kwren

I'm trying with little success to look up the train schedule to go from Grindelwald, Switzerland to Lucca Italy on Sunday, July 3. I'm sure I've been able to find this in the past with trains leaving early morning, but today I keep receiving messages about no station, no schedule, etc.

I've been trying the SBB site, but also tried with TrenItalia, but neither is giving me a schedule. I also tried putting in a date in June in case the schedules aren't up yet, but still no luck.

There seem to be many codes for Grindelwald on one page I found - I started with Bahnhof and when that didn't work, I tried others. Still couldn't find it.

What am I doing wrong?? I'd appreciate any help. Gotta get to Lucca on that day

kwren

Still working on it - I'm getting the sinking feeling that the travel date being a Sunday was not a good idea. I hope someone can point out that I am wrong!

mjdh1957

Trenitalia schedules are not finalised yet after June 12th, so that may be where the problem lies. I jut checked www.bahn.de (the German rail website that has timetables for the whole continent of Europe) and nothing appeared.

They can be late posting them so all I can suggest is keep looking until they do appear.

This Sunday has a train at 07.19 with six changes of train, arriving in Lucca at 16.17, for example - schedules don't normally change very much so that can be a bit of guidance for you. There are lots of other trains appearing on that date too.

kwren

Whew! That is so reassuring mjdh - I won't panic (yet) in that case!

Once the schedules are posted, should I buy in advance (ie before leaving the US) or should there normally be no problem waiting to buy until we arrive in Grindelwald? We won't to be too flexible with times - the early morning train you mentioned would be around the time we'd like to leave.

Thanks so much!

mjdh1957

I'm not as familiar with the Swiss railways as the Italian ones, but on the whole I'd say it's better to book as far in advance as you can to get the lower price tickets.

I suspect that for this journey you may have to book partly on www.SBB.ch (Grindelwald to Milan) and partly on trenitalia.com (Milan to Lucca)

kwren

I've heard about crossing into Italy at a town called Domodossola (sp?) Would I put that as the destination in the SBB site or Milano? Is there a different/more logical place to cross over?

mjdh1957

SBB will sell you a ticket to Milan, and that's one of the places you would change trains at on the schedule for this coming Sunday. The train does indeed stop at Domodossola, but you don't have to get off there. Then you'd book using www.trenitalia.com for Milan to Lucca via Pisa.

You could see the schedule if you use www.bahn.de (there is an English language option, change the flag at the top from Deutschland to UK) with Sunday's date and just use Grindelwald and Lucca as departure and arrival points. No need to try and select any other options for station names.

I don't think SBB would sell you a ticket all the way to Lucca. But as I said, I'm not an expert on Swiss railways.

kwren

Ok this is getting easier and easier (with all your help that is). When they load the info next month, I'll be all set. Next big project I have to figure out is which train passes for Switzerland, but first I'm going to check out Bahn.de. Thanks!

Jean

For journeys that start or end in Switzerland, I like to look at the Swiss Rail timetables. On this coming Sunday, Grindelwald to Lucca is a journey of at least 10.5 hours with between 5 and 7 connections. Were you thinking of doing this in one day??

http://www.sbb.ch/en/

Just type in from Grindelwald to Lucca. July 3rd not searchable yet, but look at May 15th for a good idea of your options.

kwren

Jean - yeah, all in one day,but the ones at 6:19 and 7:19 are "only" about 9 hours so we'll be there in the late afternoon. We've done long train trips like this before ane we do OK as long as we bring lots of food and some games to keep the kids happy. This will be our worst travel day and then we have 6 nights in Tuscany to relax.

Sunshank

Hi Kwren,

I'm 2 days away from my trip to Switzerland and Italy and taking a very similar train. I'm travelling from Interlaken to Florence. From Grindelwald you have to get to Interlaken which is the main jump off hub. I'm going Interlaken - Spiez - Milan - Florence. You will have an additional connection in Viareggio before reaching Lucca.

Try www.raileurope.com for mutli country connections - The problem with this site however is that it doesn't give you options for travel beyond 2 or 3 connections. So break it down to Grindelwad - Milan and then Milan - Lucca. Else you can call the swiss hotline and do this via phone. Thy're extremely helpful and they do bookings and seat reservations for not just the Swiss sectors but also Italy. I booked my Florence - Rome tickets through them. +41900300300. Extremely friendly. Good luck and have a great trip.

Sunshank

Man_in_seat_61

No, to see the cheap fares not just expensive full price fares, book Grindelwald to Milan using the official Swiss railways site, www.sbb.ch. Look for the cheap fares.

Then use www.trenitalia.com to book Milan to Lucca, allowing at least 45 minutes in Milan. If you're happy with a cheasp limited-changes, limited refunds offer, select a 'Mini' fares after selecting a train departure.

By all means try using sbb.ch to book Grindelwald to Florence or Lucca, but it may fail, and in any case it won't give the cheap 'Mini' fares Milan-Floremce-Lucca.

Man_in_seat_61

Just to do a price compariso for clarity:

Rome-Florence in 2nd class by Eurostar Italia:

Option 1, booking with US middle man Rail Europe: $68 + $18 shipping = $86 = 59 euros

Option 2, book online at www.trenitalia or buy at the station on the day, full price: 44 euros ($63), no fees, no postage, if you book online it's an e-ticket - you simply quote your booking reference on board the train.

Option 3: www.trenitalia.com, Mini fare, limited refunds, limited changes: Price varies, buy typically maybe 19 euros. No fees, no postage, 19 euros ($27) is all you pay, if you book online it's an e-ticket - you simply quote your booking reference on board the train.

Rail Europe cannot sell Mini fares, every ticket it sells is full price.

kwren

Sunshank - thanks for the info and have a great trip.

Man - love all the options. How far in advance can a mini fare be booked if I go for that one?

I love Fodors - how else would I know about any of this? Thanks for all the great discussion!