Hi, what is the best most reasonable way to travel from Frankfurt to Brussels, Brussels to Zurich, Zurich to Paris? I have looked at the train system but I cannot see how to get exact trains from certain areas to another. Is there another way to find this information? I cannot find a train from Zurich airport to city center. Is there one? I look at the train schedule for each country but it isn't specific.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Nancy, actually, the train websites are quite specific. It's your unfamiliarity with locations and the train website that needs a bit of help. As Lee mentions above, the stop at the Zurich airport is called Zurich Flughafen. The station is directly beneath the airport terminal. The main station is called Zurich HB. The two stops are 10-13 minutes apart depending on the train you are on. Trains are frequent. You can see all of this on www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm. For Zurich to Paris, use the same website to see the trains and schedule. All runs will route via Basel and then into France. The quickest run of the day from Zurich HB to Paris-Est takes 4.5hrs and is a French TGV train with no train changes. All runs into Paris from Zurich terminate at the Paris-Est station. Paris-Est is one of six train stations in Paris. You can also see all of this information on www.bahn.de
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19283 posts
If all you want are the schedules, the German Rail website has it all.
Sometimes, however, you have to know what to put in. For Zürich airport to city center, "from: Zurich Flughafen" "to: Zurich HB" should work. This is a rare case where the umlaut, ü, doesn't matter. To be perfectly proper you should probably use Zuerich.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19283 posts
You are kind of zig-zagging around, wasting valuable time. I think you should do something more like Brussels to Paris to Frankfurt to Zurich, but you probably already have flights into Frankfurt and out of Paris (sigh).
If you went from Frankfurt to Brussels, you could then come back to Köln and take a night train to Zürich, then to Paris.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9249 posts
I think I would go Frankfurt to Brussels, Brussels to Paris, Paris to Zurich. Mainly because those are short train trips except Paris to Zurich.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The ultimate authority for trans-European rail schedules is the Thomas Cooke European Rail timetable, although this compendium is only available for a significant fee.
Posted by
Alabama
108 posts
If there is any way you could fly back from Zurich? It would eliminate backtracking...then you could train from Frankfurt to Brussels, Brussels to Paris, and then on from Paris to Zurich. That would make it so much easier to plan.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32363 posts
Nancy,
Are you only flying into Frankfurt for "convenience", or were you planning to stop there for a few days? There are all kinds of ways your trip could be arranged, and using "open jaw" flights would definitely be a good idea.
I don't know what sort of flight options are available from your area, but another possibility might be to fly into Schiipol (Amsterdam), as it's a major hub and lots of carriers stop there. From there it's an easy ride to Brussels (you might consider time in Bruges instead?), then to Paris.
From Paris take the TGV to Zurich and either fly home from there or continue to Munich (again, fairly good selection of flights, especially in the spring/summer/fall) or Frankfurt. Of course, this route could also be done in the reverse direction.
Good luck!