So confused. I have searched and read all the posts about train travel and am so confused. We (my husband and I) are arriving at Malpensa on Sun 14 sept and will go to Varenna for one night. Then Monday afternoon (15 Sept) we want to travel to St. Gallen Switzerland to visit some friends that live there. We will be traveling back to Italy (Venice) on Thursday 18 Sept. 4 nights in Venice then to Florence for 4 nights and then back to Milan Fri 26 Sept for a night stay before our flight 27 Sept. I am confused about buying train tickets. I don't think i need a rail pass. How do I book train tickets for our trip to Switzerland and our return trip back to Italy? Some posts say to stay away from Rail Europe others recommend that site. Help I am so confused and really stressing out!
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7803 posts
HI Betsy, You don't need a rail pass for Italy. You know the dates you want to travel. If you also know the approximate time, purchasing the Italian tickets ahead of time can save you money - not sure any of the discount tickets are still available. You may prefer this: easy to go to www.rome2rio.com and fill in your two locations - Swiss or Italian. The time to travel plus some links into the train websites to purchase are in the options.
Posted by
Green Bay
21153 posts
First day has no real thinking involved. After you have picked up your luggage at Milan airport, make your way to the airport train station and buy tickets to Varenna-Esino. They are always the same price. While you are at the ticket window, go ahead and buy your ticket from Varenna-Esino to Tirano for tomorrow. Take the train to Milano Centrale station, they are twice every hour and cost 12 euro. Just remember to take the train going to Centrale, not Cadorna, and validate your ticket (stamp it in the machine) before boarding. At Milano Centrale, you change to the next train to Varenno-Esino. They run about one per hour except late afternoon when they go every 2 hours. The ticket is 6.45 euro and again, don't forget to validate your ticket.
Next day take the train to Tirano. The ticket is 7 euro (you already bought it). suggest you leave no later than 13:24 (1:24 pm) to get you to St Gallen at a decent hour. When you get to Tirano, you need to walk a few blocks to the Swiss train station and buy a ticket to St Gallen. If you want the Bernina Express train with the panorama cars, it will cost a little more than regular trains, but you don't need to change trains as many times. The last express is at 15:14, so you have 24 minutes between trains. If you miss it, don't worry, there is a regular train 26 minutes later that will get you to St Gallen at exactly the same time, but one extra change. The regular fare is 84 chf, there is a small supplement for the express. That will get you to St Gallen by 21:34. Again, no reason to buy in advance, cost is always the same. You can leave earlier, but it really doesn't give you much time in Varenna.
Tickets from St Gallen to Venice, then to Florence and to Milan can be bought now if you can commit to specific trains for nonrefundable tickets. Try www.Italiarail.com for Venice-Florence and Florence-Milan. Their tickets are a couple of bucks more per ticket, but you might find the www.trenitalia.com site a bit hard to maneuver and pay for tickets. For St Gallen-Venice tickets, you might wait until you get to St Gallen and buy from the ticket window at the station, or give it a try now at www.sbb.ch.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
If you buy any ticket on Trenitalia for a train that starts in Switzerland, then you MUST pick it up in an Italian station at the start of your trip. Tickets for travel Milan-Venice-Florence-Milan can be printed at home, but the international ticket cannot. Trenitalia schedules will reflect the hourly regional trains running Milan-Varenna-Tirano, which are not shown on all sources. Since Trenitalia will not show all Swiss train connections, see SBB.ch or How to Look Up Train Schedules Online for the rest of the connections to/from St. Gallen.