Basel, Freiburg, Colmar rail travel
 

Hi all, first time poster here!

I'm planning a trip to Basel in July with day trips to Freiburg and Colmar thrown in. Can anyone give me details on the rail travel between these places please? Here are the details of my planned journeys:

-Basel to Freiburg on a Saturday or Sunday morning and returning in the evening.
-Basel to Colmar on the Sunday or Monday in the morning.
-Colmar back to Euroairport in Mulhouse/Basel to fly home.

Is there anyone out there that can tell me:

-If these journeys are definitely possible?
-What the prices are?
-How long the journeys take?

Bahn.de and other websites are throwing up varying responses.

Any advice would be massively appreciated! I can pass on plenty of info about train travel on London, the UK and Northern Germany in return!

Thanks
Joe

Well www.bahn./en is the only reliable source for up to date info on those trains - it gives prices and they can vary - the lower prices are for discounted train tickets that are valid only on a specific train on a certain date - no changes permitted and a hefty refund penalty and as they are sold in limited numbers must be booked way way in advance to guarantee (but they could be available up to the train practically too).

Tying yourself into a specific train when taking day trips to me is hard - you never know when you want to return - full fare tickets on those routes are not that expensive and if they are regional trains they have a flat fare pretty much so just buy those tickets once there.

In fact buy them all once there as you go along - you will not save much for the discounted ducates for the severe restrictions they give you.

Basel to Colmar is by frequent regional trains - just buy in Basel.

Basel to Freiburg can be by regional train too but there are faster trains that could cost much more - take the slower regional trains with a flat fare you can buy at the station - can't be too much as is not too far.

Colmar to Mulhouse again mainly regional trains I would think. Not sure how to get to the M/B airport from Mulhouse - probably just go back the short train ride to Basel or Mulhouse if closer - not sure where the airport actually is.

For lots of good info on German and French trains I always spotlight these IMO fantastic sites: www.seat61.com - the guru of discounted fares if you find ones you want; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com.

What can't you figure out from bahn.de/en - let us know - the site has tons of info but you have to know how to work it! Has all French trains on it too but may not have prices for non-German involved trains.

I visited Colmar and Freiburg last year. I considered a day trip to Basel (so I researched this a little) but wound up taking a bus to Zurich instead.

Basel has two train stations, so that might be part of your confusion. There seem to be lots of regional trains between Basel SBB station and Colmar. According to the Swiss SBB website, the standard fare is 15 CHF without reductions. If you are coming from Basel, Badischer Bahnhof, as I recall you are basically taking a local train across town to the SBB station to connect to the train to Colmar.

According to Bahn.de, there are also numerous direct trains from Basel, Badischer Bahnhof station to Freiburg; the ICE trains are 21 Euros standard fare or a few euros cheaper for the savings fare; slower direct regional trains are 13.3 Euros.

If by chance you decide to travel from Basel to Freiburg and then to Colmar (instead of going back to Basel), there is a rail/bus connection that works OK; you take a regional train to Breisach and from there a bus to Colmar. I did it the other direction. Same-day fare is only 8.5 euros for a single ticket for the train and bus.

http://www.rvf.de/PDF/RegioElsassBus.pdf

Basel - Freiburg: at least 2 trains every hr, first departure 5.15am (from Bad Bf), 45-65 min journey
Freiburg - Basel: at least 2 trains every hr, last departure 0.22am
Basel - Colmar: at least 1 train every hr, first departure 5.21am, 45 min journey
Colmar - Basel: at least 1 train every hr, last departure 21.24
Colmar - Basel airport: board any Basel bound train and change at St. Louis to the shuttle bus
http://www.distribus.com/uploads/ligne11.pdf
Freiburg - Basel airport:
Bus from 3.30am until 18.15 at least every 90 min
http://www.freiburger-reisedienst.de.../timetable.php
Freiburg - Colmar:
http://www.bahn.de/suedbadenbus/view...o_2015_web.pdf