isabel

I need to take a train from Milano to Luxembourg on July 11th. I can see several options on both the Trenitalia and the Swiss Rail sites. My question is how and when to buy the tickets. On the Swiss site it says you can pick them up at any station in Switzerland. My problem of course is that the trip starts in Milan so there is no way I could do that. On the Trenitalia site I don't see the option to buy the ticket (I can see the schedule, just no way to buy the ticket).

I will be in Italy for 9 days before I want to take the trip to Luxembourg. Would it be safe to wait till I got to Italy to buy the ticket? I will only be in Milano for four days - could I buy the ticket at the station in Verona which is where I'll be before Milano? For train travel within Italy I have always just waited till I got there and never had a problem but not sure about international train travel. Also, there is only one good train a day (without 3 or 4 changes) so I really don't want to miss that one.

isabel

ttt

Dukey1

I see no reason why you cannot wait and buy a ticket in Verona or Milan at the station. I would write down the train timings you want and ask about those specifically.

kybourbon

If you are looking for discount tickets, you can book an EC train from Milan Centrale to either Basel or Zurich for the Smart Fare price of 19€ on Trenitalia.

The EC to Basel without train changes has departures at either 7:25 (EC 50) or 11:25 (EC 52). After selecting the train, in the fare drop down box select Smart.

At the Basel station (Basel SBB), you would switch to the French station (Basel SNCF - same building).

***Basel SBB Train Station
All three of Basel’s stations are in the heart of the city. The Swiss SBB and French SNCF stations are part of the same building to the south of the Rhine. While the German Basel Badischer Bahnhof is a short tram ride to the north.***

It's also possible to select an EC train Milan/Zurich and get a Smart Fare, but it appears to require more connections to reach Luxembourg.

Smart Fares:
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

You can buy the Basel/Luxembourg ticket on the SBB website (requires pick up in Basel), but if your train is delayed I'm not sure what the refund/change rules are. I don't see any discounts for this ticket on the SBB website, but perhaps there is on the French SNCF website.

PalenQ

In any case be sure you will indeed be able to buy tickets on any trains you need - these trains rarely sell out and especially do not in first class - so many trains - direct train to Basel makes most sense but if say that were full you can take many trains to say Bern and switch to trains to Basel, etc.

Try to nab the 19 euro ticket bourbon describes but do it NOW as these are sold in very limited numbers and can go quickly and keep in mind that those tickets are generally non-changeable non-refundable so be sure of your exact time and day. Full fare tickets, easily bought once in Italy, can be refunded or changed to other trains if need be. For lots of great info on European trains I always spotlight these fantastic IMO sites - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - all great primers for understanding and using European trains. And if you like many others have trouble getting trenitalia.com to work then kybourbon and others who knows its many fickle ins and outs always are ready to jump in and help - but again you can well wait until Italy to buy tickets if you want - will not be sold out.

isabel

kybourbon and PalenQ - Thank you SO much. I had figured that I would need to buy the two tickets separately but your information confirmed all the things I was unsure of - PLUS you saved me 65€.

PalenQ

bourbon has saved tons of folks tons of money by her/his great postings time and time again figuring out the fog of Italian trains and trenitalia.com!