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Zurich to Colmar - SBB ticket all the way?

Hello!

I am new to the forum - I've searched but haven't come across my specific question so I am hoping someone can help me! We are a family of four traveling from Zurich Flughafen to Colmar. Looking at the SBB website, it appears I can buy tickets directly from SBB (Zurich Flughafen to Colmar, transferring in Basel). Am I understanding this correctly? So I do not need to buy a ticket from Zurich to Basel via the SBB, then transfer to the French station and buy a French TER ticket to get from Basel to Colmar? If I buy a ticket via the SBB to get to Colmar, I can validate (composter les billets) Swiss tickets in the French system?

For our return we plan to buy one-way tickets from Colmar to Basel and then activate our 8-day Swiss rail pass in Basel to spend the rest of our vacation in Switzerland. Is it best to buy the Swiss pass in Basel or when we first arrive at Zurich Flughafen?

Haven't been to Switzerland in ages so am looking forward to it! (Especially being able to travel with the SBB mobile app! Seems like it will be very helpful.)

Thank you very much!

Posted by
8889 posts

You can buy a ticket from Zürich Flughafen to Colmar from SBB. It will however be two trains, Zürich Flughafen to Basel SBB on an SBB train, and from Basel to Colmar on an SNCF TER train.
Same trains, just one purchase.
If you have a "self-print" ticket it doesn't need validating. However if you are flying in transcontinental, you may not be able to predict which train you will get, so it may be better to buy Zürich Flughafen to Colmar when you land.

You can buy a Swiss Pass at Zürich Flughafen station, or at Basel. If you know the dates now, you can buy it online.

BTW, at Basel SBB, to get from the main part of the station where your train from Zürich Flughafen arrives, to the annex where trains for France leave (platforms 30 to 35), due to building work, you need to exit the station, turn left and walk along the street fro about 200 metres. It is signposted.

Load up the SBB app on your phone now, and you can look up trains from Zürich Flughafen to Colmar.