TysonCook

Hello,
My wife and I are planning on traveling into rome, and out of London. We can connect via a LCC in Geneva or Zurich (either one has good connections).

We plan to spend 2-3 days in the alps, but weren't sure if the train route from Milan to Geneva was more scenic and "explorable", or if the Milan to Zurich would be better?

Possibly Milan to lausanne, then fly out of GVA?

Any suggestions, we're also asking a friend of ours from Italy and another from CH.

Thanks in advance!!!

closetasfan

I once took a local type trip which was from Venice to Nice on a Europass. when you wake up, you have a view of the southern coast of Italy and France, well and Monaco. It was the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. You can pick up that train from Milan too I believe. I don't have a lot of experience with other trains though.

Track

Milan to Geneva is not bad, but the Simplon tunnel takes up a good portion of it. Milan to Zuerich via the Gotthard route is one of the greatest train trips of all, at least it will be until the Gotthard tunnel is finished in a few years.
If you have enough time, though, I would take the local train from Milan to Tirano and then the Rhaetische Bahn over the Albula Pass (the highest Alpine railway crossing not in a tunnel) and then via Davos, Chur and Andermatt to Zuerich to see the best parts of the Alps (at least from a train window).
What do you mean by an "explorable" route? Do you want to get off the train at various points?

catandmouse

Well the Simplon is about 15-20 minutes of a 4-4 1/2 hour journey. I would guess both are rather good train rides, probably in the top ten train rides in Europe.
For Milan - Geneva, you would get to see Lago Maggiore, Stresa, which are very beautiful, then the climb up to the Simplon on the Italian side, which is quite spectacular, then the ride down the Rhone in the Valais on the Swiss side, followed by the length of Lake Geneva. There's something to see out of the window, pretty much the whole length of the trip.
Milan - Zurich will be a bit similar, though I'm not familiar with that routing.

TysonCook

Thank you for the replies.
I mean exploring because we have 3.5 days to make the trip (we will fly from either Zurich or Geneva to London on Saturday evening).

So we have wed, thur, friday to go from Milan and explore around on our way to Geneva or Zurich (both have flights to London).

I didn't want to take an express train, and not be able to get off and possibly spend a night at a small alps town :-)

Since time isn't too much of a concern, my thoughts were to take the prettiest train ride, stay a couple of nights in alp towns and then fly out of Geneva or Zurich.

MarcoRT

With that time Id agree to travel with local trains and postal bus via Lugano, St. Moritz, Davos, Chur, Zurich. From Milan to Lugano in Switzerland is an easy train ride and after Swiss public transports brings you to the smallest alpine villages.

I noticed you wantet to travel to LGW (other thread). FYI theres also aerlingus.com flying from Zurich. Theyre as cheap as Easyjet, similar style.

stimpy

I've taken the Cisaplino to Milan and it was quite pretty. However nothing beats hiring a car and driving the high passes yourself. Then you can stop whenever you want for photos or lunch or to just sit and gaze from on high.

It costs a bit extra for a one-way rental, but it's worth it as a special trip.

TysonCook

Super!
So my wife and I will plan on taking ~3 days to explore the area.

We've decided to skip Milan, (spend more time in Florence).

Plan would be Florence to Milan, then transfer at Milan and head toward Tirano...spending the night along the way or in Tirano itself.
(I think that the Rhaetische Bahn is in this area, so we would incorporate it here :-0

Next day leave Tirano, go to St. Moritz, Davos, Chur...staying somewhere along the way.

Next day wake up, go from Chur to Zurich and catch our 7pm flight to London.

Does this seem reasonable?

I'm going to skip the car as my wife gets terribly car sick (with my driving ^ ).

MarcoRT

I do like your plan.

And yes the part from Tirano to Chur is Rhaetische Bahn (RHB) you can check
their timetable and also connections to Zurich(-Airport) on sbb.ch. Chur to Zurich is under two hours so you also have some time to explore the city there.

Enjoy your trip.

GITU

Go through Arth-Goldau - take Zürich and save some time. Book in advance!

TysonCook

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand...could you elaborate :-) Thanks for all the help!!! My wife and I are already reading up on Florence and getting ready to book the Alps stuff :-)

Grrrreeeeat!

GITU

Your choice was leave from Zürich or Geneva, right?

When you go to sbb.ch/en type in Zurich to Milan via Arth-Goldau.

It's a beautiful area where a lot of hiking and biking takes place. I may cross paths with you!

nrr

The train route Milan to Geneva, enters Switzerland via the Simplon Tunnel. One possible routing is to get off in Domodossola and take the Centovalli line to Locarno and take the Gottard line to Zurich. You get to see nice lakes and mountain scenery.
Another possibility is: On the Milan Geneva route, de-train at Montreux (a very beautiful city on Lac Leman) and transfer to the line operated by the MOB (Montreux Oberland Bahn) to Zweissimen (this route passes thorough ritzy towns like Gaastad (2nd home to many famous movie stars) and smaller towns as well. Most of the scenery is spectacular. Then from Zweissimen to Spiesz and Interlaken Ost, where one can take the scenic route to Luzern (Lucerene, French spelling) via Meiringen. Luzern is a nice city to stay in, with the covered bridges; a boat trip out on Lake Luzern, if one has time, is worth it. From Luzern to Zurich is only an hour, to Zurich airport is about 15 minutes more.
Switzerland has so many scenic routes, that you could spend a month of continuous rail travel and not cover them all.
PS: Look in post #14, Roger has corrected some of my spelling errors--this PS is being added on 4/6/09.

Roger

Assuming that the OP is not familiar with Switzerland, here are some amendments to this helpful post in case the OP is consulting guidebooks:

Lac Leman is Lake Geneva in English.
Zweissimen = Zweisimmen
Gaastad = Gstaad
Spiesz = Spiez
Luzern (Lucerene, French spelling) - French spelling is Lucerne, as is the English spelling.
Lake Luzern - English is Lake Lucerne. (German is Vierwaldstättersee.)

nrr

Thanks for correcting my spelling errors. I have enough trouble spelling US cities names correctly--Foreign names (especially those in two different languages can be a real pain.) The first time I traveled to Europe, I couldn't figure out where Bale (cirumflex on the a) and Aix-la-Chapelle were for example--the train schedules I looked at had Basle and Aachen.