Train ticket purchase for late September travel from Florence to Lyon

For Italy trips you book directly with the provider, which can be Trenitalia or Italo ( except that Italo does not Cinque Terre so you should stick with Trenitalia.

Between Italy and Lauterbrunnen you will book the first part, departing Cinque Terre, with Trenitalia, and the later legs with the Swiss company, SBB.ch. That is a very long journey, and I suggest you plan on an overnight stop in Milan, Lugano, or some smaller town on the route.

You can get good discounts on the cross-border train between Milan and Switzerland ( going either to Spiez or to Luzern, the two main routes to Lauterbrunnen from Milan), if you book ahead with either SBB or Trenitalia, I just booked our last August travel from Luzern to Milan and got a great price.

Note that the various routes across the Alps, whichever one you use, generally involve tunnels under the mountains, unless you are careful and know what route avoids them. If you don’t mind tunnels, the routes using them are considerably faster.

Also, there is track work on some of the main lines that mandates a bus substitute for a section. This may or may not be the case in late September. The construction is indicated on the SBB website with little “workman with shovel” icons so you are alerted to this right away when searching trains.

Hauling luggage around will be difficult enough.

Wheeled suitcases will make everything easier, especially at Milano Centrale where all tracks are on the same level. Tracks in train stations are closer than gates in airports. I doubt there are more than 300 meters between the 1st and the last track at Milano Centrale.

Monterosso is the only village in the Cinque Terre served by direct trains to Milan with reserved seats. If that's what you mean with "types of trains".

On www.trenitalia.com/en.html You must use the Italian names of the places where you are staying.

Thank you for your help with my questions! The link for the Trenitalia and SBB.CH websites helped while creating more questions. After my three nights in Florence I can find the closest train station from my hotel to get me to Vernazza. After three nights in Vernazza I learned that Trenitalia can only be booked to Milan, and I need to use SBB.CH to book from Milan to Lauterbrunnen. When I only use the SBB.CH site to book from Vernazza to Lauterbrunnen the same trip from Vernazza to Milan is not offered. I guess I learned that I have to split up the bookings between companies, and I think I should forget about buying a pass to save some money.

Hanks,
Rob

It looks like you can purchase on trenitalia. Vernazza-Milan, then Milan to Spiez (Switzerland). From Spiez to Lauterbrunnen? Might not save any money though.
Edited: You can book Vernazza-Spiez, although two changes-one in Levanto and one in either Genoa or Milan. Looks like 7-8 hrs and that only gets you to Spiez.

You can book from Milano Centrale all the way to Lauterbrunnen on SBB. That will save you the trouble of buying separate tickets or buying them at the station in Spiez.

If you want to make the trip as simple as possible, I suggest you book the routes with the fewest changes. Otherwise, you could have 3 train changes between Vernazza and Milano Centrale, and another 3 between there and Lauterbrunnen. Also, if you book the journey that goes from Milano to Spiez without a change at Brig, you will get a better price on SBB ( assuming you book now for September).

Example: comparing 2 routes to Spiez from Milan, one with a change at Brig and one without, I see for a random date in late September the following:

With a change at Brig: normal price 91 CHF, Special Offer price 81 CHF..

For the direct EC train Milano to Spiez (EC 54): normal price 91 CHF, Special Offer 49 CHF ( a day later is is 55 CHF).

The simplest journey, with the fewest changes, is to depart Vernazza at 10:34 (a nice civilized hour) and change at Levanto to the IC 666 which goes all the way to Milan with no change at Genoa. ERlier departures from Vernazza will have more changes, and May route you through Firenze instead of along the coast. Your choice. Either way, you buy this ticket on Trenitalia.

If you take the IC666 option, you arrive at Milano Centrale at 13:53. The direct train to Spiez, which I mentioned above, departs at 15:20. This is a lot of time to spend in the station, but you can get lunch, etc. I do not see other, earlier, options offered on SBB, but there may be something if you go the other way, via Luzern. I’m did not explore that option. The direct train to Spiez is the simplest and appears to be the least expensive, but it does involve some tunnels if that matters.

However you get to Spiez, you will use Swiss regional trains to reach Lauterbrunnen, with a single change at Interlaken Ost. That one is unavoidable.

If you are tunnel-averse like I am, the route to Lauterbrunnen via Luzern can be scenic and nearly tunnel free, but the route over the Gotthard Pass instead of through the Gotthard Basistunnel tunnel will take longer and takes careful planning on SBB.

Sorry for the late reply. I had to step away from the booking for awhile, and now I am back to follow your instructions. Thank you! It won’t be as difficult as I thought. I considered the Berner Oberland on our last trip, but the train connections scared me off.

I use trainline.com app for bookings all over Europe. Handy app with all your tickets in one place.

Thanks, I will try it.

I believe Trainline is a third party reseller that won't show all available options, only what they have to sell

My understanding is that they connect directly to the carrier’s ticketing platforms so not a reseller. I’ve used it in France, Italy and the UK. I like it because I don’t have to go to different train websites to compare…they’re all in one place.

No fees in top of the official fares?

all in one place

That's a problem not a benefit. What happens to my money if Trainline sells me a not-protected connection between 2 trains run by 2 competing companies? I mean, what happens if the first train is so late that I miss the second one.

One can always search on trainline, then go direct to the Train company to book if that is a concern. We’ve never had that issue. I just find the trainline app simple to use for searching and purchasing, seeing multiple train company options in one place, and keeping all the tickets for my family in Apple wallet. If there are fees, they’re pretty negligible and worth it, IMO, for the ease and convenience. YMMV, though!