Train from Lauterbrunnen to Lucerne to Milan

You would need to purchase a separate ticket from the last station covered by the STP to Milan.

Most trains in Switzerland don’t even have the option for making reservations. You just find open seats. The exceptions are the special scenic routes like the Bernina Express, Glacier Express, etc.

You could buy the ticket at Luzern station and show your pass and they would just charge you for the Italian section. Your best train would be to depart at 18 past the even hours (8:18, 10:18, etc) which is an IC train direct to Lugano, then change to a regional train to Milan, which does not require a seat reservation. It is the fastest way and the transfer time in Lugano is a comfortable 14 minutes.

You can buy the ticket from Luzern to Milano Centrale on the SBB website and enter your pass ( a regular Swiss Pass qualifies for the GA reduction, which means you will not be charged for the Swiss portion of the journey, only from the Italian section from Chiasso to Milan. Very easy to do.

However, the deep Gotthard Basistunnel tunnel which is normally used by the cross- order IC trains is closed to passenger trains, and will be through September and beyond. So the trains are using the old route known as the Gotthard Pass, although there is a short tunnel at the top. This change is reflected on the current schedule, shown here ( if it comes through) for 28/09.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/fahrplan/fahrplan.xhtml

You will see that there are no direct IC trains from Luzern to Milan on the schedule; those are being canceled. You will have, at a minimum, a change at Arth-Goldau from a regional train to the IC train coming from Zurich or elsewhere. You may or may not be able to get seat reservations on that train, although normally they would be available. The trains are expected to be crowded.

Some trains will have an additional change at Lugano or other stop on the way.

My suggestion, if you want a pleasant trip and the certainty of reserved seats, is to consider the Gotthard Panorama Express, a boat + train combination that departs Luzern on a boat at 11:12 each day. You cruise down the lake to Flüelen and board the train there, arriving at Lugano at 16:41. From there it is a short hop by local train or IC train to Milan.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/trains-trips/rail-travel-specialtrains/panorama-trips/gotthard-panorama-express.html

This train is all first class and seat reservations are mandatory (and therefore guaranteed). If you have 2d class Swiss Passes you will have to pay a supplement for the train portion, but I believe you can choose to ride in 2d class on the boat is you prefer ( not sure about that).

Another option is the Treno Gottardo, which goes from Luzern to Locarno over the Gotthard Pass, but I do not see it on the schedule for the random date I picked.

The schedule appears to be a work in progress. As I noted above, there are no direct IC trains from Luzern to Milan, at least on the date I checked. If one wants the 8:18, 10:18 or 12:18 departure, you take the IR 26 to Arth-Goldau and change there to the IC train coming from Zurich (I think).

I actually bought tickets some time back on the 12:18 IC train for our travel date, 09/23, but while they charged my card I did not get tickets or reserved seats, just a confirmation of purchase. I was instructed to pick up the tickets at a station in Switzerland when we arrive. The train shows up in my Swiss Pass account but I am still unable to see or print the tickets. Then about a week ago I checked and the 12:18 train had disappeared from the schedule, at least for that day.

So I made alternate plans and emailed SBB about a refund. They responded that that IC train was officially canceled through 13/09, but not later. If I want a full refund, rather than the 75% or whatever it is that I booked, I need to wait a bit. My take from this is they are canceling some of the IC trains from Arth-Goldau to Milan on a rolling basis, to reduce traffic over the route. As of today the 12:18 train is back on the schedule for my date at least. But we won’t be taking it.

Another option is the Treno Gottardo, which goes from Luzern to Locarno over the Gotthard Pass, but I do not see it on the schedule for the random date I picked.

All the passenger trains are using this route as the Gotthard Base Tunnel is closed to passenger trains for the rest of the year. The IC trains direct to Lugano work best as the train change at Arth-Goldau is only 7 minutes and the platforms are on opposite sides of a "Y" intersection.

Thanks everyone. I booked an EC train from Spiez to Milan. Will take regional trains from Lauterbrunnen to Interkskrn to Spiez. Thanks for all your responses!

The Spiez to Milan trains do not go over the Gotthard route, so that is currently the best option to get to Italy from Lauterbrunnen anyway.

Hello, I am interested in this topic, too, and hope it is okay to piggy-back on this post. My husband and I are newbies to train travel. We want to travel from Lauterbrunnen to Milan on Sunday, October 15. We have a reservation to pick up a rental car at Milan Central to use for a few days of wine touring in Italy before resuming travel by train. A few months ago when I began researching the trip, there were more options for the train route from Lauterbrunnen to Milan, but now I see construction on the routes, more train changes, bus shuttles, and later arrivals than we estimated.

Because our vacation has been iffy due to a sick parent at home in the states, I planned to wait until we arrive in Zurich on Oct 11 to purchase a Swiss half-fare Pass (or 4 day Swiss pass? or Berner Oberland pass?) and get advice on the trip to Milan at the ticket counter in the airport train station. But do you think we should make our purchases now instead, for half-fare passes and the tickets for the Lauterbrunnen to Milan trip? I have the SBB phone app and it appears that a route that looked most reasonable for our schedule is already sold out for October 15 and they are suggesting an alternative with even more train changes.

Feeling some stress about this and I will appreciate the experts' advice! Thank you in advance!

On the 15th the trains between Domodossola are indeed replaced by coaches. Maybe look in to renting a car from Domodossola in stead, as this also saves you from having to extract yourself from Milano.