Switzerland to Austria

It depends on where in Austria you want to visit and how much time you have. For example, Salzburg is closer to Munich than Zurich. Trains and flights from/to Switzerland are always expensive. If you have a big enough party, driving is an option, but again, rental costs+gas prices are sky high. I drove from Zurich to Tirol along the A12 (not on a holiday) this June and traffic was terrible. This is one of the major highways in the heart of Europe and a highly congested trucking route. My car was low-power & medium-sized, but it cost $90 to fill up the tank. Even with my corporate rate (inclusive of CDW+extra driver), I still paid more than 600 CHF for a 5-day rental.

your question is too vague; what cities are planning to go to in order and when; how are you finding that it is expensive to take a train and flight from Switzerland to Austria

It's difficult to give much advice, since your itinerary is so vague. Will you be in northern, central or southern Germany? Do you want to visit cities in eastern or western Austria? Are these the only countries you will visit- will you fly home from the last of these 3 countries? If you plan your itinerary in a logical linear progression you might be able to reduce your transportation costs, and may find you can get where you want to go mostly by train instead of flying. You also might consider going from Germany to Austria and ending in Switzerland to reduce your flight requirements.

Yes, I understand it is difficult to give advice when I am vague. At this point I don’t have exact towns. I did however, appreciate the suggestions that where offered. When I get the areas set as to where I want to go I will look for more guidance.
Thanks,

When I want to see the Alps and mountain vistas, I just go to Western Tirol in Austria. It's a 2 hour drive from Munich and the mountains around Innsbruck are incredibly beautiful. The Grossglockner High Alpine Highway south of Zell-am-Zee is perhaps the most beautiful place we've ever seen.
We avoid Switzerland because it's a little difficult to get to and Austria is so much easier and cheaper to travel through.

Whatever you do, do not use Rail Europe for train prices or schedules.

Full fare for a direct train between Zurich and Vienna, for instance, is about $140, but significant advance purchase discounts go on sale as early as 6 months ahead. The one possible difficulty of booking directly with the railways are some limitations on foreign credit card approval.

Is there a train service that you feel is the most reputable?
Thank you all for your tips. I have not traveled to Europe often so I am still learning a great deal.

Do you have any airline, credit card or shopping point cards? Our last 3 trips to Europe we've used our points and been able to get a free car for a week or two (usually something along the lines of a VW Golf -- our last one was very nice). We have 3 or 4 people travelling, so even with the high price for petrol, it still works out way cheaper than trains. Last winter in Switzerland we went to Austria for a few days and back to Switzerland.

For our upcoming trip we will be doing a combination of trains and cars. The advantage of the car is you can go almost anywhere (and for us it was so much cheaper); the advantage of the train is you can sit back and relax. It takes both of us to drive in Europe--my husband drives and I navigate. We do end up driving in circles, but always get there. So there's the stress factor of driving. If you're going between city centres, I recommend trains.

Is there a train service that you feel is the most reputable?
Thank you all for your tips. I have not traveled to Europe often so I am still learning a great deal.

Trains do not run like airplanes. There is not a selection of train service, as the railways are operated by the government. Exception would be certain lines where private railways also exist, but these are the exception, not the rule. For a journey from Zurich to Vienna, you need to look at the website of the national rail carrier of the country where your journey originates. In your case, that is Switzerland, so look at SBB. Here is there link - https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html. A pre-booked journey online for a specific train will be 29 Euro per person (no one buys the $140 walk up fare mentioned above). Here is another link from the very reputable Man in Seat 61 website with instructions on how to buy tickets for this journey - https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Switzerland.htm#Switzerland-Vienna

Thank you Emily, I will be checking those sites out.