spreadsheet to help you. You will need to check the prices of all your planned train, bus, gondola, boat tickets (you plan to take) and do the math to compare prices.

Be sure to check this page as well: www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses.

Thanks for all your help Rockoyster. We are in Europe for 6 weeks so there is alot of planning of transport so I greatly appreciate your help. My daughter was in Lauterbrunnen last year and did a few walks to the waterfalls and just loved it . I very much like your suggestion though. I will look at the Glacier Express cost and the normal train and do the comparison. Thanks once again.

No worries Deni. Note GEX and BEX both require reservations which is a cost over and above the tickets or Swiss Travel Pass or whichever pass you choose.

Hi there,

We are an older couple based in Lucerne for 6 nights. We want to buy the rail pass ticket, but are not sure which one is the best. We intend to spend at least 4 days travelling to see the mountains and hopefully go on the cable cars etc.

Any suggestions

Hi Nickels and Welcome to MySwissAlps,

To avoid confusion you really should start a new thread on the forum.

In the meantime you should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).