greenbean

My name is Stephen Chambless. My wife Karen and I are going on our first river cruise. We are from NE Oklahoma in the central USA. This is our first time to Germany or Switzerland. The cruise ends in Nuremberg, Germany. We are planning going on to Switzerland and staying another 2 weeks. We have a place to stay booked in Leysin Switzerland near Montreux in the southwestern part of Switzerland. We plan on leaving Nuremberg on July 10th. Our booking in Leysin also begins on the 10th. We would like to get to Leysin by the 10th if possible. If not, we are looking for the a good stopover to breakup the trip.

When checking DB Bahn for train schedules it appear to be at least a 13 hour trip.

1. Is there a faster way to get there by train?
2. If not, can someone recommend a interesting overnight stay to break up the trip?
3. Hotel or other lodging recommendations in the overnight area?
4. What is the best way to book the trip?

mokka4

Stephen:
It will be a lengthy trip by train regardless. Did you look at bahn.com for details? Or sbb.ch/en for the swiss train site?
I get an 8 to 9 hour trip (departing in the morning) with routing either via Karlsruhe/Basel/Bern/Lausanne and Montreux OR via Stuttgart/Zurich/Lausanne and Montreux (multiple changes no matter how you slice it).
Other posters are sure to suggest cheap airlines as a possibility.
If training it, I personally would be inclined to spend an overnight en transit just to make the trip more pleasant! I personally like Zurich for an overnight since its on the way, or Bern, if choosing that route.
There are multiple stops for Leysin proper--not sure if it is served by train or just bus. Be sure to learn which stop is closest to your accomodation in town. Hope this bit helps!

Ingo

I think the connection starting 9.39 am in Nürnberg via Karlsruhe and Basel is fine and not too long - arrival before 7 pm in Leysin-Village.

Watch out for saver tickets (limited to exactly that one connection with all those trains) on www.bahn.de Buy the ticket online.

Overnight in Basel sounds like a good idea IMO.

betsy3

You could consider flying on British Airways from Frankfurt to Geneva, Switzerland. Then rent a car.

We were going to use our timeshare trade for Leysin, but after adding up the rental car we decided to just use the train and stay in the Swiss Alps.
I can not remember everything I looked up, but there is a cogwheel train from Leysin to Aigle.

We were going to take the train from Aigle to Stresa, Italy for a night or two.

We were going to drop off our car at a hotel in Montreux and and then take the train to Lucerne to continue trip.

Just google Aigle station.

This train site should help you.
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en?

Betsy3

Travelforbeer

Stephen- First, I assume you want a car to do day trips out of Leysin. I would suggest taking the train fron Nurenberg to Basel (5 hour trip with 1 change in Karlsruhe), renting a car at the Bahnhof in Basel, and driving on to Leysin (2-3 hour trip). Or if you want to get closer to Leysin before renting a car, try Nurenberg to Bern with changes in Karlsruhe and Basel. The drive from Bern to Leysin should be less than an hour.
Another alternative involves your return flight to Tulsa. If it is from Munich or Frankfurt, I would recommend that you forgo the train entirely and rent a car in Nurenberg, returning it when you fly home. This gives you the most flexibility. I believe that 14 July is Bastille day in France which may impact your day trip plans.
Have a good trip and Boomer-Sooner...

kappa1

> The drive from Bern to Leysin should be less than an hour

More like 1.5hrs or more.