getting from MXP to Ascona to Montreux to Geneva - trains?

Swiss Air/Helvetic offers several nonstop flights from Brussels to Zurich, about $150 on a test date in December. Travel time from Zurich Airport to Ascona is 3 hours. Travel time from Milano Centrale station is also 3 hours, but add an hour for the Malpensa Express connection.

Train schedules reflect the bus connection to Ascona; see the Deutsche Bahn link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online or the Swiss site, www.sbb.ch.

If you buy before you go, a Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card will kick in from the border crossing at Chiasso. Separate tickets for the Italian portion will be cheap - about $20 per person, which you can buy in the stations.

Rome2Rio.com is suggesting all sorts of multi-mode options. I don't have personal experience with any of them. What is most practical/fastest will depend partly on the precise timing of your arrival at MXP. In theory, the train/boat combo could work, but Rome2Rio thinks the boat runs only 3x daily. However, Rome2Rio is often quite incorrect about schedules. If you drill down on the website to the link for the specific transportation company, you can probably find the schedule on the official website. It may be tricky to find information for next September (or for September 2017, which would also be illuminating) at this time.

Thanks.

Flying Brussels to Zurich is a good option for sure . We might be able to get from our last stop on the cycling trip to the Brussels airport in time to fly out that night which gives us more time to get to Ascona the next day....

I do find the Rome2Rio website a bit confusing but maybe I just need to spend more time on it.

Since the other schedule sites will also show Swiss lake boats, I wouldn't spend more time on Rome2Rio. But they usually prioritize the fastest connections. If you look at the Swiss Pass transport map and get inspired to plan a detour, you can enter a "via" midpoint or search some legs separately on schedule searches.

Thanks! I'll tell you though renting a car round trip from MXP is tempting for ease (given our route) and speed of travel. We don't mind just parking it for a couple days when we are on location. (I'm sure that makes seasoned travelers shudder). Thankfully, we have tins of time to decide.

If we flew into Zurich from Brussels
train to Locarno (bus to Ascona) 3 - 4 nights in Ascona with day trips from here
train from Ascona to Montreux 3 -4 nights in Montreux with day trips from here
train from Montreux to Geneva 1 night in Geneva
and then fly home from Geneva -
Do you know which train pass would work best for us?

In your case, you have 182 CHF of full fare tickets for 3 major trips (ZRH-Locarno, Locarno-Montreux, Montreux-Geneva). If you have another 58 CHF of side trips, likely given in Ascona you'll be busing a bit, you should get a 30-day Half Fare Card for 120 CHF per person. All the passes are a lot more expensive. You do have to buy a ticket for each journey, but you will save money in the end. The Half Fare Card is good for all public transportation in Switzerland, Post Bus, lake boats, mountain lifts, city bus and trams.