Innsbruck to Zürich / Zurich by train

How to take the fabulous rail journey from The Tyrol in Austria to north-east Switzerland

For pretty much every minute of this journey the views from the train are wonderful!

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Routes

From Innsbruck Hbf to Zürich HB / Zurich main station

Travel Information

Final Destination: Zurich

All trains also call at: Buchs (connect for Chur, Landquart and St. Gallen)

6  x Railjet trains per day
1 x EC train per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

The prices of the tickets are usually cheaper on OBB, particularly as its cheapest 'Sparschiene' tickets can now be booked up until the day of travel (if they haven't sold out); previously Sparscheine tickets had to be booked at least 3 days ahead.

However, it's worth comparing prices with SBB, but remember that the price on SBB will be in Swiss Francs and not euros.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
OBB from €19

OBB Guide

OBB is the national rail operator and its booking service offers journeys by express trains within Austria, as well as international journeys which don't involve making a connection outside of Austria.

It pays off to book online, as the discounted 'Sparscheine' tickets are only ever made available on the website, and when making international journeys to and from Austria, these Sparscheine tickets tend to be cheaper.
OBB can offer particularly good value for money when travelling with children on international rail journeys, but something to watch out for when travelling between Austria and Germany on daytime trains, is that reservations are an optional extra; but if you book 1st class tickets with the Germany railways website DB, the reservations are complimentary.

OBB often takes a unique approach to its booking path, but a key thing to keep in mind is that the first price you will see for any journey is that of a Second Class seat.
The costs of upgrading to first class, a reservation, or a sleeping cabin etc, is then added to this price.

SBB *

SBB Guide

SBB is the main national rail operator in Switzerland, but tickets for journeys by the other significant operators including BLS and SOB can be be booked on the SBB website.

SBB also sells tickets for journeys to many destinations which involve a combination of SBB trains and services provided by the many independent operators who serve the Alpine resort towns.
However, if you will be making a long-distance return day trip, look out for he possibility of SaverDay passes being cheaper than tickets.

Though if you download the SBB app, booking tickets on SBB's mobile services can be simper than using the website.
Also watch out for the fact that booking international tickets can be comparatively quirky.

Trainline from €19

Trainline Guide

Omio from €19

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

Happyrail from €19

Happyrail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - YesMountain viewsLake views

Good to Know

The train which is usually scheduled to depart from Innsbruck at 15:48 is the 'Transalpin' EC express which will be heading from Graz to Zurich.
This train includes a special observation car within is formation, which can be accessed by holders of 1st class tickets or rail passes, without the need to pay a surcharge.

Heading towards St.Anton Heading towards St.Anton
Through the Arlberg Pass #1 Through the Arlberg Pass #1
Through the Arlberg Pass #2 Through the Arlberg Pass #2
Heading towards Feldkirch Heading towards Feldkirch
The Walensee west of Sargans The Walensee west of Sargans
Passing the Walensee Passing the Walensee
Along the shore of Lake Zurich Along the shore of Lake Zurich
Looking over the Zurichsee Looking over the Zurichsee

(All of the videos were taken on a train travelling in the opposite direction)

Between St.Anton and Feldkirch, the train threads the stunning Arlberg Pass - though in summer the trees can get in the way.~

Then between Feldkirch and Buchs, the train will travel through Liechtenstein.

After departure from Sargans, the train will travel by a series of beautiful lakes, virtually all the way to Zurich.
The first of which is the stunning Wallensee...

...and then 20 mins later, the train will be travelling by the Zurichsee.

Sit on the left (when facing the direction of travel) on departure from Vienna/Wien.
The best views of The Arlberg Pass are from this side of the train.

The lakes are on the right, but the train will reverse direction on departure from Buchs.

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