In Switzerland that’s perfectly okay, very good punctuality there. Trains wait for each other. And if you miss one, plenty of trains to get where you want a bit later.
If you want a scenic line, don’t take the quickest option via the Gotthard basistunnel. Pitchblack and boring.
Take the regional trains via the old line, via Faido, Airolo. There should be an IR to Zürich, directly from Locarno every two hours. That takes that old line (use the via option (fill out Faido and Innsbruck) in the planner of www.bahn.com and add a bit of extra time if you want to be sure of your connections.
Don’t reserve Swiss domestic trains, waste of money. If you want to be comfortable on the Railjet Zürich-Innsbruck, it’s worthwile to reserve. It’s high season then, a Friday, almost weekend, so long distance trains will be popular for people getting to their holiday destination.
100% agree with Brendan. Fantastic scenery all along :)
It would look like this :
- IR46 Locarno - Zürich HB 08:35 - 11:55
- RJX Zürich HB - Innsbruck Hbf 12:40 - 16:11 3€ seat reservation (recommended) through tickets.oebb.at
- EC Innsbruck Hbf - München Hbf 16:40 - 18:27 (or later) 3€ seat reservation (recommended ?)
I think it is possible to book Zurich - Munich in one go on bahn.com (4.50€) by adding a 20 min stop in Innsbruck along the way
Thank you both so much! @thibcabe one question for you, am i OK to reserve the seat through tickets.oebb.at rather than through eurail if I already bought a eurail pass? I am wondering why a eurail seat reservation would cost 15€ whereas it would only cost 3€ from tickets.oebb.at if the reservation is the exact same thing.
Optional seat reservations do not have a fixed price so every company is free to fix their prices. Eurail is very expensive in that regard : 3-6€ seat reservation + 2€ booking fee (+ 10€ surcharge whenever sent by mail) whereas ÖBB offers 3€ seat reservations, no fee and directly emailed to you.
For example ÖBB offers free seat reservations for 1st class passholders in Germany, Austria, Czechia, Hungary and some other countries.
General advice to avoid eurail.com :
https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105
Yes it's totally fine to book seat reservations elsewhere. They are completely separate from the pass and will never appear on Rail Planner app.
Once again, thank you @thibcabe ! This is my first time navigating all of this and you have been very helpful.
