De Bahn vrs Trenitaila very frustrated

German Rail (Die Bahn) does not usually sell tickets online for segments entirely outside of Germany. They will in Switzerland when the entire trip starts in Germany and continues in Switzerland by non-regional trains (eg IC). So, you can get a ticket from Munich all the way to Interlaken with changes in Zürich and Bern. I did find a connection from Florence to Interlaken Ost on RailEurope, but only one, leaving Florence at 3:55 PM and getting into Interlaken Ost just before 10 PM. It's a hard fact of life that RailEurope does not sell tickets or even show schedules for all connections in Europe. They only sell a small subset of the connections actually available, so just because you don't see a connection on RailEurope doesn't mean it doesn't exist. RailEurope does show more trains for parts of that entire trip (Florence to Interlaken). Try breaking it up into Florence to Milan, Milan to Spiez, and Spiez to Interlaken. You can also get Florence to Milan from Trenitalia and Milan to Interlaken from Swiss Rail (www.sbb.ch). Unless you are trying to get a discounted advance purchase ticket, there is little need to buy tickets before you get to Europe.

What are the dates of your travel? It is possible that not all schedules have been loaded for Trenitalia. Most schedules will not be available until 60 to 90 days out. And sometimes Trenitalia is even slower. If there is some question just use the same day of week next week and see what the schedule is.

No need to be frustrated. Bahn.de shows schedules but does not sell tickets for trips entirely outside Germany. You have to buy tickets for travel within Italy from Trenitalia or from an agency like RailEurope. And your trip has segments in Switzerland so Trenitalia won't sell those. You can get a mini fare from Florence to Milan by buying on Trenitalia, so it advisable to do that. The rest you can buy at a station in Italy, a day or so before you travel. You may have to buy Spiez to Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen when younget to Spiez.

whomever said do this in segments is right. I finally figured that out. Seems I can buy buy the italian segments from Trenitalia and the swiss segments from swissrail DEBAHN has been great for schedules.. it seems all the trains I want are available even the 8:55 from Florence to Milan if I do it in segments (I am looking at June 6 Milan to Florence) then florence to Spiez Speiz to Interlaken then Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen.. the swiss connections I can get via the swill rail site.. I don;t have a lot of time between transfers to try and buy the swiss legs in Spiez so may buy them onlline in advance. THey are fairly cheap tickets so not so much of a risk and then I could buy the italy legs when I get to Venice there are no mini fares available for Venice to Florence for 6/1 but I am concerned that it is a holiday on 6/2 and a weekend so we might have a problem getting a ticket for the time we want and so i may be better off getting that leg in advance.
Any thoughts on this.. Thanks for all your advice.. it really is complicated.. Amtrak is a piece of cake in comparison:)

It is common, when attempting to make a rail journey across borders, for it to be impossible to purchase a single ticket from a single source (Germany's Bahn is a frequent exception) from the USA, other that RailEurope. However, you can usually do it on the ground at any train station ticket window. Mini fares in Italy sell out quickly. Once the schedule appears online within the 90-day window, don't expect them to still be there more than a few days later. If you don't see one listed for early June, it's already gone. You can still see if there are other lesser discount fares available.

Duhh.. I figured it out.. in order to see the mini fare you have to click next to proceed to buy.. the fare does not show up initially.. there are minifares available for my dates so I think I will purchase because they are so cheap I have very little to lose if something goes wrong.. !

Younwill not be able to buy the Swiss tickets on SBB until 30 days in advance. Make sure you unchecked the Half Fare option ( unless you will have a Half Fare Card). The default setting for pricing is WITH a Half-Fare card. If you buy that 8 CHf ticket and do not have a Half Fare Card you could face problems. The full fare I see is 17.60 CHF. And yes, buying this online will save you time at the Spiez station, but you do not need much time for that transfer.

Lola thanks.. yes I did see that half fare option and did uncheck it to see the correct rates and noted that they would not let me purchase until much closer in time.. I guess as you said 30 days.. thanks for that