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Hello, I’m trying to travel from Interlaken to Florence on Aug 26th, but seeing construction on many of the routes. If I avoid them, then I’m only left with one route with three train changes. Below are the routes I’v been looking at:

  1. Interlaken → Spiez → Milano → Florence (construction)
  2. Interlaken → Zurich → Milano → Florence (construction)
  3. Interlaken → Luzern → Lugano → Milano → Florence

Questions I have:

  1. Would it be best to avoid routes with construction?
  2. Do I have to go through immigration at any of the stations? Im worried about time and being able to catch the next train.
  3. Are there any other routes with less train changes?
  4. Any discounts that I could use for this trip? (I’v been using sbb.ch and trenitalia)
     

Thank you so much for the help 🙏

There are indeed engineering works between Domodossola and Milan between 21st August and 10th September.

1. There are rail replacement buses provided so the only issue is the longer journey time. Example :

- RE Interlaken Ost - Spiez 07:30 - 07:51

- IC Spiez - Domodossola 08:00 - 09:08

- Bus Domo - Milano Centrale 09:27 - 12:17

- FR Milano Centrale - Firenze S.M.N. (Florence) 13:10 - 15:04

2. There are no immigration checks within the Schengen Area. There may be border staff going through the train between Brig and Domodossola but nothing else to worry about.

3. The route via Lucerne (your option 3) is quite scenic. If you have an extra hour on hand, I'd very much recommend the gorgeous Old Gotthard Railway instead of the boring but practical 57-km Gotthard Base Tunnel.

4. I guess you'd like to buy regular tickets ? The only discounts would be age-related in Italy or in combination with the Swiss Half-fare card (often worth the cost) for the Swiss leg of the journey. A Eurail Pass might be good value but I don't know the rest of your trip.

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