Can't seem to figure out or decide what the best plan of action is as far as purchasing rail tickets before departing the US. We will be in Europe at the beginning of April and we pre purchased our only long distance overnight train. As far as the others...such as Zurich to Bern to Interlaken to Spiez to Milan to Monterosso...Chiusi to Rome...are these tickets that we need to purchase before we leave or will we be fine purchasing once we get there? Also, we start in Austria before going to Switzerland (overnight train)...can we get our rail tickets for the rest of our journey on from Zurich before we leave the station in Vienna?

You may check www.sbb.ch for occasion specials like on the train to Milan (check trenitalia.com for Milan to Monterosso via Genoa though those are mainly IC or regional trains that offer little if any discount so could just buy that ticket in Milan but getting to Milan from Switzerland could be as low as 29 Swiss francs though those tickets are very limited in number - book thru sbb.ch - Swiss Federal Railways site.

IME domestic Swiss tickets are pretty much flat fare - look and see - if no savings just buy in Zurich or as you go along - never a problem getting on Swiss trains and they do not mandate reservations - can always board.

Zurich to Bern and Interlaken to Spiez are very short cheap train tickets - just buy when there - discounted tickets inevitably have restrictions like being train-specific and non-changeable non-refundable.

Note do NOT buy a Spiez to Milan ticket on www.trenitalia.com as those tickets must be printed out at an Italian train station - only buy from www.sbb.ch

If traveling much around the Interlaken area check out the Swiss Pass, Berner Oberland Pass - a regional pass or Half-Fare Card, etc. Does not take many trips to make viable and you could use it to get to Domodossola, Italy and then just buy a Domodossola to Milan ticket.

For lots of great info on Swiss trains and passes (which are also valid on lake boats, city trams and buses and give free entry to 470 Swiss Museums) check out these IMO superb sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com.

Chiusi to Rome is by regional trains I believe and there is no need to buy these in advance as they have a flat fee and are dirt cheap - just buy at any station in Italy but state what day you want to use the ticket.

Note on Regional Trains in Italy you I believe must validate your ticket yourself before boarding the train for it to be valid - stick it in a cancelling machine at the entrance to the platforms or in the station, etc. All other type trains in Italy mandate seat reservations that come automatically with your ticket and being train-specific do not require self-validation - only the open-ended regional trains where you cannot I believe even reserve a seat if you want!

You can buy the Swiss tickets in advance and orint them out at home using the sbb.ch site. When you GET to Switzerland you can go ahead and buy any and all remaining tickets INCLUDING the ones for Italy at any rail station.

Dukey - are you sure you can buy tickets in Switzerland on Italian regional trains? If so there is no reason to buy those for what I presume may be markup price.

I would rather go thru www.trenitalia.com and have my tickets arranged before getting to Italy at the going price or a discount. Or are the tickets bought in Switzerland for Italy the same price as on train Italia? converting Swiss francs to Euros may take a bite?

Pal, my assumption is that if those regional tickets appear on the computer that they can be bought elsewhere. Now, that is a big assumption even though you and I both know that other tickets very certainly CAN be bought in another country.

Perhaps I am assuming too much here. But I have never heard that regional tickets were somehow excluded so hopefully somebody who knows for certain will chime in.

And why would the price be marked up? Are those other tickets you can buy marked up? Are you saying that if I want to buy a ticket for an Italian Eurostar trip from, say, Venice to Rome while I am in that massive "travel bureau" office at the Zurich train station that somehow because the Swiss computer operator is making reservations for a trip that happens within Italy the price is going to be somehow different than it would be if I waited and bought the same ticket in Italy?

Enlighten us with facts.

Pal, my assumption is that if those regional tickets appear on the computer that they can be bought elsewhere>

I think I have read several times here from Trenitalia gurus that it is often impossible to buy regional tickets online like other trains so I assume if that were true it may be the same in Switzerland - though EuroNet the pan-European train booking engine may well include them though Trenitalia may not (be able to buy not just list).

and why would they cost more - it's a thing called currency con version - Swiss francs to euros to dollars if you use a credit card - not much but may 2-3% more I would suspect as no one changes money for nothing, even the Swiss.

Chiusi to Rome is by regional trains I believe and there is no need to buy these in advance as they have a flat fee and are dirt cheap>

Keep in mind a policy that I think is still in effect though not sure that regional train tickets must be cancelled by the passenger before boarding the train - self-cancelling by sticking them into some trackside cancelling machines that date stamps them with the time you are activating them - I think they are then valid for on and off travel for X number of hours.

But do cancel the tickets yourself if required or you will be considered to be riding without a valid ticket and face paying not only for the ticket but perhaps also getting fined for not having a valid ticket.

If for some reason you could not cancel the ticket yourself then as soon as you board the train find the conductor before he finds and fines you - explain your predicament and he/she will usually just cancel the ticket for you.

>>>Chiusi to Rome...are these tickets that we need to purchase before we leave or will we be fine purchasing once we get there?<<<

Regional trains are more frequent on this route than the IC trains (travel time is 10-20 minutes difference). If you want a regional ticket (9.60€ for this route), buy in Italy. Trenitalia does not make regional tickets available online more than 7 days in advance and online tickets are more restrictive. If you buy an online regional ticket, they are prevalidated for that date/time. I know for the Leonardo Express (Rome to FCO) which is a regional train, you have a 2 hour window to use the ticket within the specified time. Not sure this is the same for other regional tickets purchased online, but I assume it's similar.

*****Electronic regional tickets are issued pre-validated. Tickets are nominative and linked to the name and surname written upon the online registration or in the passenger's details; tickets purchased online for journeys on regional trains must be shown - upon request of the inspectors - in printed format (before departure print the PDF attached to the purchase email) or on the screen of an electronic device (pc, tablet, smartphone) able to correctly display the pdf file, jointly with a valid identity document.****

Oddly enough on the Chiusi/Rome route, you can get discounted IC tickets (a tad more upscale train, but not much) cheaper than the regional tickets. I see IC tickets for 9€. Regional are 9.60€. You can advance purchase IC tickets online 4 months in advance. They will be for that specific train/time/day and you can select your seat (regional trains don't allow seat reservations). The default is auto assignment on Trenitalia so be sure to click over to select seat (underneath prices/classes after you select a certain train).

>>>>And why would the price be marked up? Are those other tickets you can buy marked up? Are you saying that if I want to buy a ticket for an Italian Eurostar trip from, say, Venice to Rome while I am in that massive "travel bureau" office at the Zurich train station that somehow because the Swiss computer operator is making reservations for a trip that happens within Italy the price is going to be somehow different than it would be if I waited and bought the same ticket in Italy?<<<<

Actually, some travel agents do tack on a fee to your purchase. I've seen signs in agencies in Sorrento stating this in the past. While Trenitalia lists a lot of travel agencies in various countries in Europe, Switzerland is not on their list.

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...8916f90aRCRD#1

As for the Spiez/Milan ticket, you would buy it from SBB. It used to be you had to select a station in Switzerland to pick up your ticket, but it now appears you can print them at home. You can sometimes get discounts (supersaver or saver fare which is about half of regular fare) with advance purchase. These discounts are no longer available within two weeks of travel. I don't know how far out you can purchase (used to be 60 days).

Wow -kybourbon outlines it all - a veritable encyclopedia of Italian trains!