Interlaken-Milan booking with Swiss Half Fare card
A traveler is planning to book a morning train from Interlaken OST to Milan on July 15 and is curious about using the Swiss Half Fare Card for advance ticket purchases. They want to know if the half fare option on SBB is available for tourists and if they can book super saver tickets with it.
- You can use the Swiss Half Fare Card for bookings on the SBB website, which caters to tourists.
- Reservations for Swiss trains are generally not needed, but for Domodossola to Milan, you will need to buy a ticket in advance from Trenitalia.
- If you're making multiple trips in Switzerland, consider getting a Swiss Travel Pass for easier travel within the country.
AI-generated summary-
I want to book the fast train from Interlaken OST to Milano central on 15th July 2017 particularly the morning trains . I also want to use the Half fare Card for this booking . Please suggest if I can use my Half fare card for an advance booking . While trying to book on SBB , I can see an option of half fare travel card , is this also for tourists ? If not , please advise appropriate websites .
Also , Can I use half fare cards for booking super saver tickets on SBB .
Thanks !
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Hi,
From what I read and studied, the swiss half fare card can be used at SBB webpage because that is the official page for Switzerland transportations and others to cater tourists’ needs. I dont think you need to book in advance for Swiss train because you can just show your half fare card when you purchase the train ticket from interlaken to domodossola (Switzerland border) and board on any morning trains heading to domodossola. I once read in this page before swiss trains need no reservations as the seats are lot (except to certain panoramic train route) and the frequencies of the trains are frequent. But if you want to book early, it is up to you.
Then, you need to buy in advance train ticket from domodossola to milan. I bought mine using trenitalia webpage. You can also use loco webpage.
Hi bkalur and welcome to MySwissAlps!
Yes, you can use the Swiss Half Fare Card for advanced bookings on SBB. If you select the half fare card price you will see the cost to you to get to Milan.
However it really isn’t needed. You can buy a ticket for the train in Switzerland just before you travel if you wish – reservations are not made except on panorama trains like khairin mentioned.
Are you planning on doing a lot of train trips while you are in Switzerland? You may want to purchase a Swiss Travel Pass – it will cover virtually all trips in Switzerland, you just hop on the train , no need to buy any other tickets.
Regards,
Lucas
Thanks Khairin & Lucas for your quick response.
Khairin, I would like to take direct train from Interlaken OST to Milan and then change train from Milan to Venice.
Now if i book advance train ticket only for domodossola then do i need to change train at Domodossola?
@Lucas, we will be in Swizerland for 4 days and i can buy swiss pass of 4 days but then my above mentioned journey will be on 5th day wherein i won’t be able to use the pass.
From what I have studied from this page and other webpages, there is no direct train from interlaken to milan, because swiss rails only operate until Swiss border, which is Domodossola (since we are from Bern area). I will use Swiss Travel Pass from Lauterbrunnen until Domodossola (depart morning at 8am), and then hop on Italy train from domodossola to Milan central at 3pm, exchange train at Milan central, at 5pm depart to Venice S.Lucia (estimate time of arrival around 8pm). When I book Italy ticket, the train change comes together, no direct train from Domodossola to Venice S.Lucia
Hi bkalur and Khairin,
The Swiss Travel Pass is only valid within Switzerland yes. This does not mean that you get off the train at the Italian border – Swiss trains will take you all the way to Milan (or you may be boarding an Italian train within Switzerland).
You can check the train schedule here (enter Interlaken and Milan as your destinations) and it will show you where and when you will need to switch trains. You can have as little as one connection on this route (in Spiez). You will just have to buy a ticket from the Italian border town to Milan before you board the train in Interlaken.
Regards,
Lucas
Oohh, this is new information, I will share it with my family members soon. Thank you Lucas! 😀
You’re very welcome Khairin!
I noticed the links didn’t work last night so I added them again for you.
Lucas
Hi Bkalur,
The best idea is to choose the 4 days that have the most expensive train trips on them. It would be best to check ticket prices of your trips within Switzerland here, then use the Swiss Travel Pass on either the first 4 days or the last 4 days you are here. For the trip from the Swiss/Italian border town to Milan and Venice you can buy tickets here.
Regards,
Lucas
Hi Lucas,
Appreciate your efforts and timely guidence which helps tourist like us to make our dream holiday of Switzerland more enjoyable. Thanks again.
when I look for trains from Domodossola to Venice, I could see only one direct train ( EC 37 ) at 10:17am which is perfect for our schedule.But booking for EC 37 train is open only till 11th June 2017. If this option doesn’t work for our journey on 15th July, i can take a train from interlaken to Milan and then Milan to Venice.
Also, check the Italian train website, Trenitalia, for the fast trains and for all travel once you are in Italy. They sometimes have supersaver fares (smart or mini) on the international trains that don’t show up on the SBB site, but I don’t think they start to list them until 90 days out. Our Swiss Travel Pass will have run out on the day we leave, so we booked Spiez to Milano Central for 19 Euro and are just paying full fare on swiss trains to get us to Spiez.
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