[Anonymous]

5 October 2019 at 18:01:49 #824095

We fly into Zurich on Saturday morning in early January & want to take a train to Grindelwald. Should we buy train tickets upon arrival at ZRH or in advance. Given uncertainty with air travel arrival times we would need a flexible train departure ticket which costs more anyway. We don’t want to risk missing our ticketed train but we are also concerned about availability of train tickets if we wait to purchase when we arrive at the airport. What do you suggest?

We want to store luggage at ZRH for 5 days. We are flying Swiss Air in and out of ZRH. Can we find luggage locker or storage at or near Swiss Air baggage claim area? Is the storage area easily accessible to retrieve our luggage at departure check in?

How much time should we budget to get through customs, find luggage storage locker and then to get to the train station at ZRH?

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[Anna]

Reply 1 of 3 • 5 October 2019 at 19:13:38 #923219

Hi Bdburgner,

Yes, you can buy your train ticket to Grindelwald on arrival. There’s an SBB Travel Centre (opens at 7am) and also numerous ticket machines at the airport. There may or may not be a long queue but if you want to save time, best get your tickets online.

If you plan to do a lot of travelling in Switzerland, I suggest getting one of the rail passes. This would be much cheaper than buying the point-to-point or regular tickets.

The most comprehensive and flexible rail pass is the Swiss Travel Pass, which provides you with free unlimited travel on Swiss public transport network. This includes trains, trams, buses, boats and some cable cars and mountain railways. It’s a one-ticket-for-all and saves you precious time from buying tickets for each trip.

For more information about the Swiss Travel Pass and how it works:
http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass
http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/howtouse

Some travellers prefer the Swiss Half Fare Card. You still do need to buy tickets for each trip but pay at a discount (usually 50% off the full price).
http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isshalffarecard

This page explains how to choose the best rail pass in 5 steps:
http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass

You just have to calculate how much public transportation you plan to take during your stay. The rail pass could easily pay for itself during a long weekend if you travelled to Grindelwald from Zurich and went up to Schilthorn or another mountain and rode a ferry for instance.

And as for your question about storing luggage, there’s a supervised left luggage counter and also lockers of different sizes at the airport. Just look out for the signages.
http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/practical/luggage

Not sure how long it takes to clear custom and baggage reclaim. Saturday mornings could be a bit busy with lots of arrivals. But the Zurich-Flughafen train station is located in the airport building itself and you should have no problem finding it.

Anna

[User]

Reply 2 of 3 • 5 October 2019 at 20:57:05 #923220

Hi bdburgner –

To amplify Anna’s commenst-

<<“Yes, you can buy your train ticket to Grindelwald on arrival.”>>

There are always seats available. No need to book within Switzerland. Similar to a city bus system, just hop on the train that fits your schedule. If you chose a method that requires tickets, tickets on the main line trains are good all day. That will get you to Grindelwald. Trains near the big cities in commuter hours can have fuller occupancy. I’ve always gotten a seat, but two or more together may be hard to find at the height of rush hour.

What time do you arrive?

As Anna notes, there may be lines at the ticket counters, so many buy their tickets ahead of time. But the ticket machines are fast, easy , speak English plus the national languages, and accept credit cards.

Also, next to the ticket counter ..to the left, I recall.. is a Reisebüro (Travel office). Although that has people working out complex journeys throughout Europe. you can pick a number and wait ypur turn sitting down, then talk to a clerk in English and get exactly whatever tickets you need in Switzerland. Usualyl it is faster than the ticket counter when there are long lines at the ticket counter, but not always.

If you really want to check out occupancy of a train, set up a journey in the timetable, open up a specific journey, and there are occupancy icons visible to the right of each leg.

<<“How much time should we budget to get through customs, find luggage storage locker and then to get to the train station at ZRH?”>>

I came in from the USA through Zürich on September 11th. In contrast to most earlier trips, it took me more than about 30 minutes to clear passport control. I was surprised; that was much slower than usual. And, if you have passport from the EU or a Schengen country, there are separate lines which are notably faster. USA citizens get lumped with “all others.” Some “others” have unusual situations. Be prepared to answer simple questions at pasport control…Business or pleasure? How long will you be in Switzerland? Where will you be going?

My baggage was on the carousel when I got there.

<<“Can we find luggage locker or storage at or near Swiss Air baggage claim

area? Is the storage area easily accessible to retrieve our luggage at

departure check in?”>>

There is only one baggage claim area for all intercontinental flights. Where are you coming from?

You grab your bags, put then on free cart which can ride the escalators ( don’t pile bags too high; they can fall off when the cart tips forward to go down an escalator), walk through the customs station (I’ve never been stopped. Just look innocent!), walk 2-3 minutes to the train station just across the street under a covered walkway(good overhead signage). I’m not sure where they have put the left-luggage office in the recent airport expansion ( think it is in the train station building), but, bags left in lockers are taken out and moved to left luggage after a couple or three days (daily fee) , so you might as well use left luggage. Then you’ll know where to pick up your bags.

The office is open every from 0630 until 2200, with slightly reduced hours on public holidays.

http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/railway-stations/further-stations/station.3016. zuerich-flughafen.html

If you are lucky, you can do it all in less than an hour. Budget 90 minutes to be safe. I used to say 45 minutes…..oh well.

Since you are going to Grindelwald, you’ll go through Bern. There are at least two trains per hour to Bern, so a few minutes delay won’t make a whole lot of difference.

I just checked the timetable for trains to Grindelwald from the airport. You can’t check next year’s schedule until the new timetable comes out on approximately December 15th, but there won’t be much change. The timetable says take a train from the airport at xx18 or xx46. The both go through Zürich Hbf, but neither requires a change of train there.

So, the following comments are not relevant unless you come back through there again while in Switzerland

All trains to the Bernese Oberland from the Zürich area normally go through Bern and require a change at Bern, as far as I know. That is, unless you deliberately choose a slower route, such as through Luzern.

Trains from the airport to Bern go through Zürich main station (Hauptbahnhof; Hbf). Some require a change there; others stop but don’t require a change.

Work the timetable, as I did, , which always gives you the fastest route unless you force it to go another way with a “via” entry:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

That way you can see which ones do and which do not require a change at Zürich Hbf. [Actually, as noted above, neither of thh usual trains do.]

The timetable is a very useful tool in Switzerland… You might spend some time with it before you travel. There is a free and extremely useful smart phone app.

Züri Hbf is a very complex multilevel station. It has good signage, but it is not always easy to make a tight connection, especially if you are jet-lagged. If you miss one, wait 20-30 minutes and catch the next one. Same ticket; they are good all day.

Or, plan your connection at the airport to get a through train as far as Bern. [That is on the two perhourtains that I just looked up.]

There is a very large food court on the ground floor of the train station (station and tracks are underground) which you walk into as you enter the building. It is a good place to get a bite and a cup of coffee if you choose to wait. They even have a McDonalds of you have fussy kids with you.

There is a map of the Zürich HBf station here.

http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/railway-stations/shopville-zuerich-main-station.html

Scroll down. It is not easy to user. But, it’s a map. ;-(

Hope that helps. Ask if you have more questions.

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 3 of 3 • 6 October 2019 at 12:40:08 #923221

Hello Bdburgner,

The only thing I would like to share is if you plan on going to Interlaken, please check out Funky Chocolate Club, because you can make your own Swiss chocolate!

funkychocolateclub.com /

I wish you a wonderful time when you are in Switzerland.

Best regards,

Suzanne