How to take the rail journey from Venice/Venezia to Geneva/Genève

Final Destination: Geneve-Aeroport

This trains also calls at: Brig, Sion, and Montreux and Lausanne.

This one direct train of the day from Venice to Geneva, which usually scheduled to depart from Venezia S. Lucia station at 16:18 doesn't arrive in the Swiss city until after 23:15, which obviously isn't particularly convenient.
And the scenic part of the trip will be after night falls

However, if it doesn't particularly matter at what time you'll arrive in Switzerland, then it's our preferred option on this route.

This one direct train of the day is usually scheduled to depart from Venezia S. Lucia station at 16:18.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: Up to 180 days / 6 months ahead of the travel date - though booking periods will be shorter when travelling after the second Sunday in December.

Three types of ticket will typically be made available, Standard, Saver Flex and Saver - all types of ticket are only valid on the specific departure selected when booking.

The very cheapest type of ticket, Saver tickets, are taken off sale 7 days prior to departure.

The mid-price type of ticket, Saver Flex, are taken off sale 3 days prior to departure.

Exchanges

• Up until departure, the most expensive type of ticket, Standard tickets, can be for exchanged for another day of travel or travel time on the exact same route without paying any additional fees.
• Up until departure, the mid priced type of ticket, Saver Flex tickets, can be for exchanged for another day of travel or travel time on the exact same route, but the price difference with Standard tickets, at the time of exchange, will need to be paid.
• The cheapest type of tickets, Saver tickets, cannot be exchanged.

Additional information is available on the SBB website.

Refunds

• Up until departure, the most expensive type of ticket, Standard tickets, tickets can be returned and purchasers will receive 80% of the price paid.
• The mid priced type of ticket, Saver Flex tickets, cannot be refunded.
• The cheapest type of tickets, Saver tickets, cannot be refunded.

Seat reservations

Reservations are mandatory on the Italian section of the journey, so seats are assigned when booking all types of tickets.

Rail pass users

Rail Pass users will need to pay a reservation fee prior to boarding this train.

If you opt to travel to Geneva, by making a connection in Milan, you'll either need to pay the rail pass reservation fees on both the Frecce train from Venice to Milan AND the EC train from Milan to Geneva OR avoid paying any additional fees by taking this slower journey option.

Child tickets

Children aged 6 -15 receive a 20% discount, those aged 5 and under aren't charged for a ticket.
Note that these terms are different to the national child ticket policies in Italy and Switzerland.
And the terms are also different for Swiss children travelling with a Junior Travelcard.

Bike tickets

When travelling with a non-folding bike, spaces must be reserved, but you need to make a simultaneous purchase of your travel ticket + the bike reservation on the Trenitalia website.

Dog tickets

Dog tickets seemingly aren't available for this end-to-end international journey, a dog pass will need to be purchased for the Swiss part of the trip and a dog ticket is required for the Italian section of the journey, see the dogs on trains guide.

When available the daily direct train from Venezia / Venice to Geneve doesn't arrive in the city until after 23:15 on any day of the week, but the optimum alternative of only making one connection, arrives into the Swiss city only two hours sooner.

The first train of the day from Milano to Geneve departs too soon for a connection from Venezia / Venice to be available - and the train which departs from Milano at around 13:15 at weekends doesn't have a convenient connection.

Though the train which usually departs Venezia S. Lucia at around 13:45 typically has a connection of around 50 mins into a train on to Geneve.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 4 months ahead of the travel date; though this period of time can be shorter, particularly when searching for journeys more than three months ahead during October and March.

Reservations will automatically be assigned when booking tickets (but rail pass users will need to make reservations prior to boarding at a ticket office - they're not available from the Trenitalia ticket machines)

Rail Pass Users:

If you will be travelling with a valid Eurail or InterRail pass you will either to pay the reservation fee to travel on this train

Our guide to using using rail passes to travel from Italy has all the info you'll need, OR you can avoid paying the fee by following this alternative routing.