My husband & I and two of our close friends are traveling to Switzerland next month. We are flying into LIN airport in Milan around noon on a Saturday and have hotel reservations in Murren that night. We know it will take some time (5-6 hours) to make our way to Murren, but we are having trouble navigating the sbb.ch website for booking of tickets. It seems that some times show rates, but others do not. My question is - should we book ahead or will we be able to find enough tickets day-of? We want to ensure that (in case of delays) we do not miss our trains, but we certainly want to make it to Murren that night. Any insight would be appreciated! We have all traveled to Italy previously and are familiar with Trenitalia processes, but have no experience navigating Swiss rail. Thanks!
Posted by
Chicago
8164 posts
But maybe you should wait til you get there to book your train as you know the flight maybe delayed.
What day are you traveling on so we can look to see what the problem with the sbb site is?
Everything looked normal when I tried a test booking.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
That's what I was thinking on the flight delay - I just wanted to make sure it was feasible to buy the international train tickets same-day. We will arrive in Milan on Saturday, March 10th. Thank you!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
It is not normally advisable to reserve a fixed train trip following a long flight. There are too many variables which could affect when you are able to catch you train: flight lands late, delays in immigration, etc.
There are few discounts on Swiss Railways for advance tickets. Most tickets are valid on any train, and most Swiss trains do not even have reservations.
Italian Railways do have discounts on long distance trains, but not on local trains.
CONCLUSION: Buy tickets on the day.
As to your original problem, where are you using as your starting station? Linate airport does not have a rail connection, only a bus to central Milan. Getting to Milano Centrale station will also take time.
I did a search on SBB for Milano Centrale to Mürren for 25th March, starting 15:00 (allow 3 hours for airport and bus)
15:29 Milano Centrale, arrive Mürren 20:55
You cannot buy a ticket for this directly online. You fill in a form and they contact you by e-mail. This is because two different rail companies are involved. If you split the trip and buy Milano to Domodossola on Trenitalia, and Domodossola to Mürren on SBB you may have more success.
BUT, it is better to buy on the day.
Linate airport only handles intra-European flights. Where are you flying from? Do you have an option to fly to Zürich instead?
Zürich airport to Mürren takes 3h10, there are trains every 30 minutes an it costs CHF 94.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Perfect! This is very helpful information. We sent the request via email and the reply we received told us the tickets could not be booked. It makes much more sense that two different rail companies are involved. We will plan to buy tickets day of! Again, thank you for all of your help, Chris!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32350 posts
Devin,
As Chris mentioned, it's not advisable to pre-book tickets to connect with an incoming flight. If there are any flight delays and you miss the train you've booked, the tickets are worthless if they're booked on a express train, and you'll have to buy more anyway.
Milano Linate is relatively close to the city, so the easiest solution would be to take a Taxi to Milano Centrale. Here's a guide to help you choose transportation - http://www.milanolinate-airport.com/en/directions-and-parking/to-and-from . One question though - are you arriving at Linate from another European airport (Linate doesn't get as many international flights as Malpensa)? If you're arriving from another EU airport, you shouldn't have to worry about Passport control.
When you arrive at Milano Centrale, the ticket office is on the ground floor. There may be a queue for the staffed ticket windows, but there are Kiosks there as well, and those will probably be quicker. Once you have tickets, go up two floors to track level and through the "security gates" to the tracks. Use the large displays to determine which track (Binario) your train will be departing from.
If you arrive in Milan at noon, your best bet is probably a departure at 13:29, arriving Lauterbrunnen at 18:55 (time 5H:26M, 3 changes at Domodossola, Spiez and Interlaken Ost). NOTE that there are TWO departures at 13:29 using different trains - the other one is slightly shorter but has 4 changes). If you can connect with that departure, this is one method you can use.....
- the train from Milano Centrale to Domodossola is often a Regionale so the price won't change, whether bought in advance or on the day of travel. If you bought the ticket at the station, BE SURE to validate the ticket prior to boarding the train or you'll risk hefty fines which will be collected on the spot! You can take a chance and buy that ticket in advance, as you'll have four hours from the departure time listed on the ticket to use it. Price is currently shown at €10.80 PP. If you buy online, I'd suggest using www.trainline.eu as it's very user friendly website. Tickets bought online do not have to be validated.
- when you arrive in Domodossola, you'll have a layover of 51 minutes. At Domodossola, buy tickets to Spiez or to Interlaken Ost if possible (even as far as Spiez will work well). I've been able to buy tickets in Milan as far as Spiez, so you could try that.
- when you arrive at Spiez or Interlaken Ost, buy your tickets to Mürren. With that rail solution you'll have a 21 minute layover in Spiez, so lots of time to buy tickets.
- From Lauterbrunnen there are two routes to get to Mürren, and the route I'd use is Mürren BLM (you'll need to specify that when you buy the tickets).
- if you've bought "BLM" tickets, when you arrive in Lauterbrunnen walk across the street to the Cable Car station and take the next car to Grütschalp - when you arrive there, you'll find the small mountain railway waiting and in a few minutes you'll be in Mürren.
- if you're able to connect with the 13:29 departure from Milano Centrale, you should arrive in Mürren at 19:28, just in time to check into your hotel, do a brief walkabout and have a fine hot meal.
This may sound a bit convoluted, but it should work fine.