How to travel from Germany to Switzerland by train?

Use this address for the German Rail (Bahn) website. Bahn.de will take you there eventually, might as well start there. If you book early enough (3-92 days) in advance, you can get Europa-Spezial Schweiz tickets online from the Bahn for as little as €39/p each way. Not all connections have this fare. It requires at least an express train (ICE/IC/EC) starting in Germany and any connections in Switzerland must also be by express trains (IC). The ticket can include regional trains in Germany to get you to the express train. You can find these fares from Munich to Zürich, Luzern, Bern, or Interlaken, amongst others.

When is your daughter's birthday? It does make a difference on where you may want to go as some of the more scenic areas are still ski areas in Feb-Mar. It's a 6hr20min train journey from Munich to Bern with 3-4 train changes. Air Berlin will fly you directly from Munich to Zurich with one stop in Dusseldorf. But, it too is a 4hr+ flight. One thought in your planning could be a night in Lucerne and two nights in Lauterbrunnen if your daughter's birthday is beyond late May. Very scenic in both places. Hopefully, Lee will be along shortly to comment on the German trains. He has great suggestions and info on special fares although if you live in Germany, you may already know them.

"CHEAP as ......" Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe so CHEAP will be a very relative term.

Actually you can go from Munich to Bern in 5 hours 25 minutes with a single change at Zürich. EC 194 leaves Munich at 12:33; change to IC 832 at Zürich. Both of these trains should qualify for the special rate Lee mentioned, so it should not cost too muchnto get TO Switzerland. What it costs to stay there is another matter. If you will say when younare going, we may be able tom suggest some appropriate and reasonably-priced options.

I can't believe I left out the date! Sorry. We are looking at going mid February.

What are you looking to do? Ski or just see the mountains? Realize that February is the middle of the ski season. So in the Alps, it's the most expensive time of the year in the most expensive country in Europe. As another poster implied, the words "Switzerland" and "cheap" don't often go together in the same sentence without the word "not". Also, where exactly in Germany are you coming from? Munich area?

Tom, she said Bern so that is hardly a ski resort.

You've signed that you're in Germany, so you should go down to the Munich hauptbahnhof to the DB office and they can speak to you in English and help you sort your tickets if you don't want to do it online. Also, there's a German school break for 1-2 weeks in mid-February, so that'll increase traffic and other tourist activities (thus driving up prices everywhere). Fasching (Carnivale) is a big holiday around that time, so definitely you'll need to book ahead. There are indeed plenty of ski areas around Berne (www.j2ski.com has 24 listed within an hour of Berne; Gurten is right in Berne). That said, I bet you could find an apartment for 2 people somewhere in Switzerland at the last minute, not knowing what you consider cheap, though, and maybe not in your first choice of location.

If you are starting from "the Munich area", the express train you need for the Europa-Spezial fare will probably leave from Munich, but you can put in the nearest station and the ticket will include travel by other trains (eg regional) to where you catch the express train, all for the same discounted fare (it's called "Vor- und Nachlauf"). You can surely get information from any Reisebüro, but you might not be able to book there. Many of these discount tickets are only for online booking; others require a surcharge for "personal service" at a counter. I don't see the surcharge mentioned, so I am assuming the ticket can only be purchase online.