Lugano to Luzern via the Gotthard Railway with SBB InterCity 

You don't have to change when taking the boat from Flüelen to Lucerne. And the services are often run by historic steamboats!

As you already note, it's exactly one hour later than if it had gone through the base tunnel. Yes that's for scheduling purposes, but it also basically is what the tunnel saves in time.

Thank you Jonny for an extremely well filmed video, extremely well presented. September 2nd is the target date for the resumption of regular Taktfahrplan trains through the base tunnel. So from then on people wanting to travel the 'panoramastrecke' will once again need to catch the SOB operated IR trains which start from Locarno and proceed 'semifast' over the panoramastrecke. At Fluelen these trains connect with the boats which in summer operate hourly the whole length of the lake. Yes, those boats are part of the Taktfahrplan, as are the buses we saw in the bus station at Arth-Goldau! And both boats and buses are free to holders of the fabulous Swiss Travel Pass (as is the Lugano Stazione funicular).

The Swiss go in loops while the rest of us often travel in circles ... waiting.

Thank you Johnny for such a beautiful journey, the scenery was just incredible, Switzerland is an amazing country and the train looked so comfortable, very clean, and with a great area for families with young children. I was also extremely impressed with the manner in which you thanked Mark at the end of the video. 😊

Nice Video and a verry scenic route for sure. You are not going over the Gotthard Pass however. Yes, its the Gotthard Mountain Railway but the Pass would actually take you way higher up and can only be passed via the road.

Rode the giruno from Zürich to Milano , great train!

I still think the Mark4 4001 loco used by Irish Rail on Cork Dublin route is one of the best looking in Europe!!

I'll put this one in my Interrail route okt 24 schedule!!! Beautiful (Doing Tirano - Lecco - Lugano)

Gorgeous scenery. And, hey, there’s no such thing as “too far” when it comes to ice cream and a beautiful lakeshore.

Actually, there are Sensors in the Doors to the carriage which count How many people entered the car, there are no sensors in the seats to my Knowledge

3:34 Actually the Lugano Station is from 1874 - the opening of the line to Chiasso. Fun fact; most Stations have dedicated platforms for trains in the same direction , like this you don’t have to wonder where your train is leaving… 11:51 Ambri-Piotta is one of the most famous Ice-hockey teams in Switzerland - in a village…(?) ! The Ritom Funicular was built in 1917 for the construction of the Ritom Dam for the production of electricity for the Gotthard Railway’s electrification 1919-21. 16:07 Erstfeld Depot is now owned by SBB Historic and holds a bunch of old, functioning electric locomotives. 17:11 The Boats are on a round trip with a lot of stops and lake crossings. Take the time for the beautiful trip… 20:05 The Rotsee is one of the three sites of the World Rowing Cup and the only fix in the series.

What a wonderful trip :) Wish I could do that train journey - when I went there I drove and you can`t spend time gazing at those fantastic views! Lovely Swiss vids, thanks, took me back to the 80s.

Mr. John Your videos and your efforts are absolutely beautiful ❤️

Another good one Jonny H. Amazing scenery, as you'd expect (apart from in the tunnel obviously). As always I'm so envious of Swiss rail infrastructure and those wonderfully clean trains. So very civilised

Beautiful journey, took it many times for work. Insane that there is absolutely no snow there in March.

What a spectacular journey. Incredible engineering too. Personally I'd prefer the route through the pass over the tunnel every time.

Great Video johnny

I think Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries for train travel. Going there by ICE st class next week from Aachen to Geneva!

Magnificent Johnny. I haven't ruled out a return to Switzerland later this year or next, and if so I may do this trip. Great writing and camerawork as always. Cheers!

Enjoyable video, thanks Johnny. We’re off to Switzerland for a week at the end of August. We adore the country and my other half lived and worked in Zurich for 2 years in the 1990s. We used the Giruno trains on our last trip and, in our opinion, they’re about the best international trains around these days. If only the UK had such an amazing integrated transport system as the Swiss, who realise the importance of public transport to a nation’s economy. Several lake steamers on Lake Lucerne do make the trip from Fluelen to Lucerne each day. Takes about 2.5 hours in total and no change is usually necessary. It’s a great excursion. If you’re just staying in Switzerland it’s usually worth getting a Swiss travel pass. Not cheap, but it enables one to travel on the trains, tram, local buses, post buses and the lake steamers. Some cable cars and mountain railways give a 50% discount for pass holders. If, like us, the trip is mainly about exploring the country by public transport then it’s just so convenient and worth the cost, which in our experience you can recover quite quickly over 3 or 4 days of travelling compared to paying the normal fares. You can, alternatively, get a cheaper pass which gives a 50% discount on public transport.

I have more often travelled from Zürich to Ticino mostly to Locarno on Lago Maggiore which we enjoy plus from Locarno you can take the F.A.R.T. to Domodossola via the Centivalli on a metre gauge light rail service From Domodossola you go to Brig in Switzerland then we returned to our base in Ticino. The rise to Göschenen - which connects to Andermatt on a rack railway to the side of the station is fantastic.

Yay! Been looking forward to this one!

There is a boat every hour each way lucern fluelen. Its a fabulous trip passing many mountains etc. I did it lucern to lugano pickin

Another great vlog! You can go by bot from fluelen to luzern it takes 2 hours and its direct.

I hope the views made up for not being able to go though that neat base tunnel! From a swiss perspective, it is a bit embarrasing, having our quasi greatest achievement in infrastrucure just being blocked like that. Accidents happen, I guess.

14:18 The church of Wassen is somewhat famous in Switzerland because on this route, you can see it a total of three times, each time from a different perspective

1:58 If one's travelling on a rail pass that's valid for that particular day, there's no need to pay again for the funicular. The Lugano funicular, being part of the general public transport network, is covered by such valid passes-as is the case for public transport in all Swiss cities. Anyway the act of buying a ticket did provide you with some technical footage and was a donation to its upkeep. Thanks 😉. 7:32 You're spot on about the primacy of the principle of clock face scheduling. The journey could be completed markedly faster, but is deliberately adjusted.

Brilliant video and beautiful scenery along the way, would live to see it when it's all covered in snow . Was going to ask what the fares are like or are you travelling on a rail pass? Hope all is well, take care

Beautiful route, took it last February all the way to Milan, sadly no snow in the mountains, global warming is a bitch. The trains are really nice as well (especially the diner car)

Will there still be the option to do the pass rather than the base tunnel after it resumes normal operation? Stunning!! I would rather spend an hour than ride in a tunnel.

You don't need to change boat from Fluelen to Lucerne. that's actually the lake's 'mainline' and there is a fair few runs per day including about 4/5 in the height of summer operated by the 5 paddle steamers on the lake.

You stay on the same boat lucerne to fluelen

For sure,a beautiful route by train.But the high snowy mountains,is not my favorit area in Switzerland to be.I prefer more das Berner Oberland.Take the train from Thun to Burgdorf and look at the landscape there.

I don’t bother to call it X, I still use Twitter. The only acceptable use of a deadname (unless I’m getting annoyed at misspellings of mine).

Italian part of Switzerland? In italy? I never knew that. Is that similar to how Italy also has the southern half of Austrian Tyrol within their nation?

I tell ya, the only thing I know about Luzern is rivet games tsw Luzern-Sursee Route *that was a terrible Route lemme just say*