I was in zurich five years ago. I took a 3 hr 40 min train from zurich to Milan (not as scenic, I know, but still lovely) and a 2.4 hr train immediately out of Milan to venice, my ultimate destination. I researched so much but when I was there I ended up just going to the window ticket agent and purchasing tickets clueless as to what I was doing. should I try to buy these tickets ahead? I see posts but I'm so overwhelmed with the process. can I just buy them at a ticket window and get on a train for both trips or is it required to prepurchase? I have read the other posts, I'm not sure I follow it. thank you JOAN
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
You do NOT have to pre-purchase, and you can just show up at the ticket window and buy your tickets from a person. If you are computer savvy then you have to opportunity to purchase your tickets in advance and take advantage of cheaper super economy tickets before they sell out.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
Changing emphasis, you do not HAVE to pre-purchase, but if you are like most of us, you like saving money.
Neither do you HAVE to pre-purchase airline tickets. You can just go to the airport and say "Get me on the next flight to Zurich."
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Joan, practicalities. You can look up trains and buy tickets on the Italian Railways site: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
You need to use the "real" names of the stations: Zuerich Hb (Zurich doesn't work), Milano Centrale and Venezia S. Lucia
I suggest you compare the fares for tomorrow with those for a date a few months in the future.
One small catch, Trenitalia only sells tickets for trains within, to or from Italy.
Direct trains from Zürich to Milan leave at 9 minutes past odd hours (i.e. 09:09, 11:09 etc.) and take 3h 26. There are also other options involving changing trains in Switzerland. Trenitalia will not sell these options, but Swiss Railways will ( https://www.sbb.ch/en ).