Who knows the names of city centers in these countries

Hi Nancy,
I am not sure about Frankfurt and Brussels, but the Zurich city center train station will be on the site as "Zurich Hauptbahn" or "Zurich HB". If it says Zurich Flughafen, it is the airport station.
I am sure some other people will jump in too, but it seems like Lucerne will be good city to visit from Zurich via train.
From Zurich HB (city center) to Zurich Flughafen(airport), the train ride is 10-15 mins and I believe around 6 SF (although covered by Swiss Pass)
For travelling in Switzerland, train is excellent. Within the city they have trams and buses too and free bikes too!
What is a "must see" depends on what your liking is.
If you can check out Rick's Switzerland section even on this website, you'll get a good idea. You could also do a search in the upper right hand corner by inserting all the city names and getting more information.

Just to help you out a bit. Most European cities have their main train station right in the middle of the cities. So if you take a train, bus or taxi from the airport to the "city center" you will be in the middle of the city. I can only help you with Frankfurt. The airport is about a 15 min. ride on the subway and you get off in the middle of the city. What is confusing you, is that the trains just don't make one stop after they leave the airport, they may stop at other places on the way to the "city center". Does this help you? I do know that the main train station in Brussels is also right in the middle of the city and so is the one in Paris.

There are three main train stations in Brussels, but two are of concern to you. The closest to the tourist sites of Grand Place is Brussels Centraal. The station where the Thalys hi-speed trains stop is Brussels Zuid/Midi. All are connected by underground trams, trains, and subway.

Brussels International Airport, (www.brusselsairport.be) in Zanvantem is approx. 10km NE from central Brussels. You can take the Airport Express shuttle train to the Central station which is near the Grand Place. It's a 25 min. ride, 4 per hour, and it's not expensive, probably around 6 Euro nowadays. However, if you are flying a discount airline, they usually fly into Brussels South Charleroi Airport (www.charleroi-airport.com) approx. 45km south of central Brussels. It may actually be easier to take an ICE train from Frankfurt to Cologne, and then board a Thalys train to Brussels Midi/Zuid station, where you may be able to continue on to the Central station, if not you can take the metro adjacent to the Midi/Zuid station into town. If you purchase your tickets well ahead (beginning 90 days for the Thalys, not sure about the ICE), you can get a Dauer Spezial for 29 Euro on the ICE high-speed train, and a Smoove fare for 15 Euro, or an Optiway fare for 25 Euro on the Thalys high-speed train. The combined journey time would be about 3hr. 45min., with whatever amount of time you needed to change trains that one time. Also be aware that Belgium is a bilingual country, with the northern portion speaking Flemish (Dutch dialect), and the southern portion speaking French: therefore, especially in Brussels, most place names/signs are posted in both languages. For example, Bruxelles Midi/Brussels Zuid (both mean south) are referring to the same train station.

You ask about the name of the city center. It usually has no name. It is called the city center.

Travelers usually take the underground or bus from the airport to the city center. You dont need to know how far it is from the airport now.

When you land go to the Tourist Information Office and ask how to get to your hotel by name. Forget about the city center.

I always look at the webpage for the place I am staying and search for a map on that page. It will usually help you find the part of town it is located in.

It is hard to find the prices on trains until you get there. They change often so I guess the owners dont publish them.

When you check in your hotel or hostel ask about the bus, train or trolley if you want to use them while you are there.

Re: Gina's reply, some corrections: Brussels National Airport is located in Zaventem (not "Zanvantem"), and Belgium (my native country, btw) is trilingual, not bilingual: Dutch (60%), French (39%), and German (1%). Keep in mind that Brussels National Airport is located in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, and that Brussels South Charleroi Airport is in the French-speaking part of the country.

You've been given some good information here and some out-dated information on how people used to travel.

First question, have you read the pages on this website regarding train travel? If not, it will help you quite a bit. Start with this one--it will answer many of your questions:

Tips for Finding Train Schedules on the Deutsche Bahn website

You will also need maps of the areas you are going to. Find your hotel on the map and then find the nearest station. (the hotel's website might have this information. It may even have directions to the hotel.)

Quite often, if you go to that city's airport webpage, they have a section on getting to and from the airport. This should also include the price and time it takes to make the journey.

The webpage I linked to above will help you get prices for train travel.

I personally always know how to get from the airport to my hotel and how much it's going to cost before I leave home. One less thing to deal with. I also have a general idea of what a train will cost before I go. It takes a little work but it can be found.

I started traveling to Europe way before Al Gore invented the internet. Believe me, trip planning is so much easier today.

It doesn't look to me that Nancy asked for a train station name.

Nancy,

I don't really understand your question.City centers don't have a name. They are simple called city center. If you are asking about a translation of the 2 words, that is something else.

Nancy: Depending on which country you are in, the city centre can be called centro, centrum, zentrum, or some other variation of our English word for centre.

or center--for us Yanks.

Nancy, can you get back with us and tell us if your questions are answered or if we have understood them correctly. It could be that the word "Hauptbahnhof" or its abbreviation "Hbf" has been throwing you off as one poster suggested. They just mean main train station. The city of Frankfurt does not have any other names and I don't think Brussels or Zurich do either, so we are sort of guessing at your questions. Please reply to us here so we can assist you better.

The stations named below are various stations in each city, the ones marked with 3 asterisks (***) are the same station, and are the main (and most central) station for each city.

I don't know Brussels, but the Zurich and Frankfurt airports have direct connections to the city centers. 10 - 15 minutes, fairly cheap from memory.

Zurich ***
Zurich Hbf ***
Zurich Pier
Zurich Airport
Zurich Aéroport
Zurich Flughafen

Frankfurt (Main) Hbf ***
Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbf
Frankfurt (Main) Süd
Frankfurt-Höchst
Frankfurt (Oder) Pbf
Frankfurt-Niederrad
Frankfurt (Main) West
Frankfurt-Griesheim
Frankfurt (Main) Ost
Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (Tief)
Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Regiob

Brussels Airport
Brussel Zuid
Brussel Noord
Brussel Centraal ***
Gare de Bruxelles Central ***
Brussels Central Train Station ***
Brussel-Schuman
Brussel-Luxembourg
Brussel-N-Luchthaven
Bruxelles-Congres/Brussel-Cong
Bruxelles-Chap/Brussel-Kapel

Beware of Frankfurt (Oder) - that is a whole different town on the other side of the country
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=frankfurt++an+der+oder&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr from Frankfurt (Main)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=frankfurt+&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr
(Main and Oder are the names of the rivers they are on)

The stations named below are various stations in each city, the ones marked with 3 asterisks (***) are the same station, and are the main (and most central) station for each city.

I don't know Brussels, but the Zurich and Frankfurt airports have direct connections to the city centers. 10 - 15 minutes, fairly cheap from memory.

Zurich ***

Zurich Hbf ***

Zurich Pier

Zurich Airport

Zurich Aéroport

Zurich Flughafen

Frankfurt (Main) Hbf ***

Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbf

Frankfurt (Main) Süd

Frankfurt-Höchst

Frankfurt (Oder) Pbf

Frankfurt-Niederrad

Frankfurt (Main) West

Frankfurt-Griesheim

Frankfurt (Main) Ost

Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (Tief)

Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Regiob

Brussels Airport

Brussel Zuid

Brussel Noord

Brussel Centraal ***

Gare de Bruxelles Central ***

Brussels Central Train Station ***

Brussel-Schuman

Brussel-Luxembourg

Brussel-N-Luchthaven

Bruxelles-Congres/Brussel-Cong

Bruxelles-Chap/Brussel-Kapel

Beware of Frankfurt (Oder) - that is a whole different town on the other side of the country

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=frankfurt++an+der+oder&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr
from Frankfurt (Main)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=frankfurt+&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr

(Main and Oder are the names of the rivers they are on)

reposted in more readable format (hopefully)

Nancy, I'm wondering if you're confused because large cities often have several train stations/stops, and the name of the city is listed in conjunction with the name of the actual train station. Like others have said, the main/central station is usually located in the city center.