I am going to use Rick Steves train travel planner. I will use the point to point planner. Will this also give me the regional trains or do I have to find info on regional trains somewhere else. Do I have to have regional train tickets validated?
I am traveling from Zurich to Zermatt to Stresa to Riomaggiore to Milan
I'm not sure what the "Rick Steves train travel planner" is, but the best way to get train schedules and routes for all of Europe is to use the Deutsche Bahn site, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules (the link for the Bahn website is in the first sentence on that page).
This website will only have prices for trains that start or end in Germany. So, for Zuerich to Zermatt and Zermatt to Stresa, use Swiss Rail: https://www.sbb.ch/ticketshop/b2c/sprache.do?en. Be aware that the price initially shown is for those with a Half Fare card; if you won't have one, you need to double it. And spell "Zuerich" just like that ("Zurich" gets the airport, not the main station).
For Stresa to Riomaggiore and Riomaggiore to Milan, use Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD
Yes, regional train tickets should ALWAYS be validated before you get on the train, or you risk a heavy fine.
A quick way to see if a route has a discount for advance purchase is to check prices for tomorrow and compare them with prices for your travel dates. If they are the same, you can wait to purchase until you get there. If there's a substantial difference and you don't mind the higher prices, you can also wait (particularly if you don't want to be locked in to a specific train). But if there's a substantial difference and you don't mind non-refundable and non-exchangeable tickets (or tickets with severe limitations on those actions), buy as soon as you can.
Italian regional train schedules are not yet published past June 14 at this time, so use an earlier date on either web site to get the best picture of departure choices.
Becky, for information purposes, you can see all of your runs right now on www.bahn.de This is the German train website but they are so good at displaying train journeys all throughout Europe. You don't indicate when you will be traveling but if your travel is within 90 days, you can purchase your Zurich/Zermatt and Zermatt/Stresa tickets right now on www.sbb.ch This is the Swiss train website. Yes, you do have to validate the regional train tickets on these two train journeys.
For Stresa to Riomaggiore and Riomaggiore to Milan, you're just going to have to wait until Trenitalia refreshes their train schedules. You can see these runs up to June 10 or so right now. If you want to see the fares for the regionale trains, you will have to look within the next 7 days. They won't show beyond 7 days. Yes, you do have to validate regionale tickets in Italy with one exception. If you are able to purchase online and the regionale train segment is combined with an intercity or fast train segment, you can print out the tickets at home and the regionale ticket will be pre-validated and it must be used within 4 hours of the time stated on the ticket. You will be on regionale trains on these two runs but you may also be on an intercity train to/from Milan to Riomaggiore and you may be on a Eurocity train from Stresa to Milan (yes you will change trains in Milan to get from Stresa to Riomaggiore).
The train schedules won't change before December so you can put in an earlier date to see what the schedule is. If you put in a date for next week and also a date for June 14th you'll see the schedule is exactly the same. I used the Stresa to Riomaggiore cities for a test. This will continue until the next schedule change.
Yes, you must validate all regional tickets.
Donna
