Destination Guides from main Stations in Switzerland

Discover where you can travel on to by direct express train from the major rail hubs in Switzerland
You can see at a glance which other destinations you can access most easily, whether you'll be on holiday in these cities, or stopping over on a rail pass itinerary.

This is a guide intended for leisure travellers, so the non-comprehensive destination lists focus on locations and routes popular with tourists.
The day train frequency guides are based on the usual schedules between 08:00am and 17:00pm.
Note that the summary is for direct trains; Travelling between the major stations and the ski resorts by train, always requires a connection  

All long-distance train services within Switzerland operate to fixed interval timetables with a minimum of 1 x train per hour being the most common service pattern.
Though some routes are shared between multiple services and therefore have an increased frequency.
Some routes have international services which are slotted into the regular timetable, with the same travel conditions as the Swiss trains applying for the Swiss sections of their journeys.

Thanks to its location at the centre of Europe, Switzerland is a hub for international routes.

From Basel

Basel is an international rail hub thanks to its location near the French and German borders, hence it has two main stations.
Basel bad bf is in effect the German station within the city, as it is managed by Deutsche-Bahn.
So the trains between Basel and Germany all call at this station.

However, the long-distance German trains also depart from and arrive at the city’s main station, Basel SBB, which is the station that the French and Swiss trains also use.

2 to 4 x trains per hour
to Zurich and Olten

2 or 3 x trains per hour
to Luzern

1 or 2 x trains per hour
to Bern (connect for Fribourg and Geneve), Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Karlsruhe, Spiez and Thun

2 x trains per hour
to Biel/Bienne, Delemont and Moutier,

0 to 2 x trains per hour
to Colmar, Interlaken and Strasbourg

1 x train per hour
to Bellinzona, Frankfurt (Main), Karlsruhe, Lausanne, Neuchatel and Zurich Airport

1 x train every other hour
to Baden-Baden, Berlin, Bremen, Brig, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt Airport, Goschenen (for Andermatt), Hamburg (fastest route), Hannover, Köln/Cologne, Locarno, Lugano and Visp (connect for Zermatt)

Less frequent trains
to Chur, Como, Dijon, Domodossola, Landquart, Milano, Paris and Stresa

1 x train per day
to München/Munich and Stuttgart

Night trains
to Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Hannover, Hamburg, Prague and Utrecht

For full details see the journey guides

Discover why Basel is a great base or a Swiss holiday.

From Bern

Thanks to its central Swiss location, Bern station is a major rail hub, as it’s where the Lotschberg-Simplon route from and to Italy meets the core Geneve - Zurich - St Gallen route, which crosses Switzerland east to west.

3 x trains per hour
to Zurich

2 x trains per hour
to Biel/Bienne, Fribourg, Geneve, Geneve Airport, Lausanne, Olten, St Gallen and Zurich Airport

1 or 2 x trains per hour
to Basel, Spiez and Thun

1 x train per hour
to Brig, Chur, Fruitigen, Kandersteg, Landquart, Luzern, Neuchatel, Visp and Zweisimmen (connect for Gstaad)

0 to 2 x trains per hour
to Interlaken

Less frequent trains
to Berlin, Domodossola, Freiburg im Breisgau, Frankfurt (Main), Kassel, Milano, Karlsruhe and Stresa

2 x trains per day
to Baden-Baden, Dusseldorf and Köln/Cologne

1 x train per day
to Bremen and Hamburg

For full details see the journey guides

From Geneve

With its location close to the French border, the main station in Geneve has something of a split personality.
The French national rail operator, SNCF, typically refers to it as Geneve-Cornavin - a name that is becoming more widely used.
But for the Swiss national rail operator, SBB, it is simply known as Genève.

*=these trains also depart from/arrive at the station at Geneva Airport.

4 x trains per hour
to Lausanne* and Renens VD* (connect for Neuchatel and Biel/Bienne)

3 x trains per hour
to Montreux*

2 x trains per hour
to Bern* (connect for Basel), Brig*, Fribourg*, Martigny*, Sion* and Visp* (connect for Zermatt)

1 x train per hour
to Annecy**, Luzern*, St Gallen*, Zurich* and Zurich Airport*
**= most hours

Less frequent trains
to Aix-Les-Bains, Chambery, Chur* (weekends), Domodossola, Grenoble, Lyon, Milano, Neuchatel, Paris, Stresa and Valence

1 x train per day
to Avignon (summer only) Brescia, Lyon (summer only), Marseille (summer only) Padova/Padua, Venezia/Venice, Verona and Vicenza

From Luzern / Lucerne

Most of the routes taken by trains from and to Luzern station are wonderfully scenic, so it makes a great base location for a holiday in Switzerland.

2 or 3 x trains per hour
to Basel and Olten

2 x trains per hour
to Thalwill (connect for Chur) and Zurich

0 to 2 x trains per hour
to Bellinzona

1 x train per hour
to Bern, Brienz, Engelberg, Fribourg, Geneve, Geneve Airport, Interlaken, Lausanne, St Gallen and Zurich Airport

1 x train every other hour
to Goschenen (for Andermatt),  Lugano and Locarno

1 x train per day
to Como and Milano

From Zurich

The city’s main station, Zurich HB, is one of Europe’s busiest and it provides connections with all other Swiss cities, plus a swathe of international destinations

2 to 4 x trains per hour
to Basel

3 x trains per hour
to Bern and St Gallen

2 or 3 x trains per hour
to Chur and Landquart

2 x trains per hour
to Biel/Bienne, Bern (fastest trains), Lausanne and Luzern

1 or 2 x trains per hour
to Bellinzona, Lugano and Schaffhausen

1 x train per hour
to Fribourg, Geneve, Geneve Airport, Konstanz, Neuchatel, Spiez and Thun

1 x train per hour (most hours)
to Como and Milano

1 x train every other hour
to Bregenz,, Brig Goschenen (for Andermatt), Innsbruck, Lindau, Linz, Locarno, München/Munich, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Visp (for Zermatt) and Wien/Vienna

Less frequent trains
to Baden-Baden, Bremen, Cologne/Koln, Dijon, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt (Main), Frankfurt Airport, Freiburg (Breisgau), Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Interlaken and Paris

1 x train per day
to Berlin, Bologna, Bratislava, Brescia, Budapest, Firenze/Florence, Genova (April to October), Graz, Kassel, La Spezia (April to October), Modena, Padova/Padua, Parma, Piacenza, Pisa (April to October), Venezia/Venice, Verona, Vicenza and Zell am See

Night trains
to Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Dresden, Hannover, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Praha/Prague, Utrecht, Wien/Vienna and Zagreb

From Zurich Airport
- 3 x trains per hour to St Gallen
- 2 x trains per hour to Bern, Lausanne and Luzern
- 1 x train per hour to Basel, Biel/Bienne, Fribiourg, Geneve, Neuchatel, Spiez and Thun
- 1 x train every other hour to Bregenz, Brig, Lindau, München/Munich and Visp (for Zermatt)
- Less frequent trains to Interlaken