Train tickets

Consider, just consider, renting a car in Switzerland. We crunched the numbers when we went to Switzerland last year and found that renting a car was cheaper than buying train tickets or a train pass EVEN accounting for the fact that we parked the car in Stechelberg for two days while we stayed in Murren and paid for the car without even using it. Train tickets in Switzerland are more expensive than most other places in Europe and we found for a group of two or more, renting was cheaper AND more convenient AND more fun, because we could go places just on the spur of the moment.

I cannot imagine a rail pass being a good deal for Italy. Advance-bought tickets for the high-speed Frecce or the Intercity trains come with huge discounts. Even with a rail pass you need to make a reservation for these trains. The Regionale trains, for shorter distances, don't need a reservation and are extremely cheap. Second class is comfortable enough for most mortals.

A pass is never good value for Italy, the tickets are so cheap, especially if bough in advance.
Switzerland on the other hand has relatively expensive rail tickets and a Swiss Pass (not a Eurail pass) may be good value. There are two options:

• Swiss Travel Pass, gives free travel on all trains, buses, boats except the highest mountain railways. Details here: https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/travel-in-switzerland/international-guests/swiss-travel-pass.html
• Half Fare Cad, much cheaper (CHF 120 for 1 month). Gives Half fare (=travel with a child's ticket) on all trains, buses and boats. Details here: https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/travel-in-switzerland/international-guests/swiss-halffare-card.html

You have to do the arithmetic yourself to decide which is best. Note the "from" fare on the SBB website is the fare with a ½ price card. Double it for full fare.
There is a map showing the coverage of both cards here: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/infrastruktur/trafimage/karten/karte-sts-pass-gueltigkeit.pdf

For Como. It is a big lake, and most people do not stay in Como town, but one of the smaller places along the lake. Como town has a direct train service from Switzerland, so may be a good place to pick up a car.

Not sure who you mean by "Italy rail". There are two rail sites for times and tickets in Italy.
Trenitalia the national rail company: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Corrected: ItaliaTreno which offers competing trains on a few main routes only: https://www.italotreno.it/en

Chris, I think the ItaliaRail website you cited is just a North American reseller of Trenitalia tickets.
I think you are thinking of Italo Treno, which competes with Trenitalia with high speed service on the Milan - Venice - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples routes.
www.italotreno.it.

@Sam: Oops. sorry. I have corrected it.

Thank you for all the great advice! We have made all our reservations for the trip in June. We will arrive in Zurich, then get on a train to Luzern for 2 days, then take a train to interlaken then up to Mürren for 2 days. Then we get back on a train for Como italy got a week there, then a week in Bologna. We finish up the last 2 days in Venice. We are renting a car in Como for the two weeks from there to Bologna then we turn in the car and take the train to Venice.

My concerns are mostly with the Switzerland part of the trip, I’m not sure with us taking the train then taking the high mountain cable cars to Mürren. If we should buy the Swiss rail pass for the 4 days or the half pass?
I’m also don’t really understand which place to buy the train ticket from interlaken to como from( the Swiss or Italian rail companies)?

I’m a little confused as to the fact that you can buy the flex pass for the 4 days in Switzerland but we will be on the main train from Zurich to Luzern, then Luzern to interlaken, then interlaken to Como italy. So that’s three days on the main train lines but then in the alps we will be taking a lot of cable cars for the two days in the alps?

So I’m not sure which way would be the best value for our budget?

It's important to note that for driving in Italy, each driver listed on the rental form must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. These are valid for one year, and easily obtained at any CAA/AAA office (two Passport-sized photos required, which may be provided by the issuing office). Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! Have a look at https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/transportation-driving/ for more information on I.D.P's and driving in Italy.

You may also want to have a look at some of the other posts here concerning the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato (limited traffic) areas that are becoming increasingly prevalent in many Italian towns & cities especially Florence, which is almost saturated with automated ZTL cameras. EACH PASS through one of the automated Cameras will result in a €100+ ticket, which you won't know about until several months after you return home! This website provides more information - http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

There are also some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using trains and other public transit in Italy, but those are easy to deal with.