Please mention your travel date and departure time.

See examples June 4th, departure 10.32am - many of the trains have this from the Brig to Milan sector. Thanks for your help.

On June 4th, I don’t see a departure from Brig at 1032.

I see the direct Eurocity, departing 0844. Supplement €13, optional seat reservation €3. Both can be purchased on ÖBB.

Or 1044 departure by regional train + bus + regional train. No reservation required.

There’s also another Eurocity at 1444.

Unless @Eurotrippers2 means leaving at 10:32 in Baden-Baden, then I see options.

No reservation needed until Brig, it’s only optional. From Brig the information from @ralderton applies.

Extra fees and reservations can be avoided when taking regional trains (about an hour longer).

Best provide a bit of a buffer and later train options in Basel, since Deutsche Bahn’s punctuality is not that good at the moment.

For these ECs, it's seat reservation and supplement in one.

You can save a few euros by booking the reservation from Domodossola only, for €10. No reservations required between Brig and Domodossola.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for confusion @ralderton ….we depart Baden Baden 10.32am, with stopover in Brig. I was going to book as one ticket with a stopover using our Eurail pass. I have read that it might be nicer to take a slower train from Brig anyway as we are using a scenic journey too, not just point to point.  Some of the stops between look beautiful and I am tempted to plan a couple of hop-on and hop-off explorations during the day. Any thoughts and advice on this would also be appreciated. 

The 10:32 departure makes you go back north to Karlsruhe before heading south. It's unnecessary and you might miss the connection.

Instead I'd take the 09:17 or 11:27 departure heading to Basel SBB. Follow DB Navigator app as you go as it will have the latest data on delays, train platforms, etc.

From Basel SBB take any train to Bern, running every 30 min. Feel free to stop for a while in either Basel or Bern, they're beautiful cities.

Afterwards I'd suggest the hourly RegioExpress (RE) towards Brig, leaving at xx:39. It's a comfy train and it avoids the boring Lötschberg Base Tunnel (37 km!). You get great views over the Rhône valley.

You are flexible all along with the pass as seat reservations are not required on that route. Nobody makes them in Switzerland.

I personally always add one train at a time on Rail Planner.

@thibcabe That’s great advice, thank you! I wondered about going back to Karlsruhe….seemed a waste. We are purposefully taking our time to journey through Switzerland and Italy so that sounds an excellent idea. We have all day, and want some time to explore Brig too but it seems doable. I was thinking the following day to Milan we could use the regional trains too and do something similar. What route would you recommend and what towns to stop in? They all look beautiful. 

Stresa would be the main spot along the way, on the shore of Lago Maggiore.

You could also make a detour and take the Domodossola - Locarno Centovalli railway. Pretty scenic and cute little trains. 

Locarno is worth a stop and then take the hourly reservation-free RE to Milan.

Feel free to decide on the day, nothing requires a reservation. :)

I’m a little confused about the App and QR code vs web-based booking. I’ve booked the fast trains separately on their respective sites and have emailed tickets. Where no seat reservations are needed, can I just schedule each section on the planner App on my mobile, and then show the QR code from the App once onboard? Is this like a ticket recording against my pass the days used? 

I keep getting the trains coming up on the App when searching Basel to Brig that go through the tunnel. Is there an intermediatory stop that will help select the right route?

E.g. Kandersteg.

Yes, it's that easy.