Centovalli Express - Locarno

The Centovalli Railway connects the Gotthard and Simplon lines, linking Ticino with the Valle d'Ossola in Italy and with Valais via Simplon on the shortest possible route. The railway is not just a means of transportation. It is also an excursion train, that takes visitors through the magnificent landscapes of Centovalli and Valle Vigezzo.

The nearly 60 kilometer long narrow gauge railway track of the Centovalli Railway leads across the dizzying heights of viaducts, past deep ravines and thundering waterfalls, through sunlit chestnut forests and fertile vineyards, tunnels and hairpin bends.

The train travels through the wild and impressive Centovalli (“hundred valleys”) landscape, from Locarno by Lago Maggiore to Domodossola in Italy, in just under two hours. The valley of the Melezza river with its numerous, secluded side valleys, which are thickly forested and interspersed with rugged cliffs and have formed over millions of years along the Insubrian line (the dividing line between the African and European continental plates).

The train takes you straight through the Centovalli (the Hundred Valleys region), in just two hours from Locarno on Lago Maggiore to Domodossola in Italy. Centovalli is home to the the wild Melezza River. There are numerous side valleys that are densely forested and strewn with jagged rocks. The region offers a variety of hikes and excursions that begin at one of the numerous railway stops in Italy or Switzerland.