Please sign in to post.

Flying into Zurich and then taking train to Milan - when to book train tickets?

Posted by on

We will be taking an overnight flight from Boston to Zurich (Saturday night into Sunday), landing at around 11am local time, and when we land we need to take the train from Zurich to Milan. There are four of us (2 adults and 2 kids). Should we book the train tickets ahead of time, or is it easier to purchase the tickets when we get to the train station? We're not sure booking ahead of time makes sense in case of flight delays, but is it possible that if we don't, the trains will be full?

This will be our first time trying to navigate the trains in Europe, so any advice is much appreciated!

Posted by
8889 posts

There is no risk the trains will get full, they don't get full. And within Switzerland you don't reserve anyway, just buy a ticket and get on. It is the Italian section (border to Milan) which is problematical, here you have to book, and there are big discounts for advance purchase.

As you cannot predict when your plane will land, and the Italian section is short, I would just buy at Zürich airport station, and accept the slightly higher price.

The SBB website https://www.sbb.ch/en/ is currently quoting CHF 91 for the 12:47 departure tomorrow.

Zürich Flughafen - Milano Centrale
Via Zürich HB
Thu, 20.04.17, 12:47 - 16:35 Hour
Duration: 03:48, 1x Change(s)
Passengers: 1 Adult, 2nd Class
Total selected CHF 91.00

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.