Best transportation for Austria to Switzerland

  • Azkniffens
    Participant
    5 posts
    29 January 2019 at 1:27:15 #819674

    Looking for opinions for our first trip to the area. We are a group of 6 traveling 12 nights between Austria and Switzerland. Since we are arriving at the Munich airport, our thought was to rent a car and drive to Austria and use this means of travel as we spend time in Salzburg, Brixlegg area. (where we plan to drive Grossglockner Rd etc.). From there we will head to Lake Luzern and Lauterbrunnen before making way to Geneva for the departure. My question is whether to switch from car to train when heading to Switzerland? Trains seem plentiful for our Swiss adventure but we hate to be limited. Also, it seems like there are lofty costs for one way car rental. We are frequent travelers and have no problem driving in Italy etc. but could use advise in this region.

  • Effortlessly learn from the questions and answers in the forum. Receive a daily e-mail with new discussions.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    29 January 2019 at 1:48:33 #903086

    Austria and Switzerland have similar public transport networks, so using a car for one but not the other is a bit unusual. Essentially of you want to do things like drive the mountain passes to your own schedule, and stop wherever you please in the countryside, a car is better in both Austria and Switzerland. Otherwise you can see the Alps in both countries using trains and post buses.

    Azkniffens
    Participant
    5 posts
    29 January 2019 at 3:01:05 #903087

    Thank you 1960man. Our Austria travel interests are fluid and seemed like a car on our schedule was more fitting. As for Lake Luzern and Lauterbrunnen, our interests are a bit more of the mainstream activities which trains seemed just as easy. If we were to rent a car in both places, is it smarter to rent/return in Austria and again in Switzerland vs taking one car across 2 countries?

    cev
    Participant
    2 posts
    29 January 2019 at 6:32:30 #903088

    My wife and i rented a car in Lucerne and traveled to Southern Germany (Lindau, Schwangau Neuschwanstein) and then into Austria (Innsbruck, Salzberg. Eagles Nest , Salzburg) and the Grossglockner). We drove back to Interlaken and returned our car there with no penalty if i recall correctly (rented through Hertz). The rest of the trip in Switzerland was by train (and postbus on occasion). The Swiss train system is absolutely outstanding. No car would be needed for the remaining Swiss portion of your trip, in my opinion.

    Arno
    Moderator
    15471 posts
    29 January 2019 at 6:40:08 #903089

    Hi Azkniffens, welcome to MySwissAlps!

    Here’s a couple of pages to help you decide, at least for Switzerland:

    Azkniffens
    Participant
    5 posts
    3 February 2019 at 18:00:23 #903090

    Thanks to everyone for your replies and information!

  • The thread ‘Best transportation for Austria to Switzerland’ is closed to new replies.

About MySwissAlps

We’re passionate tourists and locals. We share tips about how to plan a trip to Switzerland. MySwissAlps was founded in 2002.

Get a free account for a worry-free trip

  • Join our 10730 members and ask us questions in the forum
  • Access to member-only promotions
  • Detailed maps and weather forecasts

Planning your first Switzerland adventure?

Get a jump-start with Annika’s 20-minute e-mail course, “Switzerland for beginners”. Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock the course.