The direct train from Zurich to Milan stops in Como, our destination. Now it's time to reserve the bike spaces and that's it. That's what I thought a week before departure. Or wasn't there something about bike transport on trains to Italy?

The app displays the symbol for the reservation requirement. Where you have to reserve, you should be able to reserve, I think to myself. But when choosing a ticket, you can neither select the bike nor click on a reservation. Not in the app and not on the website either.

Bikes to Italy can only be booked with Trenitalia

The next attempt I make is at the SBB ticket counter, three days before the planned departure. They say: "You can only reserve bike spaces with SBB up to Chiasso. You have to book the onward journey with Trenitalia". This would probably mean buying your tickets from the Italian railroad company. You can do that, but you don't have to, I think.

Now it's only a few kilometers from Chiasso to Como. It would even make sense to cover this last stage on the bikes. An alternative would be to change to a regional train there.

I would still like to ride through to Como with my family and our other companions without changing trains. In the meantime, the bike spaces to Chiasso are also fully booked. So the only option is the bike bag, aka Tranzbag. Without changing trains, it is still one of the easiest and, above all, the cheapest options. Bicycles still cost nothing as a sufficiently small piece of luggage, neither in Switzerland nor in Italy.

In Zurich, we pack the two bikes on the platform, unpack them again in Como, and that's that.