eigasuki

I'll be in Venice late January and plan to travel to Paris (I have a Eurostar-to-London ticket already booked) via Switzerland. I have three days set aside to do this. After three weeks in Italy I feel I will have had my fill of historical buildings, churches and museums etc and am looking for a scenic route back to Paris rather than a detailed visit to Switzerland. I want to see snow, mountains etc rather than buildings, shopping etc but don't want to spend all the time on the train.

My original idea was to take the Glacier Express but reading these forums (fora?) has made me think twice.

I thought of going via Milan to Lake Como or Lugarno and next day heading onto Lausanne and thus to Paris the following day, but wondered if there are other more scenic or interesting options I could accomplish in much the same time?

I'd like to stay somewhere overnight where I could get out into the snow (I'm from west coast Australia where it never snows so snow and mountains are a treat for me - I can't just go past!) I know it's not really enough time, but it's a long way to come and it's a big world, lots of other countries to see etc, so, please, no lectures on that topic! I could possibly cut Venice short one night as I'd really like to stay in a small area right in the mountains rather than a big city. Any suggestions?

TopMan

It might be helpful if you indicated why you have decided not to do the Glacier Express although from Venice into Switzerland it would be more difficult to do the whole GE route.

ONE possibility would be to take the train from Venice via Milan and then to Brig. IF you are interested you could change in Brig for the 1 hr 20 minute ride up to Zermatt (the western portion of the GE route) and from there go up to the Gornergratt or to Kleine Matterhorn) You might even overnight in Zermatt.

If you do this it means backtracking to Brig on the return; from Brig it is an easy shot eventualkly along the northern edge of Lac Leman to Lausanne from which you can get a TGV to Paris.

Another possibility would be a routing through the St. Gotthard tunnel out of Milan eventually changing for Bern where you can also get TGV services into France.

Many possibilities of which these are only two.

swandav2000

Hi eigasuki,

I agree with Topman's first suggestion: go to Zermatt. It's not too far out of your way, it's a charming wooded-chalet village (if you can overlook the overcrowding of hotels . . .), and it'll have lots of snow. You'll be able to take lots of hikes or gentle walks in the area to see those spectacular views.

Here are some train schedules using 20 Jan as a random date:

Venice - Zermatt will be about 7h38, leaving Venice at 13.04 and arriving in Zermatt at 20.42 after changes in Milan & Brig. I don't know why there isn't an early-am departure listed at the SBB site . . .

There is a night train leaving Venice at 23.05, changing in Brig at 06.53, and arriving in Zermatt at 08.24.

The trip to Paris will be about 7h37 with changes in Visp & Lausanne; a train leaves Zermatt at 09.30 and arrives in Paris at 17.07.

You can check the train schedules at www.rail.ch.

I suggest you browse around www.webshots.com for photos of Zermatt; also go to www.zermatt.ch to see what the village looks like. That may help you make up your mind.

Let me know if you'd like more information!

s

eigasuki

<quote>It might be helpful if you indicated why you have decided not to do the Glacier Express</quote>
<b>Topman</b> I haven't yet decided not to, just heard it's a long way for only a few parts of spectacular scenery and as you suggested, you don't need to do the whole lot.

I was wondering if it might be better to go to Interlaken and do the Golden Pass to Montreux or maybe would I have time to do the Bernina Express ?

suze

Lausanne and Montreux both sit right on Lac Leman. Finding snow in the towns along the lake is fairly unusual. Happens a few times each winter, but I would not count on it for any given day.

TopMan

Thanks for your reply. The reason I asked is I've done the GE several times, both in the dead of Winter and in the Summer/Fall.

I last did it in April of this year..the entire route from Zermatt to St. Moritz. Depending on your point of view, all three &quot;sections&quot; (Zermatt-Brig; Brig-Chur; Chur-St. Moritz) have their share of &quot;spectacular scenery and I've always enjoyed the trip.

However, in the Winter the route is through the Furka tunnel which can cut off some of the scenery. You could go as far as Brig and then take the GE from Brig to Chur and then go from Chur to Zurich or Lucern or Bern.

The trip back and forth Brig-Zermatt has some great views and a lot of that route is on the rack so fairly steep. Perhaps enough of a taste without spending a whole eight hours.

sandi_travelnut

I'm doing something similar..but the opposite direction. After 4 days in Paris, we're taking the train to Montreux, spending the night then on to Venice.

eigasuki

Thanks for all the great feedback. After talking to some friends who have done similar things, I'm now considering the Bernina Express route. I checked out the trains and leaving Venice at about 8 a.m. and changing trains at Milan around 11ish will see me at Tirano around 2.30pm. I think it would be pushing it to press on to ST Moritz at that time - arriving late and possibly losing the light and not seeing the views I've come to far to see. I have the time to break the journey and do the Tirano-ST Moritz leg earlier in the day. I'm thinking somewhere near Lake Como there must be a good place for a stopover but can't find that sort of detail on a map. Does anyone know a good place to stopover?

clevelandbrown

You might want to research the Bernina express route. I think the Lugano-Tirano leg is still by bus (which isn't bad), but when I checked a couple of years ago that leg was closed during winters.

Andre

Eigasuki,

Perhaps Varenna on Lake Como, located on the Milano-Tirano train route, would make a good overnight stop, though it will probably be VERY quiet at that time of year.

Otherwise, Sondrio looks kinda cute, with what appears to be a nice hotel with a good restaurant:
www.hotelposta.so.it/

Clevelandbrown: yes, there is bus service from Lugano to Tirano in the summer only, but Tirano has year-round train service from Milano.

Hope this helps,
Andre

eigasuki

Thanks Andre

I had considered Varenna - I believe the station is at Esino??

I assume Sondrio is also on the train line. The hotel does indeed look lovely. At first I thought, yeah right, like I could afford that! But the price seems quite reasonable Might be able to do it as a treat after all the scrimping I'll probably have been doing up to that point.

metlc

The Bernina Pass transit is a good idea.

Coming from Venice, I think I'd plan my stopover in Poschiavo, which must be stunning in January. That would give me a head start on the Pass trains the next day for the non-Glacier Pass section from Pontresina/St. Moritz down to Chur, which is great.

Steve_James

ES - If you want to stay a night on Lake Como, personally I'd choose Menaggio rather than Varenna at that time of year.

Menaggio is a 10 minute ferry ride across the lake from Varenna ...

Yes, Varenna station is called VARENNA-ESINO.
The dock is a 5-10 mins walk down from the station.

Hope this helps ...

Steve