Extra busy trains to Milan, May to October 2015

Hi everyone,

If you combine your visit to Switzerland with Italy, please note that trains to and from Milan will be extra busy between May 1 and October 31, 2015.

This year's World's fair, Expo 2015, will be in Milan this Summer. There are extra train services, but in spite of that it's recommended to book your tickets (or just seats if you have a rail pass) as soon as your travel date and time are final.

Please see here for train tickets: myswissalps.com/train tickets/italy/price

Hi Annika,

Thanks for the heads up. We will be traveling from Zermatt to Milan on June 14th. We need to arrive at Milan before 4pm as we already have Last Supper tickets for that evening. When I look for tickets from the link you provided, I don't see any trains leaving around 8am which I am able to see on the SBB website. On the SBB Website, there is a train leaving at 8:13 am arriving at Milano Centrale at 11:37 am. This is the perfect train. I was planning to buy tickets when I get to Switzerland. With your warning, I am going to buy them now. I already have HALF FARE TRAVEL CARDS that is valid for one month (thanks to your advice in an earlier post). When I follow the steps to purchase 2 tickets, the only selections that I am given on the website is HALF FARE TRAVEL CARD 1/2/3 YEAR. How do I purchase these tickets using the type Half Fare Card that I have?

Thanks for your help!

Hi boomer1,

You can book this train via this page of Rail Europe US, but you have to book it in a special way because they don't offer Swiss Half Fare Card discounts yet: search for trains from 10 AM from Domodossola to Milan, and do not select a rail pass. That should result in the same train, which leaves Domodossola at 10:17 AM and arrives in Milan at 11:37 AM. For the leg from Zermatt to Domodossola you can simply purchase a 50% discounted ticket in Zermatt. You will board the train to Milan in Brig. The worst that could happen is that you don't have a seat for the first 25 minutes from Brig to Domodossola, because your ticket including the reservation is valid from there onwards. Of course you can also book from Brig to Milan to prevent that, and buy a discounted ticket from Zermatt to Brig in Zermatt.

Alternatively, you could book from Brig (or even Zermatt) to Milan through the SBB timetable, but they don't offer discounts for the one month Swiss Half Fare Card. In case of Italy though, the 1/2/3 year option should give you the same discount.

Annika, I need help with trip for 6 people and if a pass makes sense, if so what pass, we are 4 adults and a 15 and 18 year old: Venice to Domodossola is still available at a good price on June 30 on Trenitalia, then Domodossola to Murren (Day 1), Murren to Shilthorn to hike (Day 2), Murren to lauterbrunnen to Jungfrau area to hike (Day 3), Murren to Zurich to Mulhouse (Day 4). How do I find out the individual trip prices with and without a pass? What is the best deal? Thankyou for your help.

Hi JulieNassif,

The process of comparing passes and tickets is explained here. Why do you travel via Zurich on day 4? The quicker and cheaper route would be to go straight to Basel and board the train to France there. As for passes, I would recommend to choose from the Swiss Half Fare Card and Swiss Transfer Ticket Combi (the latter only applies if you go straight to Basel). These pages about trip to/from Italy and France may also come in handy:

• myswissalps.com/ traintickets/italy
• myswissalps.com/ traintickets/france

Please post further questions in a new topic, as your question is not related to the topic here. Thanks!

Hi

Thanks for the note about the busy trains. We are intending to buy a Swiss pass for our our visit from 22 August to 29 August. On the 29th we are travelling from Interlaken to Camogli, Italy via Milan. We have booked trains for the Italian section but would you know if we can we reserve seats for the train from Interlaken to Domodossola (via Spiez and Brig) with our Swiss Pass and how soon in advance can we do this?

Hi MartynSheard,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! Trains in Switzerland don't require reservations. Normally I would recommend to book seats from the town where you board the train to Italy, which is Spiez or Brig in your case. But since you already have tickets for the Italian section, I would not bother to do so: you will not get the same seats, so you would need to move to other seats in Domodossola. But if you want to, you can do so. Please see the link I gave you.

Swiss Travel Pass points of sale can be found here. Be sure to buy them online!

If you have additional questions, please post them in a new thread. Thanks!

Can my Swiss Half Price pass be used to travel to MIlan from Interlaken? Can I make reservations in advance using the Half Price pass? (I ordered the Half Price pass, but have not received it in the mail). Thanks

Hi lfalvey,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! You can use the Swiss Half Fare Card for part of that trip: from Domodossola (the border) to Interlaken. So you'd pay the regular fare from Milan to Domodossola. You can select "Half fare travelcard" if you plan to book a train via the SBB timetable. It should give you one ticket for the whole trip, with the discount for the Swiss leg included.

If you have further questions, please post them in a new topic, unless it's about the busy trains to Expo 2015.

Thanks for the quick response. It is very helpful.

Hi Arno, thank-you for the reminder about booking the trains to Milan because of the expo. I have just gone on the Website and have a couple of questions. When I tried to book from Wengen to Milano Centrale the site said that 'we are unable to calculate or issue tickets for the complete standard offer. You have the following options, you can order your trip using the offer/order form. It seemed to be fine to book from Lauterbrunnen to Milano Centrale via Interlaken Ost, Spiez, Brig and Domodossola. Am I unable to book the part from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen? Also, we have bought Swiss Half Fare Cards so I selected fare travel card 1/2/3- year. Is this correct? If I can't book the Wengen to Lauterbrunnen part is it quite easy to get a train from Wengen to get us to Lauterbrunnen to catch a 0933 train on a Sunday in September? Thanks for all of the assistance that we have received from this wonderful forum!!

Hi Juliek,

You've made the right selection to book this. If the ticket is only bookable from Lauterbrunnen you can simply buy a ticket to Lauterbrunnen in Wengen, right before departure. Swiss trains don't need to be booked in advance anyway, you just need to do this because you're crossing the border into Italy.

Enjoy the trip!

Hi Arno, thanks again for your advice. We are booking the train because of the expo from Domodossola that leaves for Milano Centrale at 12.54pm. I just want to clarify whether there is any advantage in booking the train journey from Wengen to Domodossola or whether it is fine just to buy tickets on the day? Thanks again.

Hi Juliek,

You're welcome! If you don't book in advance you will not have a guaranteed seat from wherever you board the train to Milan (I guess Spiez) to Domodossola. Personally I would prefer to have the seat in such busy trains. But you don't have to book this section in advance; you can just book Domodossola to Milan and get the ticket for the first leg on the day itself. In that case you can also buy the Domodossola to Milan tickets through your local retailer at www.raileurope.com.au/ train/italian-international-trains-7267. Since you buy this separately from the Swiss Half Fare Cards the discount will probably not apply, but here it is just in case: www.raileurope.com.au/ deals/great-deals-to-tour-Europe.

Thanks Arno, I really appreciate all of your great advice.