I'd love some advice on the best and most cost effective way to get from venice to Zurich. I only need to travel one way and Swiss Air want to charge me 330 swiss francs for a one way ticket! I can take the train - but it does take over 7 hours and the options seem to be either a really tight change/connection in Milan (15 minutes) or several changes. Any suggestions?

Fifteen minutes should be plenty of time.
You can find out in advance where you need to go. Just don't dawdle, and you can make the connection. You will not have time to stop for lunch or a newspaper unless the kiosk is right on your route.

But I have made connections in large stations in less than 15 minutes.

of course if you have 200 pounds of luggage, you might have a problem.

If I have a tight connection, I have my luggage near the door and I am ready to get off as soon as the wheels stop turning.

Most of the connection times are figured for you to make it.

I know in Zürich I have had fairly long walks, but if you move it, you would be surprised how much ground you can cover in 15 minutes. If you figure a walking speed of 3 mph, which is not blazing, you can go better than half a mile in 15 minutes.

Your best connection time is 6 hours, 59 minutes. Leave Venice St. Lucia at
7:52. Arrive Zürich Hb at 14:51

The Cisalpino from Milano to Stuttgart is a nice train, but often crowded. It requires a reservation. Even if it did not, you would need one usually.

The restaurant car is not bad.
I rode that same train in June.

Sounds crazy, but look at the round trip fares, they are probably cheaper. If so, buy a round trip and don't use the return portion. I have done this on Swiss and Alitalia as their round trips are usually cheaper than their one way fares.

There are not many if any discount carriers going into Zurich. You might try Basel, maybe Germanwings or another carrier goes there. You can then take a train to Zurich. You may have to change planes in Frankfurt through, which may end up taking you as long as the train, and it is kind of a pain to get from Basel airport to the train station in Basel as there is no train station in Basel airport.

I agree with the above poster that the 15 minute change in Milan should not be any problem as long as the Venice train is on time. That may be your best option.

You can take budget flights from Venice to Geneva and rail from there but, frankly, I don't think the savings are worth that...but it depends on how valuable you feel your time is and how much, if at all, you'd like to enjoy the scenery between Venice and Zurich.

I agree with Bob's strategy for changing trains completely. Be aware that Milano Centrale is a large station with many platforms but there are additional things you can do:

When you get off the arriving train immediately look up at the schedule board suspended above the head of the platforms. It will list your departing train by number and show the platform it is leaving from.

If you are taking that Cisalpino be aware that its final destination is Stuttgart (although Zurich should also be listed on that board as an intermediate stop).

I think if the arriving train is on time that 15 minutes is plenty of time to change. The cost of the Cisalpino and its required seat reservation is worth it IMO. You can learn more about that particular service at www.cisalpino.com

Many thanks for the advice. Looking at the Cispalino web site it appears that i can take a direct train from Venice to Zurich, departing Venice at 12.52 - so I'll probably do that.

I can get a cheaper round trip ticket on Swiss Air as opposed to a one-way, but as I need to fly Swiss Air from Zurich to Vienna a few days later on an Austrian Air code-share to link up with my international Austrian air flight home, they might query it. I understand that the airlines frown on people doing this (much as I'm tempted!)