Train from Milan Airport to Lauterbrunnen

You can find transportation alternatives with links to national and regional transportation systems, with links to the webpages to find schedules on rome2rio.com.

Be sure you have a backup plan if your plane is late.

It takes about an hour from Malpensa to Milano Centrale. Trains from Malpensa to Centrale run about every half hour. Personally, I wouldn't cut it that close.

For timetables and fares, try www.sbb.ch (Swiss Federal Railways) or http://www.trenitalia.com/ (Italian Railways).
It will take more than one train from Milan to Interlaken, usually change at Brig and Spiez. If you go to www.sbb.ch and enter 'Malpensa Aeroporto' to 'Lauterbrunnen', it gives a train a connection at 13:50, arrive Lauterbrunnen at 18:55.

Repeat after me: "There is no such thing as a Eurail train".
Eurail is not a railway company and does not own any railways or run any trains. It is a marketing organisation selling tickets for trains on most (but not all) railway companies in Europe. It applies a markup on the price of some tickets compared to the price you would get from the railway company running the train.

You will need to pay for the Malpensa Express train into Milano Centrale station, 12 euro pp as I recall. I believe that on the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen you get a 25% discount with a Eurail Pass.

Mike,
You may also want to search this website that gives you different travel routes:
http://www.rome2rio.com

You may want to read this RS article: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains

If you figure out that the Eurail pass will not save you money, perhaps you can return them??

Safe travels!

mike,

That's an easy trip. You'll first have to buy tickets at the airport rail station for the Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale. The trip is ~52 minutes, and DON'T forget to validate your tickets prior to boarding the train or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! NOTE that the M.E. has two destinations, one to Milano Centrale and one to Milano Cadorna, so BE SURE to board the correct train.

The M.E. arrives on one of the "offset" tracks (Binario 2?) at Milano Centrale so you'll have a short walk to the area where the main tracks are. Check the electronic boards for the track number (Binario) of your next train (in some cases that won't be displayed until about half an hour before departure). THIS video is a bit "wobbly" and a few years old, but it will provide some example of what to expect at Milano Centrale.

You may have a short wait at Milano Centrale. Be sure to watch your belongings! There are lots of restaurants including (if you wish), the ubiquitous McDonalds and Burger King. NOTE that the WC's (washrooms) are pay-per-use so you'll need €1 to use those. There's a large washroom one floor down from track level, accessible via a "moving sidewalk".

The most likely train you'll be able to connect with is a departure from Milan at 11:23, arriving Interlaken Ost at 14:28 (Interlaken has two stations so be sure to disembark at OST). You'll need to purchase compulsory seat reservations for the first train you'll be using from Milan to Spiez as it's a EuroCity train. You should be able to do that at the Malpensa airport station. You'll be using a Regional train from Spiez to Interlaken Ost, so your Railpass should be fine for that.

At Interlaken Ost you'll transfer to the local Berner Oberland train for the short (~20 minute) trip to Lauterbrunnen. As mentioned in an earlier reply, your Railpass is not fully covered on that but you'll get a 25% discount. You may be able to buy those tickets online at the sbb.ch website (I don't usually travel with a Railpass, so I've never tried). You could also buy those tickets during your transfer in Spiez. As I recall, some of those trains "split" in Zweilütschinen so be sure to check the display on the side of the car when you board to make sure it says "Lauterbrunnen". THIS video gives some idea what the trip is like.

Is Lauterbrunnen your final destination in that area?

Mike,

do you mean that you have actually paid the money and have the Eurail passes or that you are planning to?

If you haven't actually got the passes yet you might take a step back and become familiar with some of the other problems with them, including the high price mandatory Italian railway charges for passholders on all trains except the very slowest. And other things you should know, depending on where else you will be traveling on your pass....

To learn more about what everyone is saying about how Eurail passes are not such a good deal nowadays (to put it gently) read this article from the rail guru The Man In Seat 61. Then read it again: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c

Wow! Thanks to everyone who posted here. This is very helpful. Here are my answers to questions.

Zoe, thanks fro the info. We will plan to just get the next train to Milan Centrale.

Chris F. The Swiss timetable is very helpful. Haha, thanks for the "repeat after me" advice - Got it. After doing some investigation, it appears that buying a Eurail pass was probably not the best thing to do but alas, we have them so we will make the best use of them :-)

Sam. Thanks for the heads up. It has been a bit frustrating to learn that several trains are not part of the Eurail pass :-(

Priscilla. We have used the Rome2Rio app on the iPad a lot to get an idea of the transportation options between cities. Great app! I need to learn more about the rail system. That's why I love this forum!

Ken. Oh my goodness. Thank you for the detailed advice. The video links were very helpful. I have copied your info and pasted it into my itinerary. One question I had. I didn't quite understand your statement about buying compulsory seat assignments on the train from Milan to Spiez. Can you please explain that a bit more?

Nigel & Harold. Yes we had already purchased the Eurail passes :-( at the recommendation of our travel agent who has been to Italy many times. We are spending most of our time in Italy with the exception of a few long trips to Switzerland, Germany and Austria. We ended up picking a 10 day 4-country pass. Not sure if we actually saved money or not but I think (I tell myself that) we did. Harold, the seat61.com website is a goldmine! Thank you for that. I will spend several hours learning about the european rail system on that site.

Thanks again everyone for your support. You're the best!

Mike,
"buying compulsory seat assignments on the train from Milan to Spiez". The long distance trains in Italy all require you to book in advance, including reserving a seat. When you buy a 'normal' ticket it is for a specific train, and says your train times, coach and seat numbers on it, just like for a flight booking. If you are travelling with a pass, and want to travel on one of these trains, you must reserve a seat in advance, and pay for the reservation.

This restriction does not apply to short distance 'regionale' trains, like the one from Malpensa airport into Milan.
But the trains from Milan to Switzerland do require reservations, so you need to make one and pay for it.
Once you cross the border into Switzerland, a different set of rules apply, and no reservation is needed. But, as you say, the catch in Switzerland is that your pass is only valid as far as Interlaken Ost. The line from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen (run by the Berner Oberland Bahn) does not accept Eurail Passes, just Swiss passes, so you will have to buy a ticket for that train.

Chris, thank you again. You are most helpful. Where would you suggest I reserve the Milan - Interlaken OST train? sbb.ch? When booking a ticket on the sbb.ch website do I check the "Rail Pass" box? Check the "1st Class Passenger" box? Finally, it looks like I can not make a reservation more than 120 days from the time of travel.

mike,

As Chris mentioned, the "faster" trains in Italy such as Freccia, InterCity or EuroCity have compulsory seat reservations. These will specify a Carrozza (car number) and Posti (seats) where you must sit. Note that the reservations are specific to train, date and departure time, so can only be used on ONE specific train.

You should be able to buy your seat reservations either at the Malpensa rail station or at Milano Centrale when you arrive there. You could try the automated Kiosks or go to the staffed ticket office. The ticket office at Milano Centrale is two floors down from track level, which you can access via "moving sidewalks". The word you're looking for is Biglietteria (ticket office. To find the moving sidewalks, you have to leave the main "hall" where the tracks are, and go through the arch into the next one. There's usually a fairly long queue at the ticket office, but at times it decreases a bit.

To buy tickets for the Berner Oberland Bahn, you could either buy those at Spiez if there's sufficient time (since you'll probably be changing there), or just buy them at Interlaken Ost when you arrive there. There are frequent departures of that train, so if you miss one there will be another along in a short time.

Thank you Chris. I'm very thankful for everyone's support. I watched several videos of the Milan Centrale train station and already feel like I've been there :-)