Train Zurich to Stuttgart with stop at Rheinfall

My husband and I will be concluding an escorted tour mid-morning on Friday, Oct 2nd at the Zurich airport. We need to travel by train from Zurich to Stuttgart that day, but don't need to be in Stuttgart until late afternoon. We won't have any active rail passes or Zurich Card at that time. We would love to visit Rheinfall on our way to Stuttgart, but will be traveling with our luggage so will need to store it during our visit to the falls. We don't know exactly when we will be dropped off at the Zurich Airport so I am hesitant to buy tickets in advance. What stop(s) should we take to store our luggage, visit the falls and then continue our journey to Stuttgart?

On Swiss rail, tickets will be good all day long, if you so specify while buying them.

Seat reservations are not needed.

From Switzerland northwards, I don't know the rules.

Slowpoke

<<"We would love to visit Rheinfall on our way to Stuttgart, but will be traveling with our luggage so will need to store it during our visit to the falls.">>

The timtable will help. Especially, once you have reached the full entry page with a "via" capacity.

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

or, better -

www.sbb.ch/en/home.htm l

Not sure of the route details, but you will probably want to leave luggage in Schaffhausen.

Sending it across borders slows it down....;-(

It might be tight on time, if you are dropped in Züri late in the morning. Study the timetable carefully.

If you are flying out that PM, I'd not take the chance, myself.

Hi Jroe2008, welcome to MySwissAlps!

As mentioned, it might be a bit too tight to visit the Rhine Falls and arrive in Stuttgart the same afternoon. It all depends on how late exactly you can start traveling and how late you can afford to be in Stuttgart. Theoretically, you can first get to Schaffhausen and store your luggage there, either in lockers or at the luggage department. Then get on the regional train/tram to "Schloss Laufen am Rhein" as explained at our Rhine Falls page (www.myswissalps.com/rh inefalls/gettingthere), do a short tour (www.myswissalps.com/rh inefalls) and get back to Schaffhausen to collect your luggage. There you can continue your journey to Stuttgart. Direct connections are available.

A direct trip Zurich-Schaffhausen-Schloss Laufen am Rhein-Schaffhausen-Stuttgart takes about 4h30. Add the time you'd spend at the Rhine Falls (I'd say 1 to 2 hours) and you should be able to decide whether or not this fit your plans.

Some direct international trains from Switzerland to Germany require seat reservations. That doesn't apply to most trains running between Schaffhausen and Stuttgart though. Please see www.myswissalps.com/se atreservations for further information. If you don't have rail pass, you need regular full fare tickets for this trip. You can buy them at the rail station before boarding. You can get your tickets from ticketing machines, but since this trip would be a bit more complicated (getting back halfway from Schloss Laufen am Rhein), I suggest you get to a manned counter and explain what you need. Alternatively, you can pre-book through www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/germany.

Thank you for your help. We are going to have to wait to make our decision until the day of the trip when we know our exact schedule. It's nice to know that we can take the train and can store our luggage at Schaffhaussen if we decide to visit the falls. We are really looking forward to our trip.