After almost two weeks in Switzerland we want to spend the last day traveling from Locarno to the Malpensa airport. I would like to spend the day stopping in a couple of towns and exploring and arrive late afternoon or early evening in Malpensa for a next day flight. I see that the Centovalli train line will take me to Domodossalo where we would like to have a late lunch. My question is if we wanted to stop at a couple of smaller towns on the way How do we get the train to stop and more importantly how do we get the train to pick us up again? Since we will have luggage with us, is there always storage at the train stations?

Well, if you switched your last day base from Locarno to Lugano (there are direct trains from Lugano to Malpensa), you will find ample luggage storage at the station. And in addition to poking around Lugano for a bit, you could easily get to Gandria and Morcote, two pretty villages near Lugano, both of which have restaurants where you could have lunch, as long as you're mindful of their hours. Many, but not all, restaurants close their lunch service around 2 pm and take their last order around 1 pm or so. Overall, this is probably the simplest, low-stress option. What are your travel dates?

According to your planning, you will have only 1 1/2 days at Locarno. This is by far not enough for this area.

Things to do around Locarno:
medieval castles of Bellinzona
rope bridge above Monte Carasso (hiking trail)
Madonna del Sasso sanctuary and cableway ride to viewpoins Cardada and Cimetta
Boat trip to Ascona, botanical gardens of Brissago Islands and Beissago
Boat trip to Pallanza, Stresa and the Borromean Islands (castle and botanical gardens of Isola Bella, botanical gardens of Isola Madre, fishermans Island Isola dei Pescatori with many good restaurants)
Centovalli train ride to Verdasio and cableway to viewpoint Comino
Bus ride into the scenic Onsernone Valley
Bus ride to the Walser mountain village of Bosco/Gurin
Bus riide into the scenic Verzasca valley
etc. etc.........

If you prefer to stay at Lugano, there are tons of other possibiliies, like Lake cruises, cog wheel railway journey to viewpoint Monte Generoso, between lake Lugano and Lake Como, medieval churches and frescoes, adventure parks........

There will be no trains from Domodossola to Malpensa in June 2026, but some bueses: DOMO-MALPENSA-24_10.pdf

The Bellinzona - Lugano - Malpensa trains will run every hr, as usual, those from Locarno to Lugano every 30 min

Thanks so much for your replies. Neckervd you told me in an earlier post about the train construction, but, I mistakenly thought it was the area north of there. Yes, there seems to be lots to do in the Locarno area. Right now we are scheduled to spend three nights there. So I guess we will just skim the surface. Would it make sense to stay there and the last morning take the train via Bellinzona and Lugano to Malpensa? i appreciate your insights.

It might be easier to visit Bellinzona (25 min by train) and Lugano (30 min by train) from Locarno (without all the luggage).
Leave then Locarno the last afternoon by train (trains every hr until 20.22; 2 1/4 hrs journey) and change at Lugano on he same platform

If you do go to Domo (a very pretty town once you are away from the station and around the Piazza del Mercato) you can take the Comazzi bus to MXP. it runs several times a day and must be booked in advance. See https://www.comazzibus.com/eng/orario.php?p=38 for info.

There is a direct train from Locarno to Malpensa, regarding the cargo place on the train, there will be, but not sure how much of the cargo space is allowed, try calling them and checking before-hand. You both don't need to be going arround carrying your luggages on the train,

There is of course no direct Locarno - MXP train.
As to the cargo story of Muntiga, I just don'tg understand what he wants to tell us.

There is a direct train from Lugano to Malpensa airport. See www.sbb.ch/en for details. The connection to Lugano from Locarno takes about 30mns. As far as luggage is concerned, in Europe unless you use a luggage shipping service (such as the SBB, within Switzerland), you take your luggage on the trains with you. There is no conception of a "cargo" area where you can put the bags before taking your seat.