Need help. Best way to get from Colmar to Zurich?

I have no experience renting cars in Europe and certainly don't know anything about the relative difficulty of dropping a car in Colmar* vs. at the Basel Airport, but I'd tend to want to dump the car as early as possible. The entire trip by train will be less than three hours. Then again, I don't know what your travel date is, so I have no idea what you'll pay for the Colmar-Basel train tickets.

• Especially for Colmar, check hours of the car-rental location.
  

I believe any train routing between Colmar and Zurich Airport will go through Basel, and all those I checked require a change at Basel. So if you decide to drop the car in Colmar, I don't see why you can't simply buy a ticket to Basel SBB, then use your Airtrain ticket for the rest of the journey. Swiss trains are rather expensive, so you stand to save quite a bit of money by not buying new tickets to cover the Basel-Zurich Airport leg.

I'm sure you don't need to reserve the Basel bus; it's unlikely that you'd be able to do so. For the train from Colmar to Basel SBB, you'd likely save a lot of money by buying the tickets in advance.

I think you have a pretty good handle on the alternatives. It makes more sense to me to drive one hour to Basel/Mulhouse airport and have fewer train connections to navigate with your luggage. But either one can work.

These trains don't require advance booking. Any train that's already paid for with your plane ticket is certainly the best option for the leg departing Basel.

Hello there,

We did the reverse trip last year – flew into Zurich and then by train to Colmar, then a hire car.

There are drop off locations in Colmar for most hire car companies some near the station. If you must drop at the airport it’s only 6kms to the train so a taxi would be a reasonable price.

I’d recommend the train to Zurich.

We stayed in Klotens just outside of Zurich and very close to the airport – easily reached by train form Zurich station - 15mins on the S Bahn.

I’d recommend the Hotel Fly Away, it was a 2-minute walk from the station to the hotel. The hotel has a free shuttle to the airport.

I really cannot imagine another solution than the 2 you have figured out.
It is not a far drive or train ride so seems an easy journey.

You absolutely do not want to rent in France and drop off in Switzerland in terms of the car so your solutions are the best way to do it.

Of your two options, #1 is what I would choose.

As far as place to stay in Zurich.
I stayed before at the Hilton Zurich Airport and regretted not staying downtown.
It is easy to reach the airport from downtown via train so would recommend not staying at the airport even for just 1 night.
Nothing wrong with the Hilton it was a very nice hotel but it lacked any charm or regional feel, felt like I was staying at a Hilton in Boston not Zurich. Some travelers would like that and for business travelers especially it makes sense but for me was not the experience I wanted.

If you pick option 1, after dropping off the car at the French side of the airport, you need to go into the terminal to cross over on foot to Switzerland. Then exit at arrivals level and the bus will be waiting outside.
It is a Basel city bus, runs ever 7½ minutes. Buy a ticket from the machine before boarding (you need change, CHF or €). Trip takes ~15 minutes, depending on traffic.

If you choose option 2, you just need to buy a ticket to Basel at Colmar station, no advance purchase needed. your airtrain ticket will cover you from Basel SBB to Zürich airport.
You need to change trains at Basel. Note due to building work you, after getting off your train from France, you need to walk ~200 metres along the street to the Swiss part of the station.

Can you not drop the car at Colmar station, or somewhere near? If you can, option 2 makes sense.
But, if drop off is easier at the French side of Basel airport, choose option 1.

Just make sure if you choose to drive to the French side of the Basel airport you do not drive even one foot on a Swiss toll road. They don't have booths and you don't have to pay cash to drive on them, but you do need to have a Swiss toll Vignette stuck on your windscreen (most French rentals won't have one) and buying a Vignette will cost you CHF40 and you have to do the buying no later than the border.

Big fines if you are found contravening the law, even if only for a short distance. And they do check.

If you are going to drive to the French side of the airport be really really sure you know your route.

Thank you your responses! Chris F, great details, they will be most helpful.

Drop the car in Colmar at the airport, then cab to the train station in Colmar and take a 2 stop train to Zurich.

not really. This makes it sound like you go 2 stops on the same train, but you need to change trains. However it is easy and this is what I'd do to avoid the steep international dropoff charges on your car

You need to change trains at Basel. Note due to building work you, after getting off your train from France, you need to walk ~200 metres along the street to the Swiss part of the station.

Chris is right. I did this trip in reverse last summer, from Switzerland to Strasbourg. At the station I was mystified because my ticket had a track number that didn't exist on the signs in the station! Luckily I found a pair of policemen walking thru the station and when I asked them where my track was they told me to exit the station, hang a left, and walk to the French part of the station. I had 20 minutes between trains so I still made my connection.

You'll be doing the reverse. Not hard once you know to expect it.

your airtrain ticket will cover you from Basel SBB to Zürich airport.

I'm not Swiss so maybe I'm missing some local knowledge everyone there knows, but there seems to be an important caveat here. Online it looks like you need to have booked a flight from Basel to wherever, not from Zurich to wherever. According to the webpage

Passengers who land at Zurich and have booked a flight to Basel will travel this route by Airtrain. The same applies when travelling in the opposite direction. This service is available to passengers whose tickets are valid from or to Euro Airport Basel (codes BSL, EAP or MLH). They can use any train connections between these two destinations.
https://www.swiss.com/corporate/EN/company/partners-alliances/airtrain-basel-zurich