Strasbourg to Appenzell

wheaty,

I found numerous train solutions on the Bahn.de website, using an arbitrary date of 10 May. That trip is easily possible and will take 4 -5 hours, with 3 - 6 changes. One segment of the trip will likely be via Bus, depending on which departure you choose. I'd probably use the 10:51 departure from Strasbourg.

You probably won't be able to buy all tickets from a single website, and definitely not from the Bahn.de website. I'd probably just buy tickets when you arrive there. The train from Strasbourg to Basel will likely be a TER (Regional) train, so there are no price breaks for advance purchase. You'll probably arrive in Basel in the "old" part of the station, and you'll pass the shuttered customs booths on the way into the main terminal. Be sure to validate your ticket prior to boarding the train on the day of travel!

When you arrive at Basel SBB, you can purchase your tickets to Appenzell, or if you prefer you can purchase from the SBB.ch website.

One other point to mention is that the WC's at Basel SBB are operated by McClean and are pay-per-use. Be sure to have some Swiss Francs at hand or you'll have a problem.

The SBB website (for a random day in May) shows lots of trains, but you cannot buy tickets for these trains on the SBB site because Strasbourg to Basel is a French train.
You equally cannot buy them on the SNCF (French Railways) website, because that would only sell you Strasbourg to Basel, not Basel to Appenzell.

You could split the purchase across the two websites. But, there is no point in buying tickets in advance. There is no discount for advanced purchase and no reserved seats. Just buy Strasbourg to Basel at Strasbourg station on the day, and Basel to Appenzell from the SBB ticket office (or ticket machine) when you get to Basel station.

Note that due to building work, in order to get from the SNCF part of Basel station (where the train from Strasbourg arrives) to the SBB part, you need to walk outside the station along the street for a few hundred metres.

Thank you so much for the info, I was starting to go nuts. We wanted to have all of our train tickets all purchased before we left as not to worry about it. So the Swiss part of our trip will just be a show up and purchase. I’ve been to Europe quite a few times, but never Switzerland. So this was really stumping me.
So leaving Appenzell for Munich should I reserve my tickets on the German side to Munich, and Appenzell to the border on the day of?

So leaving Appenzell for Munich should I reserve my tickets on the German side to Munich, and Appenzell to the border on the day of?

You could do that, but. I did a search for a random date in May, and it found me a train from Zürich, via St Gallen (where you will join it) to Munich. You will not be changing trains at the border. The DB website will sell you a ticket from St Gallen to Munich for €19.90, a bargain. You then buy Appenzell to St Gallen on the day.
Details:

Appenzell dep 09:04, S 22, Teufen arr 09:27
Teufen dep 09:29, Bus 855, St. Gallen(CH), Bahnhof arr 09:51
St. Gallen(CH) dep 10:19, EC 193, München Hbf arr 13:44

The SBB website will sell tickets for the above connection at CHF 83.

This is all confusing, because:
A) Some trains are fixed price (usually local trains, but including Strasbourg - Basel and most Swiss trains)
B) Some trains you get discounts on for advance purchase (usually long distance trains).
C) Rail company websites usually sell tickets for their trains, and cross border trains run jointly with another company, but not foreign trains run by a different company. So you often have to split the purchase between different rail websites.