treble

for family of four--what do you think about a train to Switzerland--maybe stopping somewhere in between for a night or two--Lake Maggiore or Como region? Or Innsbruck? Would like to end up in Bern or maybe Interlaken area. It seems expensive to rent car in Italy and return it in Germany. I am pretty sure we will want the car in Switzerland.(driving to and Departing from Frankfurt)

suze

I've done Geneva (Vevey or Montreux) to Venice by both overnight train and day train. Night train was direct, day route transfered at Sion.

leath

What train did you take from Venice to Geneva?

laartista

I did milan to Zurich and stopped in Innsbruck-loved it stayed for 4 days. Great hotel in Innsbruck is THE Penz. If I remember about 4.5 hours or so from Milan. You can check trains at www.trenitalia.com for Venice to Innsbruck.

suze

Leath, I don't know a number of anything. I just went to the train station and purchased a ticket.

I've done overnight trains in a private cabin (twice) from Vevey to Venice. You leave Vevey at midnight, arrive Santa Lucia in the very early morning. I also took a day train back from Venice which transferred at Sion then on to Vevey.

Steve_James

Leath - There are several trains daily between Venice and Geneva - journey time 7-8 hrs+. (You can also travel overnight).

You will normally have to change at Milan.

You can find details on the Trenitalia website:

www.trenitalia.com

Hope this helps ...

Steve

enzian

Treble---there are direct trains from Venice to Luzern; you could stop along the way at Lugano, about 5 hours from Venice. From there to Luzern is 2.5 hours. That will give you good access to the Interlaken area. You can also go to Milan and up to Bern from there. You can view all the possibilities on the Swiss rail site: http://www.sbb.ch/en/

I didn't check, but think the route via Innsbruck is longer and a bit less scenic.

Be sure to look into Swiss rail passes, especially the Family Card if your kids are under 16---they would travel for free.

suze

leath, I'm sorry I feel my post above sounded a bit curt and less than helpful. It's just I really don't know how I did it. But whatever it was couldn't have been that hard or I would have remembered it!

I will say I thought the day train was a bit too long of a trip. It was reasonably scenic but not spectacular (you go thru the 'backside' of most cities, towns, villages). In the future I'd probably stick to doing it overnight on that route.

leath

Thank you for all your input

Cicerone

I am NOT a fan a night trains at all, and so I really like your idea of stopping in Como. First it is very beautiful, and secondly, it breaks up the trip quite nicely. You also get to see the scenery which you can't do from a night train. (Contrary to Suze, I find the scenery quite pretty, esp from Lake Como onwards, although the drier Italian countyside has its charms as well.) You could get to a town like Varenna in 4.5 hours from Venice, just long enough for kids to enjoy but not get antsy. (To the town of Como, the train takes less than 4 hours, but if you don't stay in Como, which I wouldn't, you have to get a ferry to get to the other villages, so that adds to the time, unless you stay at the Villa D'este just outside Como which I heartily recoo but you might not want to pay those prices for kids). From Vareena to Interlaken is about 6 hours. I think the Como area merits at least 2 nights, there are some good walks, villas and gardens and good ferry rides. Also with the long days in June, you can take late evening trains and still arrive at 10 pm while it will still be light and can fit a lot into a day.

You should at least look into flying from Venice to Zurich or even Bern if you can get a cheap non-stop flight. If may not be much more than the train and would save quite a bit of time. I don't know how long your trip is. If you are renting a car, you may not be buying a rail pass, so the train from Venice may not be any bargain.

Think long and hard about that night train from Venice to Switzerland, esp to get to the Interlaken area which will require several changes. I did this last year after a 20 year hiatus from night trains thinking it would be "fun" for my nieces and nephews who had not experienced European trains. It was anything but fun. We of course had hot weather and air conditioning froze the people on the lower bunks and boiled/suffocated the people in the upper; you may not have that problem. Also there are NO first class sleepers on this route (and I asked Swiss Rail about this basically every day for weeks), only second class couchettes, which were not comfortable nor that clean, the bathrooms were not good, dining car was so crowded we could not get in at all. Also, the actual time for the journey is not that long, as you don't leave Venice until 11 pm, so you don't actually get that much sleep on the train and are pretty much exhausted. All in all I would never do it again. (the reccos above to go to Vevey or Geneva are fine and there may be first class cars on that route, but you want to get to the Interlaken area, which would require backtracking and don't seem to make a lot of sense to me. The area is very very beautiful and worth a trip, but from your other posts, I believe you already have an itinerary for the Bernese Oberland.)

From Venice it is 5 hours to Innsbruck with no changes. It is then 6 to 6.5 hours to Interlaken, the longer train has the fewest changes (1). But either trip would be OK with kids IMO, not too long. I have only done a portion of this trip (Zurich to St Anton, part of this route) it was scenic, can't speak for the Venice-Innsbruck portion.

Lugano mentioned above, also works to break up the trip nicely. Venice to Lugano is 4 hours. Lugano to Interlaken is about 5 hours, and if you take the train which goes via Bellinzona, the trip is through some great deep valleys. However, I have to say that I don't find Lugano to have quite the same great beauty as Como, and it does not have the villas and gardens, and although it is in the Italian part of Switzerland, does not have the same Italian feel as Como. It is however, quite pretty, and may work for you. There are some good walks here as well.

Another alternative if you are thinking of renting a car and need to return it in Germany, is that you might want to consider taking the train from the Lake Como to Konstanz on the German side of Lake Constance/Bodensee (which borders Switzerland), picking up a rental car there and drive to the Interlaken area. The train from Como would take 5 hours (if you are in Ravenna, then the trip takes 7 hours, it might be faster to take a ferry down to Como or to Menaggio and do a combo of bus and train) This would save you the drop off charges. Moreover, there is an extremely fun drive from the Lake Constance area up and over the Klausenpass and down into Interlaken with some spectacular scenery. This drive would take about 2 hours. (You could also take a longer drive and include other passes.) I can give directions if you are interested. You could also spend a few days in the Constance/Appenzell area which is very beautiful as well (it is Heidiland.)

You could also, at the end of your Swiss trip, take a train from Interlaken to Konstanz (3.5 hours). and rent the car there to drive to Frankfurt

adeben

Here's what we did a couple a years ago: Train from Venice to Milan in the AM, then a train up around Lake Como to Tirano on the border. This is a pleasant ride, but does not compare with the Bernina Express that takes you from the border through St Moritz to Chur. This is one of the most spectacular train rides in the world. You will arrive at Chur in the late afternoon: Stay there overnight, have a look around, and then catch the train the next day to Interlaken. While in Interlaken, take a trip on the mountain railway via Grindelwald to Kleine Schiedegg which is at the base of the North Wall of the Eiger Mountain. Lunch on the balcony of the hotel there has much to recommend it. From there you could take a return trip up to the research station on the Jungfraujoch, which is only worthwhile on a clear day, and is then sensational. From Kleine Schiedegg, you return to Interlaken via Wengen.

Cicerone

I was thinking of reccoing the Bernina too orginally, but with kids and attendant luggage, etc was not sure it would work as a way to get between places. There is not a whole lot of room in the cars for luggage, and you also have a take a bus from Como to Tirano, again with lugagge kind of a pain. I agree that the train ride is quite spectacular.

Treble, if you are interested, take a look at rhb.ch

I had once thought I doing this with my parents as a way to get from Zurich to Como, but ruled it out due to luggage, the bus, etc. People on this board also said the scenery on the bus trip was not that great, esp compared to the train between Como and Zurich, which does have some great scenery. In the end, we did the Bernina on one day, and went to Como via the regular Swiss train later in the week.

Chur is a major rail hub and from there you could take a train to Konstanz in about 2.5 hours and overnight there (to get a rental car in Germany) or Zurich or I could suggest other small towns along the route toward Interlaken as well, or you could go to Zurich fro the night where the trains to Interlaken go first anyway. I am not really a fan of Chur, it does have a nice old town, but is otherwise quite industrial. Also, you won't get to Chur until about 6 pm on the Bernina, so while you can walk around the old town, not much is open (other than restaurants).

adeben

We took the train from Milan all the way to Tirano.

treble

We have reworked our trip a bit, now will be traveling from Interlaken area (maybe Grindelwald?) to Milan. (probably visiting Como area as daytrip) Then on to Venice. It appears that there is a 4 minute change of train in Spiez. Is this possible???

Larryincolorado

Four minutes? It would be in Germany, and I have no reason to believe the Swiss are any less efficient. If the incoming train is on time you might only have to go accross the platform. If you have to change platforms, the conductor will be watching that everyone gets on. But, that doesn't mean you can stay seated until the train comes to a stop, like on an airplane. You need to be in the vestibule, ready to get off, when the train stops. Then follow the crowd.

In Germany, they know what trains people are connecting to, and they hold the outgoing train to give you time to make the connection.

treble

Yeah, that is what I figured, but jumping off with two kids and luggage may take us too long if it isn't just across the platform...

enzian

Treble---we have done this change at Spiez many times with no problem (9 of us, including kids, on the last trip). You can get the track numbers ahead of time from the SBB website (www.sbb.ch
Alert everyone several minutes in advance, and move to the door area of your train car, with your luggage. When the train stops, open the door, hop out, and go to the other track. As I recall, it was always the same platform---just the other track. Four minutes is plenty of time.