Stunning scenery and excellent food: This train journey is hard to beat

The journey

SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) and Trenitalia (Italian Railways) operate several trains jointly from major Swiss cities to Milan. From there connections continue to destinations such as Verona and Venice. Our journey is from Basel to Visp (with a small final hop to Zermatt), the last leg of a three-train journey from Frankfurt.

An eco-friendly, scenic and economical way to travel. And the food is good too.

The class

First class

The seat

Slightly raffish but comfortable.

Seats 92, 93 and 94. Trenitalia provides the rolling stock for the EC 57 and this is a slice of Italy on wheels filled with Milanese. The carriage, although also first class, is no comparison with the previous Deutsche Bahn first class carriage on the second leg from Mannheim to Basel, which was carpeted, pristine and buffed to a sheen outside. This one has a linoleum floor and looks like it’s just stumbled home from the discoteca, pulling in looking a little shady with head cushions askew and scuff marks. I check second class for differences and apart from an extra seat across (first class sports a double and a single seat across the aisle instead of another double) it’s negligible.

Baggage

Take what you can carry and manhandle. Large hard suitcases are manageable but if busy things can become awkward with other passengers and the cases themselves.

Food + drink

EC bistro, take my money. I buy a version of a panini, a toasted ham and cheese in a crepe (made fresh daily) for my children, take a bite, accidentally eat it all and purchase more. It’s that good and only €5 ($8.50). This train isn’t just a food fiesta, but a language extravaganza (a massive thrill for this linguistics lover).

Bistro barista Nunzio is Italian with some Neapolitan dialect. The ticket conductor’s origins remain unknown – I throw him some German, followed by French to discover he’s speaking four languages fluently. Only in this European nook where France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany bump is being a polyglot merely a base for doing your job. What joy.

Carbon emissions

Based on roughly 35g CO2 per kilometre a passenger for the 200-kilometre, two-hour journey my trip generates 70g of carbon. The relaxing nature, planet-saving properties and excellent price (part of an €85 [$140] three-country journey) is cheaper than petrol, making it hard to beat.

One more thing

“An unfurling cinematic ribbon of scenery.”

The scenery on this line is unexpectedly stunning. The kids and I are enthralled by Bern’s Aare River gorge and bridges, sailboats on Lake Thun, plus ancient wooden houses in verdant fields, soaring mountains and the sheer number of residential Swiss flags as we delve deeper into Switzerland. It’s an unfurling cinematic ribbon of scenery, both sides of the train offering Heidi-esque vignettes.

The verdict

I kind of like this train’s raffish style. It’s a little rough around the edges but that makes it kind of edgy and dynamic, an excellent preparation if heading into Milan itself. This route is one of the backbone links of Europe (along the north-south axis of Germany, Switzerland and Italy) and may star in an itinerary if exploring this part of the continent.

Rating out of five

★★★½

The writer travelled at her own expense.