how to book on the SBB site using a swiss flex pas

Hi pico,

Welcome to MySwissAlps! The SBB site is primarily geared to Swiss residents; indeed they don't list the tourist passes. You could select GA as that basically includes the same discount for trips to Italy, assuming you plan to use a travel day of your Swiss Travel Pass Flex.

You live in the US, right? In that case you'd normally order your pass through raileurope.com or raileurope-world.com. The first site offers prices similar to the prices in Switzerland and payment in USD. The second site offers lower prices and payment in Euro. On both sites, you can order along a ticket to Italy for Swiss Travel Pass holders. Also check the Discounts section of the Swiss Travel Pass Flex page.

You don't need seat reservations for the whole trips from Interlaken to Venice. You need them for the Italian leg: Domodossola to Venice, which is also the leg you need a ticket for as the rest is included in your Swiss Travel Pass Flex. Alternatively you could book from the station where you board the train to Italy, which is probably Spiez or Brig, depending on your travel date and time.

Thank you Annaka, I tried using the raileuope website to book the trip from innerlaken to Venice, but it would not allow me to book the trip. If I went to the sbb site using the GA rate, it did allow me to book the trip. My question is this, if I book the trip using the sbb site and the GA rate and show up on the train with a swiss flex pass rather than the GA pass, will that be allowed?

Hi pico,

What's your travel date and time?

Hello, we will be traveling on June 13th from Interlaken to Venice, sometime in the morning.

Hi pico,

The issue may be that you don't fill out the correct departure station. One of the easiest connections is the direct train from Brig to Venice, departing 9:44 AM. I just filled out Brig to Venice for June 13 on this Rail Europe page, and the train can be booked there. The price is nearly the same as on the SBB site, but you can pay in USD. The trains from Interlaken to Brig don't need to be booked; they are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass Flex.

Booking on the SBB site picking the GA option should be allowed, but you can get the actual Swiss Travel Pass ticket on the Rail Europe site. In either case I recommend booking as soon as possible, as trains into Italy will be popular because of Expo 2015 in Milan. The other Rail Europe site Annika mentioned does not offer this specific train yet, but it will later. Both sites sell the Swiss Travel Pass Flex as well.

I hope this was useful!