Swiss Travel Pass on train from Italy

If I buy one of the Swiss rail passes for use over 8 days in August, can it be used for the Swiss part of a continuous journey from Milan to Lucerne? And what if I change trains at, say, Lugano?

... John H

Hi John,

Absolutely. You need a Swiss Travel Pass and a ticket from the border (Chiasso) to Milan. Please see here for where to get those:

• myswissalps.com/ swisstravelpass/ price
• myswissalps.com/ traintickets/italy/ price

Whether or where you change trains does not matter. Normally you would take a direct train and stay seated.

Thank you Arno. I'm happy with the Swiss side of the border. But I don't know how to find out if Milan-Lucerne trains stop at Chiasso. If I have a ticket to Chiasso and the train doesn't stop there, will I be allowed to board the train at all?And even if it does stop at Chiasso, it seems from what you say above that I don't need to get off there. But what about the initial dating and validation of my Swiss Travel Pass? (Because that will be the first of the 8 days we're buying.) Can that be done on the train?

Hi John,

Chiasso is where validity of the Swiss Travel Pass starts, and as far as I know all trains stop there (see the timetable). There's no need to get off the train there, but you can if you like. Normally you buy the pass and the ticket for the Italian leg in advance and stay seated.

If the pass needs to be validated at all, it can be done on the train (see here). If you buy the pass through www.swissrailways.com/ en they'll e-mail it to you and you simply print it at home. You can fill out the blank fields manually and you're ready to go. No further validation needed. For more purchase options, please see the links in my previous post.