How to take the rail journey from Venice/Venezia to Zurich

This train is usually scheduled to depart from Venezia S. Lucia daily at 15:18 and arrive in Zurich at 22:27 on Monday to Saturday, but on Sundays it uses the Gotthard Base Tunnel, so arrives an hour sooner.

Final Destination: Zuerich/Zurich

This train also calls at: Lugano (connect for Locarno); Bellinzona and Arth-Goldau (connect for Luzern and Basel)

(When looking up this journey on Trenitalia select Zuerich (city) as the arrival station)

This one direct train of the day is usually scheduled to depart from Venezia S. Lucia station at 15:18, so target that time when looking up this journey.

When looking up this journey you will see other options which involve:

(1) taking a train from Venice to Milan, and then connecting there into a

(2) another train from Milan to Zurich

But if you do opt to change trains in Milan instead, then pay particular attention to the time allowed to change trains.
It's not particularly uncommon for the Frecce trains from Venice to arrive in Milan 20 - 30 mins late; and any ticket you have booked will only be valid on a specific train on to Zurich
This is a route on which having to swap tickets to a later connecting train, in the event of a delay, is definitely a scenario to avoid if possible.

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.

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.

Travelling with InterRail and Eurail:

Rail Pass users will need to pay a reservation fee prior to boarding this train, but it can be the best option for a Venice to Zurich journey.

If you opt to travel to Zurich, by making a connection in Milan, you'll need to pay the rail pass reservation fees on both the Frecce train from Venice to Milan AND the EC train from Milan to Zurich.
OR avoid the fees completely by making more connections and experiencing a slower journey.

When looking up the journey by train from Venezia / Venice by train, the ticket agents will show dozens of options for indirect journeys, as there are multiple train services that operate along the length of the route.
However, the optimum alternatives to taking a direct train, involve making only one connection between trains in Milano Centrale and have an end-to-end journey time of 7hr 30mins - 8hr 30mins.
The journeys with a time of around 7hr 30mins / 7hr 40mins have easily timed transfers between trains of 45 to 55 mins.

So these journey options are slower than taking the direct train, but they offer two benefits:

• an earlier arrival time into Zurich
• experiencing the scenic journey on from Milan by daylight.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 4 months ahead of the travel date

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.