Centovalli railway Questions

Website says "in the coming weeks".

Yeah, I saw that, and looking at earlier dates did not help since the route is being repaired through mid March, so buses will replace the train until the work is finished.

FYI, I have also see a few tour operators that offer a loop trip that starts and ends in Stresa, taking a train to Domodossola, then the Centovalli railway to Locarno, returning to Stresa by ferry. That sounds like a nice day out, so I am looking into the timetables to see if this is possible using Locarno as the start/end of the loop.

The Centovalli does not require advance purchase or reservations. Just go to Domodossola, and board the train there. Regional trains from Milano to Domodossola do not require advance purchase either.

So you can just wait till you are here...

that circuit needs no guide. I forget the marketing name of that triangle but it needs no reservations. It is highly marketed in the area, your hotel probably has brochures. It is easily customised... It works well...

I've travelled on the Centovalli Railway a few times, and did the loop trip that you mentioned. On the first trip, I happened to mention it to the hotel owner in Stresa where I was staying, and he had the tickets for me in an hour.

As others have mentioned, you can buy tickets at the station in Domodossola or even on board the train. I believe it's also covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. Note that the Centovalli station is "downstairs" from the main station as is the station in Locarno. It's a beautiful trip!

Thanks for the feedback. Neither of the final timetables (Lake Maggiore ferry or Centovalli train) are available at the moment, and since advance reservations appear to not be necessary, we can make an "executive" decision on this closer to our departure day.

The Centovalli web site now show booking availability for May and beyond, so I reserved two seats for the trip from Domodossola to Locarno. Since we will be staying in Locarno, I'd like to utilize the Ticino Card to cover the Swiss segment of this itinerary, but I am not sure how to do that. There is a page on the Centovalli web site that describes a process, but I have not been able to find that option on any of their booking pages-if anyone here has insight in this, please let me know. Otherwise, I will take the easy way out and simply book twoo separate tickets (Milan-Domodossola, then Domodossola-Locarno).

Looks like the Centovalli Railway is not an option for our transfer day-all the trains between Milano Centrale and Domodossola have been cancelled for the dates of May 1-4, which unfortunately covers our transfer day, so we are taking the direct train from Milan to Locarno instead. There are bus replacements for the trains, but none of them lined up with the Centovalli train we wanted to take., so we switched gears. The Milan-Como-Lugano-Locarno route we are taking instead also looks scenic as it skirts along the lower and middle part of Lake Lugano enroute, so we will still have nice scenery for some of the ride. Fortunately the Centovalli seat reservations were cheap, so not too much breakage for our trip budget.

Given that the Milan-Domodossola route also services Stresa and that part of Lake Maggiore, scheduling work on that route over a major holiday weekend is a bit mystifying, to put it mildly. It is possible to reach Domodossola via Novara and past Lake Orta, but that adds a significant amount of time to the trip.