Hello,
I attempted to check routes and pricing for July from Nice to Lauterbrunnen.
The Deutsche Bahn website gave me the following response and links to a page with several phone numbers:
"We are sorry, but we cannot sell your requested journey online. Please find further information in our contact details. "
Perhaps it is too early to schedule, but how can I best determine what the schedules and fares are from Nice to Lauterbrunnen?
Thank you!
Deutschebahn cannot sell tickets because there are connections in 3 different countries and none of them are in Germany. www.trainline.com can quote you a price.
Also you can look up a price before June 11 at www.trenitalia.com. Put in Ventimiglia to Spiez. That is a singel connection at Milano Centrale taking 6 hours and 50 minutes. Nice to Ventimiglia is a short local train, and Spiez to Lauterbrunnen is a short distance with a train change at Interlaken Ost. You can check the prices of these at www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/tgv for French trains, and www.sbb.ch/en for Swiss trains.
Thank you Sam,
1. When trying to determine how to get from Milan to Lake Lugano Switzerland, should we be using the Italian train site, or is there a site that is better for inter-country travel?
Not necessarily. When I check prices goin from Italy to Switzerland, I get cheaper prices from Trenitalia than SBB. Trenitalia ill only give prices if it is to a location in Switzerland that has a direct train from Italy. Fortunately, there are many trains direct to Lugano from Milano Centrale. Deutschebahn will often have cheaper prices than SBB, for trains originating in Switzerland and going to Germany.
Thank you Sam,
We are trying to coordinate several check-in and check-out dates with the train schedules. Are there certain days that the trains do not operate certain routes?
Long distance trains generally run every day. Local trains in France and Italy may run on reduced schedules on Sunday. Swiss trains generally run daily, with a train guaranteed at least once per hour in each direction.
The Deutsche Bahn website has the schedules of most European trains in it, even for trains it cannot sell tickets for. But it depends on other railways providing the needed information. And for trips July you can indeed run in to issues, that some scheduies are not yet available.
Train schedules however do not change a lot from month to month, so if you want to have an idea how long it would take to get from Nice to Lauterbrunnen just pick a day in the next week corresponding to the day of the week you plan to travel.
Interestingly you can buy Nice - Spiez on SNCF-Connect. So you could do that. But since the first leg is on a TER train that runs every half hour I would take an earlier one than the one booked. The TER trains on that route are not that punctual, and you do not want to miss the connection in Ventimiglia. For the Spiez Lauterbrunnen (or Murren or Wengen if that is really where you are going) you can book this on SBB. Since those tickets are flexible you do not have to worry much about which train you pick, just the right day. In Spiez you just change to the next train to Interlaken...
