Traveling from Saas-Fee to Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy)

One suggestion: The interface between the SBB and the Trenitalia booking systems is buggy, and you often get weird errors.
So my suggestion is to. book the train on Trenitalia, and the bus ticket you can just get locally in Saas Fee.

There is a direct train Brig - Venice in the morning at 7:41
There are other trains that require a transfer in Milano. Some of those trains also stop in Visp, so you do not need to take the bus all the way to Brig.

So look up first "Saas Fee" to "Venezia Mestre" (where the bus will leave from) on www.sbb.ch. Decide which trains you want to take, and then book that on Trenitalia.

Currently it looks like the best option would be (if you don't mind an early start):

Take bus Saas Fee to Brig at 6:00, arrive there at 7:08. Just buy that in Saas Fee.
Take EC 41 from Brig to Venezia Mestre. That leaves there at 7:41. Book this with Trenitalia. You arrive in Mestre at 12:47.
The bus to Cortina leaves at 14:00. Book that on https://www.cortinaexpress.it/

Its going to be a long day. Get yourself breakfast at the bakery in the station in Brig, and Lunch in Mestre :-)

Could you maybe tell us your travel day, and how many people are in your group (and their ages). There are a few interesting ways of saving you some substantial money on this trip.

Thanks Wengen for your response. I didn't know that there was a train direct from Brig to Venice! I was thinking we would have to transfer in Milan. Now my main concern is that it seems from reading reviews that the Cortina Express bus doesn't always have a toilet onboard. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't (apparently). And we are traveling with two kids that are 4 and 9 so a bathroom is needed (just in case). Before I knew about the direct train from Brig to Venice, we were leaning towards a car rental in Milan and just driving to Cortina d"Ampezzo. Now maybe we will check out the train from Brig to Venice and perhaps rent two cars in Venice to get us to Cortina d'Ampezzo. We are traveling on August 23rd. There are 10 people. Four adults, two seniors, kids are 4, 9, 13, 16. Thanks for your input. I welcome any further suggestions. You have been very helpful.

I defer to WengenK's great lnowledge on this one, but offer two comments.
One is that it might be easier to get off the train and rent the car(s) in Verona than Venice, unless you want to go via Venice particularly. Also, it strikes me that size wise, you are actually 6 adults and two childen with luggage, so will need large cars, or even vans.
The other is that even if buses have toilets, they can be regarded as energency only and may be locked!

My tip is to split the bookings in Domodossola.

So book Domodossola - Venice ( or Domodossola - Verona if picking up a car there) on www.trenitalia.com

Why? Because Trenitalia has a special family fare, for groups of up to 5 persons (so you will need to make two bookings). If the group has at least one child in them the children go free, and the adults go half price. Note that in Italy child is up to 14 yo, so your 16 yo will have to be added as an adult.

Then buy a separate ticket Saas - Fee to Domodossola with SBB. You can even buy that at the bus station in Saas if you want. Then take the bus to Brig, and get on EC 41 there. Splitting tickets while staying on a train is perfectly normal.

Thanks Wengen! I'll check into this. So we stay on the same train in Domodossola? We aren't switching trains? You and Lin C have been very helpful.

You can stay on the train, even with split. tickets. Trains operate on "proof of purchase". As long as you have a valid ticket you are fine. It does not have to be the same ticket for each part of the route.

EC41 is a Swiss train, but from Domodossola onwards it is operated by Trenitalia, so that is why you can get Trenitalia domestic fares on it. The train remains the same, but the crew changes. You will notice that suddenly there will be an Italian conductor on board...

Domodossola is the network border between SBB and Trenitalia. North of it trains are operated by the Swiss, under Swiss rules, and south of it you are on the Italian railways. In the past they would also swap engines here, which was quite an interesting sight actually. But nowadays its all train sets that can run in both countries.

When booking Saas Fee to Domodossola on SBB you will notice that normally EC41 will not be proposed. That is because there is an earlier regional train, and the planner defaults to the faster route. Just go in the settings, and just increase the transfer time in Brig and solutions with EC 41 will appear. You will not have reserved seats between Brig and Domodossola, but it is unlikely someone will be sitting in the seats you reserved, and if there are, these people will leave in Domodossola. So board EC41 in Brig, head for your seats. Take them if free, and if not, hang around nearby and claim them later.

Wengen~
Thanks for all your help. Train tickets are purchased and because of your helpful advice we saved money on the Domodossola to Venice portion of the trip! We appreciate your help so much!!

Tina