Home / Zurich /Zurich Airport / Train to Winterthur vs IC81 to Interlaken Ost

ZRH → Zurich · head to head

Train to WinterthurorIC81 to Interlaken Ost?

The short answer

For one traveler the Train to Winterthur is cheaper by CHF 67.60. That does not change up to 8 travelers.

The Train to Winterthur is quicker: 14 min against 2 h 13.

Train to Winterthur: 05:15–00:30. IC81 to Interlaken Ost: 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 WinterthurIC81 to Interlaken OstDifference
1CHF 9.40CHF 77CHF 67.60
2CHF 18.80CHF 154CHF 135.20
3CHF 28.20CHF 231CHF 202.80
4CHF 37.60CHF 308CHF 270.40
5CHF 47CHF 385CHF 338
6CHF 53.60CHF 462CHF 408.40
7CHF 63CHF 539CHF 476
8CHF 72.40CHF 616CHF 543.60

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
IC81 · SBB, on a point-to-point ticketIC81 to Interlaken Ost
From
Zürich Flughafen railway station, platforms 1 to 4 — the InterCity showing Interlaken Ost
To
Interlaken Ost, the main station between the Thun and Brienz lakes, in 2 h 13; via Zürich HB
Luggage
Mainline Swiss trains: racks and standing space by the doors; bicycles need a reservation on this train.
Runs
06:46–18:46
Journey
133 min

The ticket is SBB's, not ZVV's: Zürich Flughafen to Interlaken Ost, CHF 77.00 an adult, CHF 38.50 for a child of 6 to 15 or with a Half-Fare card, under-6s free.

One an hour, at :46, from 06:46 to 18:46 — 13 trains a day, each the same 2 h 13. Earlier or later than that, every connection found needs a change, typically at Bern, so check before you plan a landing or departure around this train.

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

IC81 to Interlaken Ost: 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