Confusion about booking from Italy to Switserland

​@Rosalie176  

I suggest to take a regional train from Milano Centrale to Lugano (xx.43), You don’t need any reservation for this train and later in Switzerland. 

In Italy, reservations are mandatory in the EC (Eurocity) from Milano to Chiasso (xx.10), even with an Interrail pass (€ 10).

​@Rosalie176 

You can find more information about reservations here:

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

The highspeed trains in italy require a reservation. (IC , EC , FR). But from Lugano to Switzerland there is no mandatory seat reservation required. Judging from your screenshot the route with regional train and extra change in Lugano is even faster then taking the EC directly from Milano. 

The confusion is because ÖBB isn’t really in the business of selling Interrail reservations. It will sell them, sometimes, but that’s not it’s main business.

So it sometimes shows odd results, including odd phrasing about ticket validity - which may or may not be relevant to you.

If you say which trains you want to take, we can advise the best way to reserve. The only compulsory reservation is if you’re using the EC in Italy or to cross the border.

Thanks ​@ralderton, I don't know what time I want to go yet. But I noticed that I can't reservate for everything, which I thought is strange. But it makes sense that some trains don't need a reservation and I would prefer one that needs less reservations as possible.

Do you advice to book this journey beforehand? I would actually like to be more flexible and decide on the day itself. It will be the 7th of September.

Thanks for the suggestion ​@Danhiel I don’t see that journey in the screenshot. But I can imagine that not all journeys are visible on that website? Maybe it will also makes sence when I am at the Milano station and just go from there instead of reservating everything now since I would also prefer to be more flexible and decide in that day what time I want to go. (7th of September)

I wrote the exact station I want to leave from. Now it says all the bookings are not available?

​@Rosalie176 If you want to stay flexible just take regional trains from Milano to Chiasso or Lugano as they do not require reservation. From there reservation are no longer mandatory on the EC in switzerland. 

​@Rosalie176 

I suggest to search first a connection from Milano P. Romana to Lugano (be sure to take only regional trains) and after that a second connection from Lugano to Lauterbrunnen. If you want to take a panoramic train, choose a connection via Luzern and a PE LIX train.

If you want to book a train, then only request that train on tickets.oebb.at./ But in this case, I'd go with a reservation-free option, departure from Milano Centrale each hour at xx:43, and a change at Lugano.

If you look in the details of what the ÖBB ticket module proposes, then you'll also see that you'll still need to get from Milano Lambrate to Milano Centrale, either on foot or by metro. Then you can also get a direct metro from Porta Romana to Centrale.