Hi Fodorite Friends. I am in desperate need of some advice about purchasing train tickets for our May trip to Austria/Switzerland. This is the last thing I have left to do and I'm so confused. I think we might be best purchasing point to point tickets but I'm not sure how to handle getting tickets/reservations for our 3 train journeys. Can you please advice me?
Here's the details:

Vienna to Salzburg: We're spending about 4 1/2 days in Vienna, then traveling by train to Salzburg. My daughter has a student Vorteil card so she can get a discount ticket, and my husband and I would need to purchase adult fare tickets to Salzburg.

Innsbruck to Luzern: We are staying in Salzburg for 3 1/2 days, (hubby flies home from Salzburg, son meets us in Salzburg) renting a car for side trips, then driving into Bavaria to go to the Zugspitze and visit Ludwig's castles, staying two nights in Lermoos Austria. We will drop off our car at the Innsbruck airport and then take the train to Luzern.
My daughter and son are 21.

Luzern to Milan: We're taking an early train from Luzern to Milan to arrive there by noon. I have tickets for DaVinci's "The Last Supper" and we hope to at least visit La Scala opera house. My son and I fly home from Malpensa the next afternoon and my daughter continues by train to Pesaro, Italy.

I have check train schedules at the SBB Swiss Railways site but I am still confused as to where I should purchase tickets and/or make 2nd class reservations.

Should I be using the oebb.at Austrian rail site for our journeys that originate in Austria and the Swiss Rail site for our trip from Luzern to Milan?

Would it be worthwhile to buy some kind of swiss pass, like maybe the half fare card, for my son and I and my daughter can use the discounted fare from her Voreil card? I've read that we could use certain Swiss passes for entry to museums or a boat trip on Lake Luzern, which we would like to do.

I just don't know what to do next at this point and would really appreciate some advice.

Thank you so much for any suggestions!

When I buy train tickets anyplace in Europe I go to the ticket window in a train station. Major stations have multi-lingual ticket machines so that is another option.

As for rail passes, you might or might not save money over tickets, but the realy big advantage is that you just get on any train at any time. Your itinerary suggests that one of the Flexipasses could be worthwhile. I suggest calling B.E.T.S. in Ann Arbor at 800-441-2387. They sell passes and give out very good information for free. It looks like you are a train newbie so I suggest that you visit http://tinyurl.com/eym5b to get an introductory rail education.

You probably do not need seat reservations. Buy second class tickets and scramble on board and grab a seat like the locals.

I would second the call to Byron (specifically) at BETS 800-441-2387

You can buy tickets at any ticket window in just about any country (you'll be in) once you arrive and usually also make seat reservations should you need them (and they are a lot cheaper if you buy them IN Europe).

Call Byron today...don't wait.

Hi kk,

In Vienna you can buy all of your tickets up to Luzern.

I think that you can buy your Luzern/Milan as well.

The English language Swiss rail site is http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm
They have a 59 CHF (36E) 2 cl fare.

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks for your replies, spaarne, Dukey, and ira. We have traveled by train in Italy two years ago and I had purchased tickets/reservations online for all of the longer journeys through trenitalia (i know, it's a miracle, but i really was able to get through the website to print our tickets with reservations!). We also purchased tickets at the SMN Firenze station for shorter day trips. But that travel was all in Italy,and we will be in 3 countries for this trip, which is why I'm confused about where to purchase tickets (oebb website and/or swiss rail website) and if reservations are needed. We had 2nd class seat reservations for our longer journeys in Italy and I had just assumed that I would need to do the same in Austria and Switzerland.

Ira, I just checked the Swiss rail site again (have previously been there to see timetables) and found that the train I was interested in taking from Luzern (7:18)has a special offer of 43 CHF per person, and it shows that seat reservations are recommended for the leg from Arth-Goldau to Milan. However, their print at home function is not currently available. Would you recommend purchasing these online when this feature is functioning again?

Would it be better for me to purchase all of these tickets when we are in Vienna? Do you think we would be able to still get seat reservations once we're there? I'm less concerned about going from Vienna to Salzburg because I know there are many daily trains (we would be traveling on a Sunday), but it would seem that seat reservations would be desirable for the trip from Innsbruck to Luzern, and Luzern to Milan (seems like reservations are required for the Italian CIS train to Milan).

I'm sorry to have so many questions, this just seems more confusing to me than purchasing all of my tickets from one website, albeit trenitalia. Thanks SO MUCH for your responses;I'm just trying to be prepared. I value everyone's advice and so appreciate people being willing to share their experiences.

Hi kk,

>a special offer of 43 CHF per person, and it shows that seat reservations are recommended for the leg from Arth-Goldau to Milan. However, their print at home function is not currently available. Would you recommend purchasing these online when this feature is functioning again?<

Why not? That is a very good price, and one less thing to worry about later.

>Would it be better for me to purchase all of these tickets when we are in Vienna? Do you think we would be able to still get seat reservations once we're there?<

It's unlikely that the discount fares will still be available.

If you could get tickets from Trenitalia, I don't see why the Austrians and the Swiss are causing you confusion.

hahahahaha, Ira, you're so funny. I needed that laugh! Being able to get tickets on Trenitalia may have been a once in a lifetime fluke!

I guess my main confusion was whether I should purchase tickets with reservations from the Swiss rail site or from the Austrian rail site, and whether I would benefit from some kind of pass that would also provide a discount for some sightseeing. I hope that the print at home function is restored because the 43 CHF is the best price I've seen.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!