Train from Lucerne to Florence

You do not have to return to Zurich; you can go from Luzern to Arth-Goldau and change there for the train to Milan. Much faster. To save money, book Luzern to Milan on SBB and Milan to Florence on Trenitalia, about 2 months in advance. SBB sells special offer tickets for tLuzern to Milan for 36 CHF instead of the usual 85 CHF. And Trenitalia will offer " mini" fares on the fast trains from Milan to Florence.

Wonderful advice! Thank you so much!!

Hi Lola, I am looking at train tickets now from Luzern to Milan on SBB. When you say to book from Luzern to Milan should I book it to Milano Centrale via Arth-Goldau. It looks like there are a few options of stops in Milan. Thanks again! -Amanda

Yes, in Milan you want Milano Centrale. That is the main station, and the train to Florence will depart from there. You should see a number of trains from Luzern to Milano Chetrale with only one change (at Arth-Goldau.)

Amanda, The fastest train I found on that route was a departure from Lucerne at 08:18 (EC153) arriving Milano Centrale at 11:50. The next train (ES9529) departs at 12:20, arriving Firenze SMN at 14:05. Both trains require compulsory reservations, and total travel time is 5H:47M. If you're not pre-ordering tickets, you can purchase the first leg from Lucerne to Milano Centrale when you arrive in Lucerne. As I recall, there's an SBB Travel Agency in the Luzern Bahnhof. If you pre-book the segment from Milano to Firenze online, you may be able to qualify for the discounted "Mini" fares (normal second class fare on that route is €53 for the "fast" trains). Check This Website for full information on the "Mini" fares. Happy travels!

Thank you both once again. I started another post on the Graffiti wall a few days ago in regards to pre-purchasing tickets as compared to buying them at the station. My travel dates are pretty set in stone, not too much flexibility with time and dates. For this reason, I am leaning towards pre-purchasing but wanted to ask your opinion since you both seem to be seasoned travelers. Thank you!

And one other question....I see on SBB that you can reserve non refundable tickets for 1/2 the price of refundable...thoughts? Thanks!

They should be better than half price for the "special offer" tickets from Luzern to Milan. 35 CHF instead of 83. I always choose the non-refundable tickets if I can save that much. We saved almost 500 CHF on round-trip tickets from Zurich to Milan for our family of four. Well worth it. I do not mind losing flexibility as our hotels are all reserved anyway. We like to travel at a certain time of day (departing our hotel mid- to late morning, after checkout, and arriving at the next in early afternoon). So I do not mind making a commitmen to a certain train. We have never missed one.

Thank you for all the information Lola! You saved us at least $400 for our train tickets. I greatly appreciate your advice! -Amanda

If you are traveling round-trip with these special offer tickets, just be sure to pick up the return portion (from Milan) in Switzerland when you pick up your Luzern to Florence tickets. You will get a confirmation code to pick up the tickets when you buy them on SBB and that is only good for pick-up in Switzerland. I have seen people on Tripadvisor lamenting that they bought these tickets for travel one-way from Milan to Zurich and they had no way to get them!