Best way to get to/from Zurich

[Nebr.cruiser]

We are cruising from Venice to Rome in May and planning to spend 2-3 days in each city before and after the cruise. We are using frequent flyer miles for our flight and could only get roundtrip tickets to Zurich. What is the best way to get from Zurich to Venice and later from Rome to Zurich?

 

I'm assuming trains are the best, but apparently tickets cannot be reserved until 60 days out. Are reservations necessary, or can you buy at the station--don't want to get there and find no room on the train! What do you recommend for the best comfort, speed and scenery? We especially want a great view of the Alps. Is first class the way to go, or is 2nd class ok?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Ine]

Check the website of the Swiss Traincompany- Schweizerische Bundesbahn - SBB - on

http://www.sbb.ch/ - choose english on top.

Zurich-Roma will take 9 hours. Venice-Zurich abt. 8 hours.

 

I advise you to make reservations when possible.

[JeannyCT]

I'm assuming trains are the best, but apparently tickets cannot be reserved until 60 days out. Are reservations necessary, or can you buy at the station--don't want to get there and find no room on the train! What do you recommend for the best comfort, speed and scenery? We especially want a great view of the Alps. Is first class the way to go, or is 2nd class ok?

Second class is ok, since the train ride is quite long you could check for night trains and sleep. Although that means you'd miss the scenery. It would probably be a good idea to make reservations.

 

If you want to fly try this link. Maybe there's a low cost airline flying Zürich–Venice and Rome–Zürich.

[DonLou]

For these long distance trains reservations are usually mandatory. As Ine stated above, it is a long trip but the scenery is beautiful. It can also be a very tiring trip.

 

It's best to book a trip with as few train changes as possible. I noticed there is only one train on the Zurich-Venezia S. Lucia run that is a direct train (leaving Zurich at 9:09 am). All the other trains require you to get off the train and transfer to another one (at least once depending on the train you take). This means you will have to take your luggage off the train and transfer it to the new one. On the Rome to Zurich run there is no direct train - it looks like the best you can do is to transfer once in Milano.

 

First class has better seats and fewer across the row seating. A beverage and snack service comes by in a cart but you still have to pay for it.

[dbh62ark]

We are cruising from Venice to Rome in May and planning to spend 2-3 days in each city before and after the cruise. We are using frequent flyer miles for our flight and could only get roundtrip tickets to Zurich. What is the best way to get from Zurich to Venice and later from Rome to Zurich?

 

I'm assuming trains are the best, but apparently tickets cannot be reserved until 60 days out. Are reservations necessary, or can you buy at the station--don't want to get there and find no room on the train! What do you recommend for the best comfort, speed and scenery? We especially want a great view of the Alps. Is first class the way to go, or is 2nd class ok?

 

Thanks for your help.

We went to Zurich prior to a Baltics cruise a few years ago and were SO glad that Zurich was one of the few cities that we could find seats into using our miles. It was a great addition to our trip. We used a low-cost air carrier to fly from Zurich to London to start our trip (I don't even remember which one because we've flown so many over the years but your routing is different anyway). We find that the train is relaxing for trips under 5 hours but use the cheap flights for longer distances. You can use http://www.flycheapo.com to check your routing, but note that if you are not traveling light, you may be charged for luggage overages. We've only been charged once after flying dozens of the cheaps flights, but I understand that they are cracking down more now on the luggage overage in some airports, so just FYI. We didn't have to fly back to Zurich at the end of our trip (we used another low-cost carrier to fly to Venice at the end of that trip), so have you asked your airline about flying out of another city?

 

Donna

[taxatty]

Swiss flies both the Zurich-Venice and Zurich-Rome routes--check swiss.com.

One of the great advantages flying in and out of Zurich is that trains go directly from the airport to the city center and many other points in Switzerland, including nearby Luzern, a very worthwhile day trip.

There are several trains a day from Rome to Zurich, including one through overnight train with reservations required that takes about 12 hours. We took this train once and got a compartment with beds and a wash basin. If you are a light sleeper, the plane would be better.

All other trains take 9-10 hours and require changes, but at least then you would get to see the scenery, including the lakes and mountains.

Les

[Maedy]

Rome to Zuerich check out www.airberlin.com. If you could take the train from Zuerich to Basel you maybe checkout also www.easyjet.com. It will take you about 1 hour from Zuerich to Basel by train. There you could get a flight from Basel zu Venice or Rome with easyjet. Usually in summer the trains from and to Italy are crowded. Greetings

[Maedy]

Easyjet has from Basel to Venice and from Basel to Rome cheap flights.

[Maedy]

sorry, I am wrong, there are no flights with easyjet from Basel to Venedig or from Venedig to Basel.

[Ine]

Remember that on most european airlines only 20 kg. per person is free on luggage!!

Unless all the US-Europe stretch is in the same ticket, then you have the higher allowance of 23 kg. per piece, 2 pieces each.

[Maedy]

There is a fast train, which runs between Zürich and Venedig and Venedig to Zürich. The name is "Cisalpino". The homepage is www.cisalpino.com. This page also shows a timetable. I think it is the easiest way to go from Switzerland to Italy, with the Cisalpino. I am not sure if this train runs from Rome to Switzerland also? Check out the above ment. homepage.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great advice. We're still checking out a lot of the options suggested. The fast train to Venice looks interesting. I'd like to do the cheap flights from Rome, but I'm a little worried about luggage weight. We are determined to keep our luggage as light as possible, but it's tough when you have to take clothes for a cruise, esp. formal wear. We have learned to travel light, from experience, but 20 KG sounds pretty hard to do. We already plan on one small to medium suitcase plus a small carryon that can attach to the top.