Trials of booking train tickets online :-(

If you get a Eurail pass (www.eurail.com) you can have your seats paid for and won't have to book or else can book with them.

Glad Raileurope still has some fans.
You might check to see if your browser blocks cookies. I think the SBB site requires them. Make sure you only get print-at-home tickets.

fresh,

In the same situation and wanting to pre-purchase tickets, this is the method I'd probably use.....

• Purchase tickets from Venezia S. Lucia to Spiez either on the Trenitalia or ItaliaRail websites. I'd probably use a departure at 07:50, arriving 13:53 (one change at Milano Centrale). It's currently priced at €100.50 PP, but if you're buying well in advance there are substantial discounts.
• Purchase tickets from Spiez to Gimmelwald on the SBB.ch website. There's a departure at 14:33, arriving Gimmelwald at 16:00 (changes at Interlaken Ost, Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg). Currently priced at CHF 18.60.

Regarding the trip from Spiez to Gimmelwald, as you may be aware that will involve several different modes of transport. You'll travel from Spiez to Interlaken Ost via regular train, transfer to the Berner Oberland Bahn for the short 20 minute trip to Lauterbrunnen, then to the Post Bus for the short trip to Stechelberg and finally to the Schilthornbahn Cable Car for the final leg to Gimmelwald. You can also reach Gimmelwald via Mürren, but the easiest solution is the Stechelberg route. The ticket you buy will include all modes of transport, but you'll need to specify "Schilthornbahn" to get the proper routing.

Thanks Terry.....we are mostly going to be in Italy, with a 3 day excursion to the Interlaken/Gimmelwald area and a week at end of trip to Greece. I see that the 2 country pass does not include Italy/Switzerland so guess I'd just buy a Eurail pass for Italy, separate tickets for Switzerland (maybe some kind of discount pass there.....are so many it is a tade confusing). We're flying from Rome to Athens so it didn't seem like the Italy/Greece pass would do much for us???

Does this seem like a good plan? Would we buy Swiss tickets at the border? Thanks again...blessings :-)

WOW! I can't believe the swift and helpful replies....this really is COOL :-). So, I should check my cookies...maybe they're blocking that site? I have tried both my notebook and my wife's i-pad using different browsers with the same results? I also sent a question to the SBB site about this....waiting for their reply.

Thanks so much everyone...

Fresh,

guess I'd just buy a Eurail pass for Italy,

It's more economical to buy point-to-point tickets in Italy, especially if you buy then in advance, at a discounted price.

You may find this website helpful: http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#.VTMtWGaXHJ9

Have a wonderful trip!

Also, a lot of domestic tickets in Switzerland are only for sale within 30 day. When I try Brig to Gimmelwald, I get a message "Please enter a valid date prior to May 19, 2015. When I try Milano to Gimmelwald, I get the message (paraphrasing) "Partial fare only as far as Lauterbrunnen available." So it looks like that final bus and cable car are a sticking point.

You do not want a Eurail Pass for this unless you enjoy wasting money.

You do not state your dates of travel and that may affect things. You should be able to get a nice price from Venice to Milan on the fast Frecce trains, and then a Smart Fare on Trenitalia or special offer from Milano Centrale to Spiez on SBB.ch. These can be purchased in advance for the best fares. For travel within Switzerland (Spiez to Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald), tickets can be bought in advance on the Web 3.0 days ahead but there is no price advantage.

Anyone know why the bahn.com site shows so many options to travel from Venice to Gimmelwald yet when I go to the trenitalia site to book from Venice to Spiez I get an N/A if the Best Price box is checked and when it is unchecked I get the same 1 option I get when I go to the italiarail site....only 1 option that doesn't leave Venice til 15:20 so it gets to Spiez pretty late.

Why am I not able to find those several options that appear on the German site and leave much earlier from Venice so they get into Gimmerlwald at a more reasonable time?

What are 'Argento Rail Plus' and 'Verde Rail Plus'.....options on the trenitalia site when the Best Box is checked?

Thanks :-)

The actual dates for this part of our trip are May 16-19, 2015

fresh,

Thanks for clarifying the travel dates. If you're making that trip on 16 May, the timing will be a bit different than what I posted earlier.

The Trenitalia website shows a departure at 06:50 from Venice, arriving Spiez at 13:53. Unfortunately as you'll be travelling on a Saturday, there will be a longer layover at Milano Centrale with this solution (about two hours). You could use a departure at 08:12 which has an extra change at Venezia Mestre, but that's not a big deal. It also arrives at 13:53.

The 06:50 departure is showing a price of €82 PP from Venezia S. Lucia as there are still some Economy tickets left. The 08:12 departure does not display a price, most likely because the first leg is a Regionale and those aren't listed for sale until seven days prior to departure. However, the routing from Venezia Mestre to Spiez is also listed at €82 PP, so that looks like your best price.

For travels in Italy, it's better to use the Trenitalia website. The Bahn.de website does NOT usually allow purchase of tickets for trips originating outside of Germany. If you wish to buy tickets for trips in Italy, use either the Trenitalia or Italiarail.com (the latter is reportedly more user friendly).

One other thing to mention is that you should be able to just purchase the segment from Spiez to Gimmelwald when you arrive in Spiez. I've done that before and it only takes a few minutes. It's only a short trip from there to Interlaken Ost.

Right now, I can get all the way to the spot where I enter my credit card information at www.sbb.ch. I am looking at the 12:23 departure from Milano Centrale on May 16 for 87 chf. Can you get that far?
One more thing, let your credit card company you are doing this. They may be blocking it as it looks like someone in Switzerland is buying train tickets with your credit card. You have to call them and let them know that person is you.

When you begin your search on most train websites, the clock defaults to the local time for your search. You can change that to whatever time you want. So, if you are searching Trenitalia at 9am EST, the clock will default to 1500 (3pm) Italian time. Perhaps that's part of the problem in finding schedules.

We're going to Italy in mid-Sept. Looking at the Rail Europe website, it's impossible to book trains now for then, so we just have to plan based on their online schedules of trains for the next few weeks. We like to book specific trains on specific dates, so we need to wait awhile longer.

Hope this helps.
Mike Lichtenstein

Don't use Rail Europe - they only show a fraction of the trains running. They'll also charge you more than you would pay if you booked and paid directly with the international train booking sites.

Lastly - file your Eurail Ticket information in the same waste bin as your Traveler's Cheques. They're both outdated and Eurail is just an overpriced outdated mode of transport.

Mike Lichtenstein,

As Tim mentioned in the previous reply, do not use Rail Europe for planning or purchasing tickets. A much more reliable method is to either use the websites of the rail networks in the various countries (Trenitalia or Italo in Italy), or the German rail website Bahn.de, which has rail information for trains all over Europe.

It looks like to me, since we have specific days of travel in Italy to destinations where have already booked lodgings, that the Eurorail Italy pass is not worth the price. However, going into Switzerland seems to be a different story, as the leg from Milan to Spiez is pretty pricing verses the with a Eurorail pass. It's like $300 difference for the entire trip from Venice to Spiez and a 4 day Eurorail pass is not much more.

My question is, will an Italy Eurorail pass work for the portion of the trip outside of Italy into Switzerland to Spiez from Milan? Want to make sure before purchase so don't have it and still have to pay the higher fare.

By the way, the suggestion about the clock defaulting to the local time really made a difference on the number of options that were listed. Instead of putting a mid morning departure my time I put a departure of
1 am and that brought up several more schedules....Thanks

$300 Venice to Spiez?? Get real! Are going first class? Why?
Why don't you post exactly where you are going and how many people. We can ballpark that pretty good.

Ya Sam....I realized after I posted that what I meant was a round trip from Milan to Spiez and back to Milan for 2 adults (seniors). The italiarail.com site shows it $140 each way from Milan to Spiez without pass and $25 each way with pass. Also, it's $84 from Venice to Milan without pass and $23 with pass. So, if I'm figuring this out right, that a difference of $291 for 2 people. I'm planning on this from May 16-19, mostly because read about the area of Gimmelwald in R. Steves book and it sounded like a place to see. All the rest of our 5 week trip is in Italy and Greece.

Do these prices make sense? Can I use a Eurorail pass for Italy on the Milan to Spiez portion as that is the biggest savings.

Freshventure,

I had a lot of problems booking on sbb.ch this past week for our trip from Milan to Lauterbrunnen for July. As I went through the booking process I kept getting an error message (in German) that stated, amongst other things that my session expired. I emailed SBB and they were somewhat helpful saying there were sporadic problems with the site. I was trying both Firefox and Safari. Downloaded Chrome and it worked beautifully for a few days of searching and finally booking. Maybe try that and see if it helps.

FWIW, if traveling from Italy to Switzerland AND BACK, be certain to print out your train tickets for the round trip at the station before you leave Italy. You cannot print the Milano-Spiez or Spiez-Milano portions at home not at the station in Switzerland. You will be required to buy a new ticket if you forget. You can get a refund after travek, but it is a hassle.

Right now, since you are traveling from Venice to Milan on a Saturday, so you get a 2 for 1 special. Italiarail shows $42 total.
Milano Centrale to Brig is 35 euro per person each way. Go with that.
If you want to roll the dice a bit, I see that inside 2 weeks, there are Super Saver tickets possibly available through www.sbb.ch. Right now they are showing 41.60 euro per person instead of the normal price of 62 euro. This for the route from Lauterbrunnen to Grutchalp and then the BLM rail line to Muerren. Its about a half mile walk downhill to Gimmelwald.
I assume you have seen Jed's post about using Chrome browser.
If you get a Eurail pass, you will only get a 25% discount beyond Interlaken Ost at best.
Keep plugging.

If considering a rail pass for travel in this region, it's usually a better value to buy the Italian tickets separately, either as you go or with some advance discounts on longer routes and to use a Swiss Travel Pass for the Swiss portion of the trip. The version for 3 or 4 consecutive days is most convenient and comprehensive, if it fits your whole stay, and consecutive versions are also sold to print at home (prevalidated for the travel dates you choose online). Or consider the Swiss Transfer Ticket with Half-Fare Card add-on. Swiss pass products kick in when you cross the border at Iselle or Chiasso, so you'd only have to buy the Italian ticket that far.