The train ride through a hundred valleys (that I haven’t taken yet, but you should)
A scenic rail journey from northern Italy into Switzerland that deserves a spot in your summer plans.
Full disclosure: I haven’t been on this train. Yet.
But I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time researching it, bookmarking it, and quietly moving it to the top of my list every time I open a new tab at midnight instead of sleeping. My husband has stopped asking what I’m reading about.
At some point I figured: why wait until I’ve actually done it? You might be planning your Italian summer right now. And frankly, I’d rather give you this while it’s useful than sit on it until I finally get there and realize I should have gone two years ago.
The train is called the Ferrovia delle Centovalli. Centovalli means “hundred valleys,” and it runs from northern Italy into southern Switzerland through countryside that somehow hasn’t been ruined yet. No big tourism machine behind it. No Instagram queue. It’s been running since the early 20th century because people who live there actually use it, and the fact that it’s become a travel thing feels almost accidental.
It’s not a tourist gimmick. It’s how people in those valleys actually move through the world, and you get to borrow that for a day.
Let’s start the night before
The departure point is Domodossola. Not a station in Milan. An actual small town, about 130 km north of the city, at the foot of the Alps.
Getting there the morning of is technically possible. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
Sleep in Domodossola. You’ll want the full day, you’ll want to make stops, and the town itself has a historic center that deserves a slow evening walk and a glass of something cold before everything starts.
Three places worth looking at:
Antica Dimora del Mercato sits right on Piazza del Mercato. You open the front door and you’re already in the square. The actual square where Domodossola happens. Its pretty new.
Dimora Domese is quieter, more intimate. A renovated 16th-century building with the kind of bones that make you feel like you’re staying somewhere, not just sleeping somewhere. Rated 8.6.
Agriturismo Edoardo Patrone is for a completely different mood: countryside, terrace, inner courtyard, mountain air, the full agriturismo fantasy. You’ll need a car.
Getting there and booking your ticket
From Milan by train: Trenord runs from Milano Centrale throughout the day, starting around 6 AM. Book at trenord.it or at the station counter. The ride is easy, the views already start getting good.
By car: A26/E62, type “Domodossola Centro” into your GPS. Free parking at Via Piave (right in front of the departure tunnel) or paid parking at Piazza Matteotti next to the Post Office. Both should work.
For the Centovalli itself: tickets start from €20 per person round trip, which for what you’re getting is almost suspiciously cheap. When you book, you choose the panoramic carriage (you choose the panoramic carriage, I don’t want to hear arguments) and which stops you want to make. Children’s discounts available. Heating and AC on board. One wheelchair-accessible spot per carriage with lift assistance at Domodossola, Santa Maria Maggiore, and Locarno. If you need that service, contact them at least 48 hours ahead at info@vigezzinacentovalli.com or +39 0324 242055.
Their own booking guide is actually useful. Read it before you plan your stops.
Oh, and bring your passport or ID. You’re crossing into Switzerland. I cannot stress how much you don’t want to be the person who figures this out on the platform.
The journey itself
One day, many stops. Here are the ones that keep coming up in everything I’ve read, and that I’ve been mentally walking through at midnight instead of sleeping:
Domodossola is your starting point, but don’t just show up and board. Give it a proper morning first. The Sacro Monte Calvario is worth the climb, and the medieval center has that particular Italian quality where time seems to run slightly slower.
Santa Maria Maggiore is for wandering without an agenda. The Chiesa di San Gaudenzio is the thing people photograph, but the streets around it are the actual point. One of those places where you look up and realize you’ve been walking for an hour and you don’t know where you are and you don’t care.
Intragna is where you get off and hike down to the river waterfall. Not a hard hike. But the valley opens up in a way that’s difficult to describe without sounding like a tourism brochure, so I’ll just say: go.
Verdasio is quieter than quiet. The Ethnographic Museum sounds like the kind of thing you’d skip, but don’t. It gives you actual context for how people built their lives in these valleys for centuries, which makes the train ride feel less like a scenic attraction and more like something real.
Locarno is Switzerland, and it lands like Switzerland does. Suddenly cleaner, suddenly more organized, the espresso worse. But Piazza Grande is genuinely beautiful, the Castello Visconteo is worth an hour, and a boat ride on Lago Maggiore is the kind of ending that makes you feel like you’ve earned something.
If you want everything planned for you, they also have tons of organized experiences. I would check them out!
What to eat along the way
Northern Italy bleeding into southern Switzerland means the food is heavy, cheese-forward, and deeply unapologetic about it. This is not the coast. This is the mountains. Eat accordingly.
In Domodossola, find Risotto alla Valdostana, Fontina cheese melted into risotto. It sounds simple because it is. Simply delicious.
In Santa Maria Maggiore, Polenta Taragna. Buckwheat polenta with melted cheese and cured meats. If you think you don’t like polenta, you haven’t had it made properly. This is your chance.
In Intragna, Pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with potatoes, cabbage, and more cheese, because apparently this region decided that delicacy was for somewhere else.
In Verdasio, Brasato al Barolo. Beef braised in Barolo wine. Piedmont flexing, as it tends to do.
In Locarno, Risotto ai Funghi with foraged mushrooms. Order it and spend the rest of the train ride thinking about it.
The ticket doesn’t include meals, but some carriages have a buffet for an extra fee. You can also pack your own lunch and eat it watching valleys pass.
One last thing
Every season works. Autumn turns the valleys gold. Winter brings the kind of snow-capped silence you only see in films. Spring is wildflowers and waterfalls going full force after the melt. Summer is warm days and that particular golden mountain light that doesn’t exist at sea level.
It’s not a demanding trip. It’s a slow one, which is different, and harder to find than it sounds.
You’re not rushing through Italy. You’re moving through it the way it was meant to be moved through, with actual room to look out the window.
I’ll be on this train eventually. And when I am, you’ll get the real version. The one with the things that went wrong, the stop I probably shouldn’t have made, the restaurant someone recommended that was either genius or deeply questionable.
For now, this is what I’ve got. Research, instinct, and an embarrassing number of browser tabs.
A note on the photos
The images in this post belong to the Ferrovia Vigezzina Centovalli. I used them because they show this journey better than anything I could have taken myself - given that, well, I haven’t been there yet. All credit goes to them, and I’m grateful they exist so I could show you what’s waiting.
Thanks for being here.
See you next week, as always, halfway packed.
My dad is on about this train ride whenever we talk about travel. Definitely on my bucket list.