We plan to take a train from Innsbruck to Basel. I see that train OEC 162 (I am looking at the SBB site) is about a five-hour trip leaving Innsbruck at 14:39. Is this a scenic route or is their a better choice for scenery?

The Austrian part is quite scenic - river valley in Alps and Swiss portion, like all of Switzerland IMO is rather nice.

I think any alternate route would take much longer and not any more but probably less scenic IMO

The route taken by OEC 162, from Innsbruck via the Vorarlberg into Switzerland at Feldkirch/Buchs is not all that scenic. It follows the long valley bottom up to the Arlberg tunnel, rarely do you have any meaningful glimpses, it's just a valley with trees and the occasional grouping of houses. Nor is the route through Switzerland from Feldkirch to Basel very scenic - but it's quick.

If scenery is important and you have the time to see something, make it a memorable trip - take an early regional train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, switch to the train for München-Pasing, switch to the train for Ulm, and before you switch again, spend a lunch break and a leg-stretch to see the center of this outstanding city and its cathedral (called Münster - it is the tallest church in the world and considered the finest instance of a Gothic church architecture in Germany!) and have lunch, then carry on.

Here's a schedule that would work:

Innsbruck Hbf dp 8:38 G-P ar 9:59
G-P dp 10:04 Ulm ar 12:49
Departures from Ulm: 14:04 (a bit tight) gets to Basel Badischer Bahnhof at 17:16 (that's the German station of Basel, a short trainride or tramride or taxi trip from the Swiss station called Basel SBB in the city center).
Another: 14:51 with switches in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe gets to Basel SBB at 18:47.
The next is direct again, dp at 16:06 and gets to Basel Bad. at 19:16.

Go to Google, click on Images, input Garmisch Partenkirchen and see for yourself. Then do the same with Ulm.

Then go to www.youtube.com and input the same two names to search for videos, also input Ulm Münster, there are quite a few good ones, for example www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWI2s_0FFO0 (turn off the sound if the religious chant with a disco beat displeases you) and the one where you see the huge bells in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDa9T...eature=related (tuning is Bflat, F, Eflat, Dflat, Bflat, Aflat).

Hope this helps. Have fun!

The route taken by OEC 162, from Innsbruck via the Vorarlberg into Switzerland at Feldkirch/Buchs is not all that scenic. It follows the long valley bottom up to the Arlberg tunnel, rarely do you have any meaningful glimpses, it's just a valley with trees and the occasional grouping of houses. Nor is the route through Switzerland from Feldkirch to Basel very scenic - but it's quick.

If scenery is important and you have the time to see something, make it a memorable trip - take an early regional train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, switch to the train for München-Pasing, switch to the train for Ulm, and before you switch again, spend a lunch break and a leg-stretch to see the center of this outstanding city and its cathedral (called Münster - it is the tallest church in the world and considered the finest instance of a Gothic church architecture in Germany!) and have lunch, then carry on.

Here's a schedule that would work:

Innsbruck Hbf dp 8:38 G-P ar 9:59
G-P dp 10:04 M-P ar 11:19
M-P dp 11:32 Ulm ar 12:49
Departures from Ulm: 14:04 (a bit tight) gets to Basel Badischer Bahnhof at 17:16 (that's the German station of Basel, a short trainride or tramride or taxi trip from the Swiss station called Basel SBB in the city center).
Another: 14:51 with switches in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe gets to Basel SBB at 18:47.
The next is direct again, dp at 16:06 and gets to Basel Bad. at 19:16.

Go to Google, click on Images, input Garmisch Partenkirchen and see for yourself. Then do the same with Ulm.

Then go to www.youtube.com and input the same two names to search for videos, also input Ulm Münster, there are quite a few good ones, for example www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWI2s_0FFO0 (turn off the sound if the religious chant with a disco beat displeases you) and the one where you see the huge bells in action (turn the sound back on!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDa9T...eature=related (tuning is Bflat, F, Eflat, Dflat, Bflat, Aflat).

Hope this helps. Have fun!

Don't you hate how this site doesn't let you go back (via back button), input a correction and repost without it becoming an additional post? Sorry about the previous duplication. Does anybody know how to go back, make an edit, post, and not have it become a duplicate?

Climb to the top of the Ulm cathedral like we did - outstanding view of old town swirling below and countryside around.

The Thomas Cook Rail Map does highlight in green nearly the whole of the Innsbruck-Zurich route - meaning very scenic. But it is not the dramatic Alpine climbing trains you may picture in your mind

Yes. Simply use the back button to go back to the post as you typed it before hitting "post". When you get to that post (with your message in a box), hit preview my reply, then hit edit, then edit away. After you do that, when you hit post my reply, it SHOULD change the original post you did.

A few times I swear I've done that but it still duplicates the post, but generally I think I probably failed to hit the preview AND edit buttons before doing the editing and then reposting. If you simply go back to your reply and edit it and repost without previewing and hitting edit, then yes it will duplicate the post.

hi retired guy,

i can never read about Ulm without thinking of the toungue-twister I was taught in german lessons at school:

in Ulm, und um Ulm, und um Ulm herum.

it's got to be Ulm!

regards, ann

Thanks all for the info.