Map of the Milan to Zurich — Italy to Switzerland via the Gotthard Loading interactive map…

Milan to Zurich

Milan to Zurich

Italy to Switzerland via the Gotthard

Create your own train map →

Milan to Zurich by EuroCity train takes as little as 3 h 17 min, with 14 direct trains a day run jointly by SBB and Trenitalia. The route passes Lake Como and Lake Lugano before crossing under the Alps through the 57 km Gotthard Base Tunnel — the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world.

Route facts

DurationFastest 3 h 17; 14 direct trains/day each way1
Key structureGotthard Base Tunnel: 57 km, up to 2,300 m of rock overhead — world's longest and deepest rail tunnel2
OperatorSBB + Trenitalia EuroCity (Giruno trains since Dec 2020)3
ReservationsCompulsory on EC trains to/from Italy — included with international tickets3
Fares (2026)From CHF 38 (2nd) / CHF 79 (1st) saver fares incl. reservation. Book at sbb.ch1
SeasonEuroCity year-round; the scenic Gotthard Panorama Express alternative runs 18 Apr–18 Oct 20264
Tunnel opened1 June 2016, after 17 years of construction; cost CHF 12.2 bn5

Terrain along the route

8001,6002,400 Milano Centrale — 131 m, km 0Luzern — 439 m, km 243Zürich HB — 412 m, km 300 2,552 m 0 km 300 km
Terrain elevation sampled along the line — tunnels appear as the ridges they pass beneath. Highest station: Luzern at 439 m. Computed from Trainmap's route geometry and AWS Open Data terrain tiles.

Scenic highlights

  • Lake Zug & Lake Lucerne. Soon after Zurich the line skirts the Zugersee and then Lake Lucerne before entering the Alps. Side to sit: right heading south (Seat 61).3
  • Gotthard Base Tunnel. About 20 minutes in the dark at up to 200 km/h under 2.3 km of mountain — no views, but the engineering event of the trip.5
  • Lake Lugano. South of the Alps the line runs along Lake Lugano through palm-fringed Ticino.3
  • Como San Giovanni. After the border at Chiasso, trains call at Como — the gateway to Lake Como — before Monza and Milano Centrale.3
  • The old mountain line. The seasonal Gotthard Panorama Express takes the 1882 route instead, looping through spiral tunnels that show Wassen's church from three angles, paired with a steamboat leg across Lake Lucerne.6

Stations on this route

  1. Milano Centrale
  2. Luzern
  3. Zürich HB

The Base Tunnel was approved by Swiss voters in a 1992 referendum; 28.2 million tonnes of rock came out, and the 2010 final breakthrough was accurate to 8 cm. The original 1882 Gotthard railway it superseded — whose 15 km summit tunnel was then the world's longest — still carries the panoramic trains today (Gotthard railway).

“Today is a historic day for our country: we have completed the Gotthard Base Tunnel, an epic feat of engineering.”

— Johann Schneider-Ammann, President of the Swiss Confederation, 1 June 20167

Related routes

Sources

  1. sbb.ch
  2. alptransit.ch
  3. seat61.com
  4. sbb.ch
  5. en.wikipedia.org
  6. myswitzerland.com
  7. railway-news.com

Facts last verified 2026-07-18 · About Trainmap · All iconic routes

Rail data: signal.eu.org/osm
Stations: Trainline, Nominatim
Maps: Carto, OpenStreetMap, Stamen, Stadia Maps
3D Terrain: AWS Terrain Tiles, Mapzen
Powered by MapLibre GL JS

Trainmap · Built by Arinbjörn, sometimes on a train · About

Support this project