How to take the rail journey from Cologne/Köln to Milan

These ICE trains travel at up to 285 km/h on Germany's fastest high speed line between Siegburg/Bonn and Frankfurt Flughafen.

They also take another higher speed route later in the journey between Karlsruhe and Offenburg.

But aside from the thrills of travelling at high speed, this isn't a particularly scenic journey.

So if time is on your side, or if you will be travelling with a rail pass, an alternative option is to travel by the EC trains on the exceptionally scenic route through the Rhine Valley.

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If your reserved seat is on the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) there are some fabulous views over the beautiful Thunersee

On departure from Thun station:

And then on departure from Speiz station:

... though these videos were taken from a train travelling in the opposite direction, but they showcase how fine the views can be on a sunny day...

After departing from Brig these trains travel through The Simplon Tunnel which was the world's longest regularly used railway tunnel for much of the 20th century.

When the trains exit the tunnel, they travel through an impressive gorge in the mountains before descending to Domodossola.

Then for much of the journey between there and Arona the railway line is beside Lake Maggiore; and again the views of the lake are on the left.

As can be seen the view over the lake can be worth seeing even on a grey day; the beautiful islands in the video are just to the north of Stresa station.

The railway is also by the lake shore to the south of Stresa.

The train will reverse direction on departure from Bern so when boarding Basel hope that your assigned seats are on the right hand side.

These trains may be faster than ever, but now that they use The Gotthard Base Tunnel and the brand new Ceneri Base Tunnel, this journey is also less scenic than it used to be.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is now the world's longest railway tunnel, so long that it takes trains more than 15 mins to travel through it.
An announcement is made on the train just before it enters the tunnel.

However, this is still one of Europe's most epic express train journeys and thanks to those tunnels the journey time is now more than an hour faster than it was previously.

From the LEFT of the train (when facing the direction of travel) the first highlight to look out for is the view over Lake Zurich, as the train ascends up from the shore.

Then, if the weather is behaving itself, after departure from Zug station comes what is now the highlight of the journey, the view over the Zuger See.
This lake with its mountain peaks on the far shore can be seen on the right for more than 15 mins between Zug and Arth-Goldau station.

The next beautiful vista to look out for comes after departure from Arth-Goldau station, when on the right, the train will pass by the Lauerzersee.

The train then travels through a dramatic landscape to the north of Schwyz, which used to be a preview of what was to come when the trains still used the older Gotthard route.

Just to the south of here, also look out on the right for glimpses of the Luzernsee.

Now that the trains on this route use the Ceneri Base Tunnel the next scenic highlights on the journey
come shortly after departure from Lugano, where there are views over the lake, initially over on the LEFT.

The final wow moments come after departure from Lugano station, the train will travel along the shore of the Lago di Lugano

and then the train will cross the lake.

After the trains have crossed the lake, the best of the views switch to the right.

The Italian section of the journey south of Chiasso is more mundane, despite the trains passing through Como, its namesake lake can't be seen from these trains.

These trains now take either a route via Nurnberg, or they take a route via Stuttgart.

The route via Nurnberg

This is a journey of seven distinct phases:

1. Until Siegburg/Bonn the first part of the journey is on a conventional railway.
2. On departure from Siegburg/Bonn comes the part of the journey with a wow factor, when the train spends around 40 minutes racing along the rollercoaster that is the high speed line to Frankfurt Flughafen, at more than 280 km/h.

3. On departure from Frankfurt (Main) hbf **where the train will reverse direction** the train will loop around the city and head east, after Aschaffenburg comes the slowest, but most scenic part of the trip when the railway winds through the valleys. 4. The train will cross the River Main and then after a tunnel it will be on a high speed line for less than 15 minutes, but there are some nice views as the train crosses some long viaducts between yet more long tunnels. 5. On departure from Wurzburg the train will be on a conventional railway until it arrives in Nurnberg. 6. From Nurnberg until Ingolstadt station, the train will move on to another high speed line and travel at more than 275 k/mh for around 40 minutes. 7. The final part of the journey is back on a conventional railway.

The route via Stuttgart

This is a journey of six distinct phases

1. Until Siegburg/Bonn the first part of the journey is on a conventional railway.
2. On departure from Siegburg/Bonn comes the part of the journey with a wow factor, when the train spends around 40 minutes racing along the rollercoaster that is the high speed line to Frankfurt Flughafen, at more than 280 km/h.
3. Between the station at Frankfurt Flughafen (airport) and Mannheim the train will be back on conventional tracks.
4. On departure from Mannheim the train will then travel on the high speed line to Stuttgart,
5. After departure from Stuttgart Hbf where the train will reverse direction, the train will divert off the older route at Plochingen station and will then travel through Wendlingen, after passing through there it will travel at more than 250 km/h for around 23 minutes on the brand new high speed line as far as Ulm Hbf.
   6 After Ulm the train will be one again travelling on a conventional railway