FYI-for those flying in/out of ZRH. Swiss train website will allow a stop-over of 4 hrs (maybe more) in Lucerne for no extra cost for Basel-ZRH.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Are you sure? If starting from Basel, Luzern is in the opposite direction to Zürich (south instead of east).
Basel to Zürich Flughafen direct (full fare) = CHF 38
Basel to Zürich Flughafen via Luzern (full fare) = CHF 55
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33817 posts
That's really confusing, elaine. So are you saying that for trains which go from Basel to Zuerich Hbf for the short connection to Zurich Airport they will put you on another train for an hour to Luzern, allow a 4 hour stop in Luzern, and then an hour train back to Zuerich Hbf and onwards to the Airport?
That's pretty counter-intuitive.
Posted by
OP
washington, dc
395 posts
sorry. I thought I was on the Swiss website. It is actually the Austrian website (oebb.at). Fare for 6 persons (3 older teens) is 169 euros, same as French website, but Austrian will let me put in a stopover for Luzern for the same 169 euros, with the route Basel-Luzern, Luzern-ZRH. We were just going to tour Basel on our way to ZRH, but now I think we will pop over to Luzern for a few hours, as well.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33817 posts
That's even more confusing. What's the Öbb doing selling tickets for a trip entirely within Switzerland?
There must be more.
Are you going from Switzerland to Austria, or Austria to Switzerland?
A basic principle of railways in Europe is that tickets go in one direction, they don't allow backtracking. That's why I don't understand Basel to Zürich via Luzern.
Posted by
OP
washington, dc
395 posts
Nope--from Basel to ZRH via Luzern. I put in info all the way to giving my CC. It is a non-restricted ticket, not specific to particular train/time. I'm not ticketing out for another couple of months, but I'll report back if oebb.at actually takes my CC and issues the tickets. If so, looks like Luzern will be on the agenda.