Train from Vernazza to Zurich

The is no need to buy ticket ahead of time as trains rarely, if ever, sell out. However, sometimes discounts are available for early purchases on-line but those tickets come with lots of restrictions. Go to bahn.com for schedule information on all trains in Europe. Or trenitalia.com for the Italian trains and ticket purchase since your are starting in Italy. The German site, bahn, is a little easier to use.

Trenitalia.com shows trains from Vernazza to Zurich with a change in either Levanto or Sestri Levante and a second change at Milano Centrale. The journey takes about 8 hours. Check for your date in June to see if any discount fares are available.

You can purchase tickets online with www.trenitalia.com. But, the Italian system will only get you to Zurich Hb which is the main station. You would have to purchase a separate tickets from Zurich Hb to Zurich Flughafen. It's a 12-minute train ride and the cost is a few Swiss Francs.

Also, you can get a slightly better deal if you book the trip from Monterosso to Zurich Hb. Here's a snapshot of what I see. http://gyazo.com/98d37d69ed0d480573dd9bb2d5ef775c If you provide a specific travel date, we can be more specific on the runs and fares. Or, you can do this as well on www.trenitalia.com Note that Zurich is spelled Zuerich on the Italian website. A second note is that the 31Euro is a non-refundable discounted fare. Regular fare is 97Euro ($133). Quite a savings if you can really nail down your travel date and departure time and are willing to accept non-refundable tickets. If not, you can buy these tickets when you get to Italy.

The train trip is doable in 8 hours with only two connections. If you depart at Vernazza at 7:30, you can arrive in Zurich as early as 15:00, if you need to pick up a car that day. Is Zurich close to where you need to drive to? (It's certainly not the only city with train service and car rental. Public transportation is very well connected all over Switzerland.)

How to Look Up Train Schedules Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. This is easier to use to see schedules for more than one country, although some of the Italian schedules are currently only published through June 14.

As Larry's photo shows, you can save a LOT by buying in advance on the Trenitalia website. Theonly restriction with these early bird tickets is that they are not refundable or changeable. You have to catch the train you book ( just like an airplane) but that is not difficult. People talk about the benefits of flexibility but if you have firm plans and lodging booked, you might as well lock yourself into a specific train, considering how much money you will save.