Train schedules and fares from Venice to Interlaken

For schedules use the Swiss Rail site: http://rail.ch It's a 6.5 hour journey with changes in Brig, and Speiz. You generally can't purchase tickets until 90 days before your journey

Thanks, Michael.

And schedules are seldom posted more than 60 to 90 days out. If you want to see a schedule pick the same day of the week next month. There is very little from one schedule cycle to another. You are being over eager. Remember European rarely if ever sell out except for night trains. You will have plenty of options in April or May. We almost never buy our tickets until the day before. Will miss some discount but like the flexibility.

You can easily buy your ticket in Venice to the Interlaken Ost train station. We've done it. What the Italians cannot do is sell you a ticket to go into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Interlaken Ost - Yes. The preferred routing is to go back through Milan and then go north to Spiez where you will change to the train that will take you to Interlaken Ost. You might also have to change trains at Dommodosola. Here's a sample link from the Italian train website. http://orario.trenitalia.com/b2c/nppPriceTravelSolutions.do?car=0&stazin=venice&stazout=interlaken+ost&datag=29&datam=01&dataa=2012&timsh=07&stazin_r=Staz_DA&stazout_r=Staz_A&timsm=28&timsm_r=28&lang=en&nreq=5&channel=tcom&npag=1&lang_r=en&nreq_r=5&channel_r=tcom&npag_r=1&x=30&y=7 If you go to the Swiss train website, www.rail.ch they will show you the same routing and you can even buy the ticket online. Just put in Venice and Interlaken Ost and the date (hopefully less than 90 days out) and you will see what I see.

"...And schedules are seldom posted more than 60 to 90 days out....." Swiss Rail has the schedules for June posted. "...If you go to the Swiss train website, www.rail.ch they will show you the same routing and you can even buy the ticket online..." Problem is that since the journey originates in Italy instead of Switzerland, Swiss Rail will insist on shipping the tickets via DHL overnight. The S&H will be over 50CHF. This may be one of those rare instances where Rail Europe may be helpful.

Michael has a good comment. Still, you can buy the tickets in the Venice train station. There are lines but they move right along. Besides, the pizza at the little stand in the station is quite good. I would suggest buying your departure tickets as soon as you arrive in Venice. As for June 28, Trenitalia u-p-dates its schedules in mid-June. The changes are mostly minor but they are notorious for being tardy in getting the schedules up. You might not see the u-p-dates until close in to your travel dates. If you look at the schedules now for 6/28, Trenitalia will tell you that there is no solution found. There is a solution and will be a solution but they just haven't posted it yet and won't for quite awhile. If you look at 3/28, you'll see the schedules. Not much will change after the u-p-dates but you will just have to wait.

National Rail companies issue new timetables in June and December; but, as Larry said, Trenitalia is notorious for waiting until the last minute to upload theirs to their Web site. However, if you're patient and book tickets as soon as the site allows you to do so, you can get discount fares for most of your trip from Venice to Interlaken. For example, the standard 2nd class fare for Venice-Milan is €32.50. The best Mini fare is €15.00. Book this leg by itself. The standard 2nd class fare for Milan-Spiez is €59.50. The best Smart fare is €19.00. Book this leg by itself. Buy your tickets for Spiez-Interlaken Ost when you get to Spiez. There are 2-3 trains per hour between Spiez and Interlaken Ost. The standard 2nd class fare is 10.40 CHF (€8.60 at today's exchange rate).