The train on the right has arrived in Milano from Geneve

Genève / Geneva to Milano / Milan / Mailand by train

From western Switzerland to northern Italy on a fabulous railway journey

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Routes

From Genève/Geneva-Cornavin to Milano Centrale

Travel Information

Final Destination: Milano or Venezia

All trains also call at: Lausanne and Domodossola (connect for the 'Centovali Railway) and Stresa - for Lake Maggiore

4 x trains per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.

Check that you're booking for the direct trains; using the journey time to guide you.

Reservations will automatically be assigned when booking tickets - but rail pass users will either need to make reservations prior to boarding; paying the rail pass reservation fees, or avoid the direct trains.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
Trenitalia from €39

Trenitalia Guide

Trenitlalia is the national rail operator in Italy and in addition to its cheaper types of ticket; it also typically offers other discounts available to non-Italians, which include:

  • Group Offers, provides for a discount of up to 50% when 3-5 Adults travel together.
  • Family Offer for when groups of 2 - 5 people are travelling together and at least one of the party is a aged 11 and under.
  • The Children Free Offer is available for journeys by Frecce trains, when groups of 2 - 5 people are travelling together and at least one of the party is a aged 15 and under.
    Those aged 15 and under travel for free, but the Adults will need to purchase full price 'Base' tickets.
Trainline from €39

Trainline Guide

Omio from €39

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

Happyrail from €39

Happyrail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - YesLake viewsMountain views
Passing through the town of Vevey Passing through the town of Vevey
Travelling along the shore of Lake Geneva Travelling along the shore of Lake Geneva
The views of Lake Geneva are on the right The views of Lake Geneva are on the right
Between Lake Geneve and Sion Between Lake Geneve and Sion
Travelling through the vineyards between Sion and Visp Travelling through the vineyards between Sion and Visp
Heading south from the Simplon Tunnel Heading south from the Simplon Tunnel
Arriving in Domodossola Arriving in Domodossola
Lake Maggiore on the left north of Stresa Lake Maggiore on the left north of Stresa
Heading south from Stresa Heading south from Stresa

This is an enchanting journey, which tends to get overlooked, but not by ShowMeTheJourney, as it's been included in our list of Europe's Most Epic Express Train Journeys.

It's a train ride with multiple highlights, the first of which occurs after Lausanne when there are some great views over Lake Geneva, from the right of the train.

Then between Sion and Visp, the train threads through valleys lined with vineyards...

...that video was filmed from a train travelling in the opposite direction, but it gives a great idea of what to expect on this journey.

Shortly after departure from Brig the train will travel through The Simplon Tunnel - which for much of the 20th century was the world's longest railway tunnel.

The train then travels through a spectacular valley between the tunnel and Domodossola

If your reserved seat is on the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) there are some fabulous views over Lake Maggiore either side of Stresa.

Though this video only gives a sense of the view of the islands that can be seen by the lake shore to the north of Stresa station; and also shows why we have tried and failed to photograph these islands, as glimpses of then can only be snatched through the trees.

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