Have I read somewhere on this forum that the train station is actually under the Airport in Zurich -- or do I need my meds checked? Can I be that lucky?
Shrink

Thank you!!

In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
--Harry Lime

Rufus, they also invented a dry milk - cocoa beans combination, what is now known as milk chocolate. This made chocolate affordable for everybody, not just the kings.

I learned it at the chocolate exhibit in Portland, OR.

The Zürich airport train station is indeed down stairs a couple of levels from the entry floor. There is small shopping center on the floor above with a small grocery store as well as food places and gift shops. There is even a small banking office there as well.

The main Zürich station is a more conventional building in the heart of Zürich. The airport station, however, is on the main lines between several major destinations. For example, trains from Rorschach to Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva as well as Munich pass through the airport station. So more than shuttle trains operate from there.

Shrink, I think its a common practice these days, to build train stations under airports. The domestic & International Airport Terminals at Sydney, both have a rail line running underneath, with platforms & escalators. You can even catch the train to either domestic or international, or into the city.
Stansted Airport in England has their rail system under the airport.

And Swiss Rail has some of the best staff in the world. They actually answer emails promptly and are quick to assist you.

Good evening, shrink, one major inovation of Kloten is that the baggage
trolleys are designed to be used on the escolators, both up and down... You can take them all the way down to the station platform and naturally they
are not to be brought aboard the train...Richard of LaGrange Park, Il.

Also keep in mind that the beautiful view of the Alps in your hotel window may be not be all you are seeing.
The Swiss are pretty good at hiding air force bases inside and under mountains!

Hi Shrink,

Still more good news. For those of us who are really obsessive planners, here's a link to the pdf guide for the Zurich aiport; a map-overview is on page 16 (10 of 18) with the detailed maps of each level on page 17 (11 of 18). So you can plan each step, from baggage claim to grocery store to train ticket window to train platform. Ahhh.

s

er, um, hmmmm.

Here it is:

http://www.uniqueairport.com/public/...ch_airport.pdf

s

Thank you all very much!!

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34520252

Best wishes,

Rex

I think its like that in Amsterdam also. Maybe not downstairs, but really close.

Amsterdam's Schiphol definitely has a train station inside the terminal area. It's only 3.5 euro for the 15-minute ride to Centraal Station; then you can walk, tram, bus or take a taxi to your hotel. The ticket window in Schiphol sells train and tram tickets (called strippenkaart).