Doesn't taking a train from Switzerland to gorgeous Venice/Venezia seem like a fabulously romantic notion?
Well the reality doesn't disappoint and the icing on the cake is that wonderful brand new trains, complete with restaurant cars, are now being used on this route.
This train is usually scheduled to depart from the street level platforms/tracks (gleis 3-18) in Zurich Hb station at 10:33 and arrive in the historical heart of Venice before 17:00.
The new Giruno trains are scheduled to be used on this departure.
Final Destination: Venezia S.Lucia
This train also calls at: Vicenza; Padova and Venezia Mestre
Take care NOT to leave the train at Venezia Mestre if you are heading to historical Venezia/Venice.
1 x train per day
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date
When looking up tickets on Trenitalia select 'Zuerich (city)' as the departure station.
This train is usually scheduled to depart at 10:33, so hone in on that time when looking up this journey.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
SBB | from 32CHF | |
Italiarail | from €39 | |
Trenitalia | from €39 | |
Trainline | from €39 | |
SaveATrain | from €39 | |
Omio | from €39 |
This train will reverse direction on departure from Milano Centrale.
Also don't be surprised if this train spends up to 10 mins at Swiss stations, these fairly lengthy stops are a feature of the timetable
If your travel itinerary includes northern Switzerland and Venice/Venezia try to travel in this direction, the direct train from Venice to Zurich travels over the most scenic part of the route after night fall.
Rail pass users
If you will be travelling with valid Eurail or InterRail passes, you will need to pay a rail pass reservation fee when boarding this train for a journey to Switzerland (seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets).
Though avoid paying for these reservation fees at a station in Switzerland, because if you do so you will also have to pay a 11CHF booking fee.
This train uses The Gotthard Base Tunnel - the world's longest railway tunnel, so long that it takes trains around 14 mins to travel through it.
An announcement is made on the train just before it enters the tunnel.
It takes the train away from what would have been scenic highlights, but this is still a journey with some wow moments.
From the LEFT of the train (when facing the direction of travel) the first highlight to look out for is the view over Lake Zurich, as the train ascends up from the shore.
Then, if the weather is behaving itself, after departure from Zug station comes what is now the highlight of the journey, the view over the Zuger See.
This lake with its mountain peaks on the far shore can be seen on the right for more than 15 mins between Zug and Arth-Goldau station.
The next beautiful vista to look out for comes after departure from Arth-Goldau station, when on the right, the train will pass by the Lauerzersee.
Then just to the south of here, also look out on the right for glimpses of the Luzernsee.
Now that the trains on this route use the Ceneri Base Tunnel the next scenic highlights on the journey
come shortly after departure from Lugano, where there are views over the lake, initially over on the LEFT.
The next wow moment comes after departure from Lugano station when the train will cross the lake.
After the trains have crossed the lake, the best of the views switch to the right.The train will reverse direction on departure from Milano Centrale.
On the left, in good weather look out for a fleeting but spectacular view of Lake Garda, just before Desenzano.
Finally the journey climaxes with a flourish as the train heads over the lagoon to the historic heart of Venezia.
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This is one of more than 1000 journey guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.