Places to make our home base in France, Germany and Austria

You will be spending a good portion of 4 of your days sitting on trains to do this. Paris and Vienna are too long a ride, so you will be limited to an eastern French city ( like Colmar or Strasbourg) and a western Austria place (like Salzburg). As for Germany, any of the more southern cities would work, but let's go with Munich, since it has plenty of daily trains. These are almost all about 6 hours apart . But have you also blocked in the time necessary to get back to Zurich? Is your departing flight late in the day, or would you need to return to Zurich the night before your flight?

You may want to reconsider this. With so much time spent moving locations, you'll only have 1 1/2 days at most in each place.

Time of year would be helpful to know to have useful suggestions for your 6 nights.

With so few nights, knowing your flight arrival and departure times is a crucial bit of info.

We will have a total of 7 nights on our vacation but I thought the last night should be close to Zurich. For the cities I was thinking Colmar, France and Innsbruck, Austria. I don’t have any idea where to stay in Germany. Somewhere in the southern part so we don’t have to spend all of our time on trains. I have never been to Germany or Austria. I have only been to the south of France. I would appreciate any help. Thank you!

Colmar is a very good idea for France, but better for 3 nights at least - 2 is really not enough.
You could then head to Germany, for instance Munich for 3 nights, and back to Zürich. Fast-paced and skipping many places in between, but workable. Adding Austria is unworkable, in my opinion.

Watch Rick's videos about Bavaria and Munich. Also Lichtenstein (sp?).

As noted, even though things in Europe may be fairly close, they are still fairly far apart. Have you really seen everything to see in Switzerland? The eastern French part, the western German part? The BO? I would think there's a lifetime of sightseeing just in CH.

Right now, the changing restrictions on crossing borders would lead me to opt for staying in one or two countries on such a short trip. Note that Austria wants second (full) vaccination date to be no more than 270 days before your entry date so if you got early vaccinations your time may be running out.
EDIT: Austria has changed to 365 days validity.

Go to Salzburg, Austria and do day trips to Vienna, Berchtesgaden and Munich.

Lindau, Germany seems to be a desirable and efficient rail-served place between Zurich and Innsbruck. I haven't been there but can vouch for Colmar!

"We would like to spend two nights in France, 2 nights in Germany and 2 nights in Austria then heading back to Zurich to fly home."

I've used ZRH airport on separate occasions to visit Southern Germany. Works well, generally.

I will chime in with the others though... a 4-country circuit with overnight bases in DE, FR, and AT is probably misguided. What about a 2-base stay with some time in all 3 countries? A plan like the one below would be doable under the guidelines you provided.

• ZRH Airport > Freiburg, DE (just over 2 hours away.) Stay 3 nights. Day trips to Colmar, FR (local bus or rail + bus) and into the Black Forest on the scenic Black Forest Railway and the Hell Valley Railway. Strasbourg FR is another option.

• Freiburg > Innsbruck (6 hours.) Stay 3 nights. Day trip to Mittenwald, DE (just 1 hr. away) plus... one of these options???

• Freiburg > Zurich It's 3.5 hours back to Zurich proper. You might wish to break up the trip with a visit to St. Anton or some other place along this route... drop bags in a locker, explore, have lunch.

I like Russ's plan. Also consider how much extra cost you add to that "best flight price" by a having to backtrack (almost never advisable when taking public transportation): Swiss hotels and restaurants, extra days lost to travel. You might consider flying into Zurich and out of Munich (or even Salzburg).

You could do Zurich to Colmar (2 hrs by train). Then Colmar to Munich (5 hrs). Then Munich to Salzburg (2 hrs). But honestly, 2 nights is not enough in any of these cities.

I also like the idea of heading straight to Salzburg as a base and going to Hallstatt, Bechtesgaden, Munich, even Ljubliana. All less than 2 hrs away, stunning scenery, and cheaper than Switzerland.

Thank you all so much. You have given me a lot of great ideas to think about. I am embarrassed to admit that I had not thought about travel restrictions and all that Covid might involve. We are not traveling until March, so hopefully things will be better by then. I will definitely consider staying in two places instead of three. Any other cities that you think we should look into visiting, please let me know. Again, we are most interested in the beautiful scenery. Thanks!

Hi. I would tend to choose either west: Colmar, Black Forest, Basel, and adjacent localities, OR, what appeals to me more as it would be new to me and sounds scenic: head east via the Arlberg Railway (link is to Seat61) to Innsbruck and then either south to the South Tyrol (Dolomites, Bolzano, etc.) or stay north in the northern Tyrol - perhaps looping in Munich or southern Bavaria. Salzburg is not too far from Innsbruck by train either if it is really calling you. Myself, I would be contemplating a nice gentle loop east and then back to Zurich.

The second option in heading towards Innsbruck could incorporate the train into enjoying beautiful scenery. I think there are so many options for stopping/sleeping that you do not have to be burdened by long-haul train trips unless you choose this. Myself, I enjoy train travel in this area of the world.

I am scheduled for Venice in March and yes, Zurich seems an affordable flight option so I am fantasizing enjoying a nice train trip either before or after Venice.

I am glad that you are reconsidering your original plans. "Two nights in France, 2 nights in Germany and 2 nights in Austria" would give you one full day in each of these countries. That makes sense only if you are the country-collecting type and want to tick off the countries you have set foot on on your world map.

I'd look into those places that are within easy reach of Zürich and see what you might be interested in: Basel, Bern, Lake Constance, Black Forest, Liechtenstein, Colmar. And then focus on two countries at most, minimizing your risk of Covid complications. Given your time frame, I would save Austria and Bavaria for your next trip.

You can take a train from Zürich Flughafen (airport) to Zürich HB (15-minutes) and change trains to get to Basel SBB (1h) and sleep there to explore Colmar, FR (45-minutes by direct train) and Strasbourg, FR (1h 30m).
From Basel SBB go to München Hbf (Munich; 5h 15m and requires a connection) and make Munich your base to visit Salzburg, AT (1h 30m).
You can then take a direct train from München Hbf to Zürich Flughafen (4h).

You can then take a direct train from München Hbf Gl.27-36 to Zürich Flughafen (4h)

to elaborate, for avoidance of confusion "München Hbf Gl.27-36" does not refer to a different station from the Munich (München is Munich) main station (Hbf is Hauptbahnhof, literally main train station). It is simply a group of platforms, (Gl. is abbreviated Gleis which is platform (or track in American)), so it means Munich main station platforms 27 to 36. It could have simply been called Munich Hbf.

Thank you for all of your help. Noting the travel restrictions at this time, we will not be able to visit Austria. I think we will try to make Mittenwald our base for a couple of days as we explore the areas nearby. Maybe one night near Fuessen as we see the castle and then one or two nights closer to Zurich. Any other interesting scenic train rides, or scenic towns that are a must see, would be appreciated. Thanks again!

You can then take a direct train from München Hbf Gl.27-36 to Zürich Flughafen (4h)

Thanks for clarifying Nigel, I edited my post.