Switzerland Without The Mountains & Alps

Heya Lonely Planeteers,

I'm flying into Rome on 19/3/2012 and out of Zurich 3/4/2012.

I'll be taking a train from Milan into Switzerland and will spend about 5 days in Switzerland.

Initially my plan was to do the Golden Pass train route and try to see more of Switzerland in a short time before spending the rest of the time in Lucerne. I enjoy old towns and from the pictures I've seen Lucerne sounds perfect for me.

However, I learnt that the train from Milan stops either in Bern or Zurich. I checked pictures of Bern and I realised it's full of old town charm. It's super amazing and beautiful!

If I drop the Golden Pass train route and just do Bern and Lucerne in 5 - 6 days, do you guys reckon that I'll miss out a lot of Switzerland? What do you guys think? Should I do the Golden Pass train route and give either Bern or Lucerne a miss? Or are there other parts of Switzerland I should see instead? Although I love old towns, I'm open to other options too.

Thanks in advance for the advice :)

Joycie.

Bern and Lucerne = nice towns/cities. The Golden Pass = mountains. You'll love it all. It's purely your choice whether you wanna do mountains or towns. There's no wrong answer.

Map with the classic scenic routes in Switzerland
Traveling from Milan to Bern the trains will fellow the route #7 (Lötschberger). A normal gauge main train line.
From Bern to Lucerne you can use the Golden Pass Line between Spiez and Bern. Normal gauge main line till Interlaken Ost. From there by a narrow gauge cogwheel train to Lucerne.
Another option is to use a regional train from Milan to Tirano. From there using the Bernina Express to Chur. Which is in my opinion the most impressive of these scenic train routes.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not that familiar with train travel at so the advice here really helps.

Also, I just learnt that I could actually hop on a train from Venice to Switzerland so I might just give Milan a miss all together. Which means I probably gonna just do Rome to Venice then into Switzerland.

Are there any train routes you love and would recommend if my end destination is Lucerne? It doesn't have to be a continuous train journey. I wouldn't mind stopping at any of the town/cities for a day or two before getting to Lucerne.

Sorry for being a total noob about train travel.

Thanks :)

There are tons of scenic routes:

A) Venice - Calalzo - Cortina d'Ampezzp - Toblach - Franzensfeste - Bozen - Mals - Glurns - Mustair - Zernez - St. Moritz - Glacier Express - Brig - Loetschberger - Spiez - Golden Pass - Lucerne
A1) Venice - Verona - Bozen ....
A2) ....Mals - Nauders - Scuol - St. Moritz ....
A3) .....St. Moritz - Chur - Pfaeffikon - Einsiedeln - Lucerne
A4) ....St. Moritz - Glacier Express - Andermatt - Goeschenen - Lucerne

B) Venice - Milan - Como - boat - Bellano - train - Tirano - Bernina-Express - St. Moritz - Glacier Express - Brig .....
B1) Venice - Brescia - Bergamo - Lecco - Bellano - Tirano.....
B2) Venice - Brescia - Edolo - Tirano .....

C) Venice - Milan - Stresa - boat - Locarno - panoramic Centovalli train - Domodossola - Brig .....
C1) .... Brig - Montreux - Golden Pass - Gstaad - Spiez - Interlaken - Lucerne

You may have a look at
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/home.html
http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html
http://www.rhb.ch/Video-Glacier-eng.784.0.html?&L=4
http://www.rhb.ch/Video-Bernina-eng.782.0.html?&L=4
http://www.rhb.ch/UNESCO-Clip-eng.1061.0.html?&L=4

BTW: all itineraries from Italy to either Berne or Lucerne cross the high Alps, you can only choose between long railway tunnels through or scenic routes over the mountains

Edited by: neckervd