train from Milan to Lugano

If you take the ES* from Milan to Lugano, the ticket comes with a reservation. If the train is sold out, they will probably sell you a "ticket without seat guarentee". If you have a railpass, you will have to buy a passholder reservation to ride the ES*. There are also regional trains. There are no reservations for regional trains.

Direct trains from Milano Centrale to Lugano are EC (Eurocity) trains, not ES (EuroStar Italia) trains. Seat reservations are required and come with the ticket. There are two shuttle bus companies, Malpensa Bus Express and Malpensa Shuttle Air Pullman, operating between Malpensa and Milano Centrale. Buses run every 20-30 minutes. I think you can get by without making a reservation.

nancy, I used the Malpensa Shuttle a few months ago, and no reservation was needed. You can buy tickets either inside the Terminal or directly from the driver. As I recall, there was a ticket machine adjacent to the baggage carousels at MXP. The trip on the Malpensa Shuttle is about 50-minutes. It makes one stop on the way into Milan. The Bus I used was a "double deck" model. Larger luggage is stored in the cargo hold, but you can keep your carry-on with you. You can buy tickets for the trip to Lugano at Milano Centrale. As the others mentioned, if a reservation is required it will be included in the cost of the P-P ticket. If you use the EuroCity train, the trip will be one hour. There are departures about every two hours. The ticket office at Milano Centrale is two floors down via moving sidewalks (the pay WC's are one floor down). If there's a huge queue at the ticket office, there are ticket machines adjacent to the office that will accept credit cards and Euro's. I don't believe the ticket machines at track level will accept cash. Although you'll be tired and jet-lagged, be sure to keep watch on your luggage and wear a Money Belt! Milano Centrale has a bit of a "reputation" and I've found it's often chaotic. If you haven't used trains in Italy before, you might want to review the "Rail Skills" section in "Europe Through The Back Door". If you want to see a short rail travel tutorial from Rick, I can post the You Tube link. Cheers!