Excited about our first trip to Switzerland and have read lots about the wonderful train system. When I arrive at the airport in Zurich will I be purchasing 2 train tickets to get to Basel?....1 to the main train station and then when I arrive at the Main station a second ticket to Basel? Are the platforms clearly marked where you need to go and which train you need to be on? In Munich last fall it took me a couple of days to learn their rules of their train ticketing.
Posted by
Green Bay
21150 posts
No you just buy a ticket from Zurich airport to Basel. That should be routed to Zurich Hbf, then change to train to Basel. You are free to take any train to Zurich Hbf, then any train to Basel that day. so if you wanted to spend a few hours in Zurich, go ahead. Take any train to Basel.
Edit - I should add that there are 2 trains every hour that go direct to Basel without changing trains, one at 43 past the hour and one at 56 past the hour. They do stop at Zurich Hbf, but continue on to Basel. There are 12 trains every hour to Zurich Hbf, average every 5 minutes. There are 5 direct trains every hour from Zurich Hbf direct to Basel, average every 12 minutes.
Posted by
OP
Houston, TX
3 posts
Thank you so much!!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
You can buy a ticket from any station in Switzerland to any other station, all 1838 of them. Doesn't matter if its 1, 2, 3 or more trains.
The station at Zürich airport is called Zürich Flughafen, from there to Basel SBB costs CHF 39.00, and takes 1½ hours. That ticket is valid on any train on that day.
There are many trains per hour. Some are direct (no changes), the others require a change at Zürich HB, but that doesn't affect the price.
As in all stations, departures are listed on big screens which show the platform number, and one indicators hanging above each platform.
You can look up times and prices on the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
This also shows platform numbers.
Posted by
OP
Houston, TX
3 posts
Chris, thank you very much!
Posted by
Prior Lake, MN, USA
394 posts
The Swiss rail system has an app for your smart phone. I have an android and it worked well.
You can use it to PLAN at trip.
As we got to the train station, the app said what platform to be at. Not, necessarily, which side the train would be on.
During rush hour they have the train (we used the Zurich station a lot) would be routed to the platform we were waiting at but the system routed the train to the SIDE that was available. So it is only at the last 5 (?) minutes that the app fills that data in. However, the overhead signs also tell you it.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
Airport signage is good. It's Switzerland.
The train station complex is in the "Airport Center". The platforms are one level below the ticket/information counter and ticket machines. There are two platform islands with a track on each side.