Economical way to Travel from Lucene to Venice
 

We plan to travel from Lucerne to Venice on April 27th, 2013 and prefer to depart early in the morning. We are group of 6 adults and 1 toddler. Fare I am getting is on sbb.ch is 128 CHF per person, so for 6 adults it is going to be 768 CHF. As earlier, please advise if there is any cheaper way to get to Venice from Lucerne.

Lucern Sa, 27.04.13 dep 07:47 --> Milano Centrale arr 11:50 --> dep 12:05 Milano Centrale --> Venezia S. Lucia arr 14:40

On Trenitalia -> FrecciaBianca 9721 Milano Centrale 12:35 -> Venezia S. Lucia -> 15:10 Saturday 27/04/2013 is 19 Euro each (114 Euro), which I believe is a great price, but I am little skeptical to book before I get a connection itinerary from Lucerne - Milan Central.

Any advice is highly appreciated..

A few years ago I have bought the first class version of that exact direction using the nice Cisalpino for Lucerne-Milan. It's 3 hr to Milan plus 3 hr to Venice. We booked the non smoking compartment but it smelled like smoke on the Milan-Venice part. However I'm sure the newer Freccia Bianca train is much nicer.

I responded on how to book this on your other thread.

Trains are smoke free.

You can book that Lucerne-Milano timing for a total of 27CHF per person.

Go for it and don't wait for the offer to run out.

Kybourbon is right, all trains in Italy have now become 100% smoke free, there used to be some exceptions even after they went smoke free in 2005 but now all trains are smoke free. Thank god for that.

I have booked Milano Centrale 12:35 -> Venezia S. Lucia -> 15:10 Saturday 27/04/2013 for 19 Euro each for 6 adults.

Now, Luzern (07:47) - Milano Centrale (11:50 ) is available only under standard rate category which is 67€ each which is highly expensive. While booking this train at Smart rate of 22€, I received an error and when I tried again, smart rate was gone...:(

Please let me know if I can do anything to call customer service of Trenitalia or is there any benefit to try again and again with a possibility to get smart rate reflect again.

If there is no way get a smart rate, I have no option other than to book at standard rate of 67€ as I have to reach Milan before 12:35 PM so that I do not miss connection from Milan - Venice.

There must be a huge misunderstanding: you told us that you will buy a Swiss Pass. In this case Lucerne - Milan costs 17 EUR/pax if you stay in the Eurocity train up to Milan or 5 EUR if you change at Chiasso to a Milan bound regional train.

Can't remember where I said that. In Below discussion, I have mentioned I may go for 3 Days Flexi pass. Even I get flex pass it will be expired the day before (12 midnight) as the third free day of validity will be completed the day before.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-to-choose.cfm

If the day before is your last Swiss Pass day, go just up to Chiasso for free in the evening (trains until Lucerne dp 21.18) and sleep at Chiasso or Como instead of Lucerne.

The saver fares are selling out the closer you get to your dates. You may end up paying full fare (82chf).

It's possible to take a local train from Lucern to Arth-Goldau (6.30chf - 30 minutes) and switch to an EC train (don't know if any discounts are still available from Arth-Goldau). I think there are more EC trains passing through Arth-Goldau than Lucerne, but this close to your dates there might not be much discounts left. There is an EC train departs at 7:50 (arrives Milan at 10:50( and one at 8:16 (arrives Milan at 11:50).

"The saver fares are selling out the closer you get to your dates. You may end up paying full fare (82chf)." -

kybourbon: What Saver fares are you talking about and from what site (sbb.ch). Are you talking about smart/smart2 fares from trenitalia?

neckervd: I like this idea and thanks for the tip. At this time, from Chiasso to Milano Centrale the fare is 9 Euro Vs from Luzern to Milan is 67 Euros per person on Trenitalia.

neckervd: Looking hotels in Chiasso, Switzerland and search provides all of them are in Italy. The closest is 5 miles from Chiasso but in Italy. May be a silly question, but are we going to cross borders from Switzerland to Italy to get to the hotel and again cross borders from Italy to Switzerland to get to Chiasso train station for a train to Milan.

If that is a case, what the best way to commute in between Chiasso train station and Hotel.

There are 6 hotels around Chiasso railway station:
Hotel Touring, in front of Chasso railway station
Residence Como, at the Como citybus stop, 250 m from Chiasso railway station
Hotel Bahnhof, 200 m from Chiasso railway station
Hotel Garni Centro, 300 m from Chiasso railway station
Residence Tell, 600 m from Chiasso railway station
10 other hotels close to Como SG railway station
Have a look at
http://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?sid=2a2025142053890706f2cf1111d cdffc;dcid=1;ac_pageview_id=12ea5a662a8c0047;check in_monthday=26;checkin_year_month=2013-4;checkout_monthday=27;checkout_year_month=2013-4;class_interval=1;csflt={};dest_id=-2551615;dest_type=city;inac=0;offset=0;redirected_ from_city=0;redirected_from_landmark=0;review_scor e_group=empty;score_min=0;si=ai%2Cco%2Cci%2Cre%2Cd i;src=index;ss=Chiasso%2C%20Schweiz;ss_all=0;ssb=e mpty&lang=en-us

>>>kybourbon: What Saver fares are you talking about and from what site (sbb.ch). Are you talking about smart/smart2 fares from trenitalia?<<<

If you are looking at fares departing from Switzerland, they are called supersaver on the sbb.ch website. If purchasing online, you have to pick up in departing country.

Since you will be in Italy first, I guess you could buy a Smart fare and pick it up at one of the stations before going to Switzerland.

The Lucerne/Milan EC for the time you want is currently 53chf (= to 43€ or $55) on the Swiss site. Last week is was 27chf SuperSaver fare on the Swiss site, but has sold out.

I explained how to book the Supersaver fare on your other thread last week.

kybourbon - Very unfortunate. I was desperately looking for tickets (Lucerne - Milan) since last week and did not check your positing on how to book tickets from Lucerne - Milan on sbb.ch site.

Also I thought you are talking Rome - Zurich when you replied 'I responded on how to book this on your other thread' above on 'kybourbon on Mar 29, 13 at 1:50pm'.

Difference in tickets is soo much that I will have to travel night before to Chiasso railway station and take train to Milan from there.

neckervd...Thank you..I booked a hotel 'Arthotel Hotel Garni Centro' that is about 500 meters from the Chiasso main train station.

Now, I have a question that if I book tickets from Chiasso to Milan through trenitalia, then will I be able to pick tickets from Chiasso train station. A few days ago I called trenitalia and they said that they do not have any customer service/vending machines where we can retrieve tickets from if I buy online through trenitalia.

Another alternative she mentioned is to buy tickets from sbb.ch or any other Switzerland travel agent.

Is it possible to pick tickets from Chiasso train station if I book through trenitalia?

Thanks again.

kybourbon - I followed the the process you have mentioned in my other forum (Rome - Zurich) to get 53chf rates. I get a screen with a fare of 53 CHF, but when I proceed all the way to enter name ,age and DOB with card with None selected for Switzerland field (as I won't have any pass), then I get standard fare of 82 CHF and not 53 CHF.

Luzern - Milano Centrale
Sat, 27.04.13, 07:47 - 11:50 Hour

Don't worry. Just go to the ticket counter at Chiasso railway station(may be after arrival, if it's still open, or before breakfast) and buy your ticket to Milan.
It costs 17 CHF for EC trains
Chiasso dp 10.11 and 11.11 - Milano Centrale ar 10.50 resp 11.50
and 6.50 CHF for local trains
Chiasso dp 9.08 - Milano Centrale ar 9.50

Local people would take the local train Chiasso dp 10.16 up to Milano Porta Garibaldi and reach Milano Centrale from there by metro; but I guess that would be too complicated for you.