Home / Zurich /Zurich Airport / Train to Winterthur vs IC8 to Thun

ZRH → Zurich · head to head

Train to WinterthurorIC8 to Thun?

The short answer

For one traveler the Train to Winterthur is cheaper by CHF 58.60. That does not change up to 8 travelers.

The Train to Winterthur is quicker: 14 min against 1 h 37. The IC8 to Thun varies between 97 and 100 minutes.

Train to Winterthur: 05:15–00:30. IC8 to Thun: 06:46–18:46.

Priced against each other

Whole-party totals · adult fares
What each costs for the whole party, in CHF. The cheaper of the two is marked on every row.
TravelersTrain to WinterthurIC8 to ThunDifference
1CHF 9.40CHF 68CHF 58.60
2CHF 18.80CHF 136CHF 117.20
3CHF 28.20CHF 204CHF 175.80
4CHF 37.60CHF 272CHF 234.40
5CHF 47CHF 340CHF 293
6CHF 53.60CHF 408CHF 354.40
7CHF 63CHF 476CHF 413
8CHF 72.40CHF 544CHF 471.60

Side by side

Where each one leaves you
regional · SBB, on a ZVV zone ticketTrain to Winterthur
From
Zürich Flughafen railway station, platforms 1 to 4 — any train whose destination lies beyond Winterthur: St. Gallen, Konstanz, Romanshorn, Chur, Weinfelden, Thayngen, Rorschach, Sargans
To
Winterthur, the main station in the middle of the city: 13 to 15 minutes non-stop by InterCity or InterRegio, 19 on the S24 via Bassersdorf, Effretikon and Kemptthal
Luggage
Mainline Swiss trains: racks and standing space by the doors.
Runs
05:15–00:30
Journey
13–19 min

Buy four zones, not three. Airport to Winterthur is CHF 9.40 (zones 120, 121 and 122, with 120 counting twice); the CHF 7.20 three-zone ticket that reaches Zurich is not valid on arrival. Enter "Winterthur" as the destination in the ZVV app or at the machine and the zones come out right.

Take whichever comes first. The IC1, IC5, IC8, IR13, IR75 and EuroCity run non-stop in 13 to 15 minutes; the S24 stops three times and takes 19. Same ticket, same platforms.

The ticket lasts two hours and includes Winterthur's zone, so the city bus from the station is covered without buying anything else.

The last train is the 00:30 IR13 and the first the 05:15 S-Bahn on weekdays, 04:18 at weekends. No train and no night bus between them: the N10 night bus from the airport goes to Zurich.

Six or more of you: one CHF 53.60 Multikarte covers six rides and may be shared — CHF 2.80 less than six singles. Coming back the same day, the CHF 18.80 24-hour ticket costs exactly two singles.

The 9 o'clock day pass is CHF 28.00 and covers every zone; it never beats a CHF 18.80 four-zone 24-hour ticket for this ride.

Train to Winterthur: price for every party size

See ZVV single tickets
IC8 · SBB, on a point-to-point ticketIC8 to Thun
From
Zürich Flughafen railway station, platforms 1 to 4
To
Thun station, by the lake, in 97 to 100 minutes; via Zürich HB and Bern
Luggage
Mainline Swiss trains: racks and standing space by the doors.
Runs
06:46–18:46
Journey
97–100 min

The ticket is SBB's, not ZVV's: Zürich Flughafen to Thun, CHF 68.00 an adult, CHF 34.00 for a child of 6 to 15 or with a Half-Fare card, under-6s free. It is cheaper than the CHF 77.00 to Interlaken Ost, which the same train goes on to.

One an hour, at :46, from 06:46 to 18:46. Earlier or later, change at Bern on the same ticket.

The full fare is fixed; the "Supersaver" for one named train is cheaper, demand-priced and refused on any other train, so it is not priced here.

IC8 to Thun: price for every party size

See the fare on sbb.ch

This compares two of 19 options. See all of them ranked for your party size

The other comparisons at Zurich Airport