Train Transfers To and From Zurich Airport

Zurich Airport has excellent railway links to the rest of Switzerland and Europe. Italian, French and German trains use the Swiss rail network for their high speed trains. Trains from Zurich Airport can be boarded from the airport's very own railway station, which is located found directly underneath the terminal building.

Passengers can also board metro trains, which link the airport to the city of Zurich via S-Bahn trains S2 and S16. In addition, a tram service (called the Glattalbahn) leaves at regular intervals during the day until late at night for the city via tram lines 10 and 12.

In the city there are several train stations but the most important one is the Hauptbahnhof, to which regular airport buses run from just outside the arrivals hall. At the Hauptbahnhof train station passengers can take high speed EuroCity and InterCity trains to destinations in Europe and cities such as Munich, Barcelona, Konstanz, Budapest, Rome and Amsterdam. Trains from Zurich Airport include regional connections to Geneva, Basel, Winterthur, St. Gallen, Lucerne and Bern. French TGV trains, Italian Cisalpino train and Germany's ICE trains for example use Switzerland's main train station in central Zurich.

Passengers trying to catch connections from the main train station in the city should either take the tram or the S-Bahn for their fastest connections, but bus line 10 also goes to the main train station. Bus line 12 offers a connection to the train station at Stettbach and bus line 531 runs between Zurich Airport and the train station at Bülach, another district of Zurich.

The Swiss Federal Railways – the official name of Switzerland's rail network provider – has its own travel center beneath the Airport Center in the Check-in number 3 area. Their ticket counters are open for business from 06.15 am to 10.00 pm daily.

There are also a number of ticket vending machines located in the terminal for trains from Zurich Airport. Vending machines can be found in Customs Hall 2 for example and there are also vending machines right outside the travel center underneath the Airport Center. It is also possible to check-in at railway stations, where passengers will receive their boarding pass, when they hand over their luggage. Station check-ins are possible at more than 50 different railway stations and airlines such as Air Berlin, Lufthansa and Swiss Air together with some charter airlines from Zurich Airport and Geneva allow railway station check-ins, but a full list of airlines can be obtained online at www.sbb.ch.

A single ticket for a train journey on trains from Zurich Airport to Geneva for example costs from CHF 42.50 with a journey time of just over 3 hours. A Zurich Airport train journey to Basel will cost from CHF 18.00 per person.

Visitors who plan to stay in Zurich for a short break of three days or less might be better off buying a ZürichCard, which permits passengers to travel practically "for free" between the airport and the city of Zurich. The card permits visitors free access to all of Zurich's museums and shoppers get up to 10% savings on their purchases in selected outlets the city. the ZürichCard is available as a 24 hour and a 72 hour option.