When making the simple journey by train from Bern to Zurich you can choose between taking the express (IC) trains, or the regional (IR) trains.
The IC trains will get you there faster, but the IR trains can be money savers, particularly if you will be booking last minute at the station
When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.
56 min
Daily
2 x trains per hour
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for: Comparing different train services; Booking international journeys with connections; Travelling between the UK to destinations beyond Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris - and for international travellers who don't reside in western Europe.
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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
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.
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Rail Europe ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option when booking international journeys with connections and for travellers who don't reside in western Europe. Use the easy options on its home page if you will be booking tickets with a railcard: Or purchasing rail pass reservations.
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.
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.
Final Destinations Romanshorn and St Gallen (or Zurich)
All departures before 21:30 also travel beyond Zurich HB, the main station in the city, to also call in the station at Zurich Flughafen/Airport.
Virtually all of these departures will be by double-deck trains, the newer Twindexx trains are usually used on the trains heading for St Gallen, while the IC 2000 trains are typically used on the trains heading to Romanshorn.
Because the travel to destinations beyond Zurich, these trains typically arrive at gleis (platforms/tracks) 33 or 34 in the lower level part of Zurich HB station, pictured above.
These trains are usually non-stop from Bern to Zurich.
Switzerland doesn't have any high speed lines on which trains travel at more than 250 km/h, but between Bern and Olten the train will race at 200 km/h for around 25mins on a fast railway.
Though as is typical of purpose built higher speed lines, this isn't a scenically interesting journey, the best views on the trip are immediately to the north of Bern station.
Book early and save: Yes - If you book Supersaver tickets (more info is available on the the SBB ticket guide below)
You may need to search through the departures to find them using the ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ buttons; so try and be flexible with your departure and arrival times.
Though the Supersaver tickets tend to sell out particularly quickly on these IC trains on this route; they are usually much more likely to be available on the alternative slower IR trains.
Online bookings open: up to six months ahead of the travel date
Seat reservations:
Seat reservations are optional on Swiss IC trains, so seats won't be assigned when booking online.
You can book reservations online for journeys by these IC trains, AFTER you have booked a ticket, by using the SBB (Swiss national railways) seat reservation service OR request a reservation when booking at a station ticket office.
Seat reservations aren’t available on the alternative service of IR trains.
Travelling with a rail pass:
Rail pass users can jump on any train, without having to make reservations.
1hr 28min
Daily
1 x train per hour
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.
Final Destination Chur or Zurich
These trains typically arrive at the part of Zurich HB station which is on the same level as the main concourse, which will be just beyond the front of the train.
These trains also typically call at Zurich Alstetten station before they arrive at Zurich HB.
The first half of this route until Olten, takes the train through a landscape of rolling hills and valleys, so it's more scenic than the newer and straighter route taken by the express trains.
This video captured by a Swiss train driver from a train travelling in the opposite direction, shows the journey from the driver's cab, but it gives a good idea of the journey experience.
The more scenic part of the journey, when the route diverges from that faster line taken by the express trains, can be seen from 0:40.Book early and save: Yes
Cheaper ‘Supersaver’ tickets (those with a % on a red circle) are available on virtually on all of these IR trains, if you are booking at least a couple of days ahead.
So these IR trains can be a cheaper option if the 'Supersaver' tickets have sold out for the faster IC trains.
Look for IR in the ‘travel with’ column.
Rail Pass users should target those faster IC trains.
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This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.
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