Help with a Grand Tour - Switzerland and Beyond

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Hello everyone,

Hope you don't mind the first post being one with a few questions! My wife and I are planning a grand tour via rail across Europe this year.

Our current plan is a bit sparse so would love some help:

Step One: London to Arbon (in Switzerland) via Zurich.
Step Two, a few options:

We are looking for somewhere we can hire a self-accomodation place, ideally warm and on the coast. Considering:

A - Train over to the Croatian coast
B - Train to Venice area
C - Train to South of France.

As you can probably tell I'm a bit clueless so would love any recommendations!

Thanks

Oli

Hope you don't mind the first post being one with a few questions!

No problem    We are here to help fellow travelers

Step One: London to Arbon (in Switzerland) via Zurich.

Well, for London-Zurich you have two options:
a) London-Paris-Zurich. Train change in Paris is a must, since there is no direct train from UK to Switzerland. For leg London-Paris cheaper to book you ticket in advance (that way you have a chance to buy cheapest discounted tickets) either via official EuroStar or French Railways website (tgv-europe.com, though make sure you aren't redirected to Rail Europe website). Via the latter you can also book discounted ticket for direct high-speed TGV train Paris-Zurich. In total you can make London-Paris-Zurich in roughly 8 hours
b) London-Brussels-Germany-Zurich. German Railways website (bahn.de) allows to purchase rather cheap ticket from London to German stations and then same for Germany-Zurich or alternatively use German group passes (see our Germany page for details), which can be bought even before departure. Route via Germany is a bit longer comparing to the one via Paris

Zurich-Arbon (as well as any other connection within Switzerland) is rather easy, fast and be done cheaply with Swiss Railways (SBB) SuperSaver ticket

A - Train over to the Croatian coast

There is an everyday overnight train from Zurich to Zagreb, plus SBB offers discounted tickets for connections Switzerland-Croatia

B - Train to Venice area

There is no direct train from Zurich to Venice, but you can catch one to Milan (tickets from 27 CHF only if bought in advance via SBB website). Then another train from Milan to Venice (from 9 euro, Italian Railways (trenitalia.com)

C - Train to South of France.

Again, no direct train from Zurich, but you can use train from Geneva to Côte d'Azur (from 31 CHF on SBB website) + SuperSaver to Geneva

As you can probably tell I'm a bit clueless so would love any recommendations!

We suggest you to take a look at all the options and websites we've mentioned above, check fares & offers, connections etc., and then, if you still have questions or decide on final route, we will be glad to recommend something further on