My family (3 of us) will be flying into ZRH, renting a car and driving up to Bremen. From there, we would like to take a night train, on Sept 3, back to ZRH to catch our flight home at noon on Sept 4.

According to bahn.de, there is a train that meets our needs, departing Bremen at 21:30. However, clicking through indicates no availability. This seems unlikely to be true, but I have no experience trying to book trains in Europe.

Tips appreciated�

My experience is that trains tend to get booked pretty far in advance--particularly if you want a sleeper.

I'd check out some of the commercial websites in Europe to see what you get, but if DB says they're gone, chances are that you won't be able to book it. Have you thought of flying on one of the many, many discount carriers in Europe? It may give you more time to see things in and around Zurich.

Availability is not typically shown on the DB website.

Just email them with your request, including the specification of whether you want a sleeper, or seat, or couchette...and the number of persons and the date. This is a CNL (City Night Line Train).

I've just tried to replicate this booking for you (using the German version of bahn.de).

The system came up with two fares, the "summer special" fare of EUR 29 per person and the normal fare which was well over EUR 100.

When I selected the "summer special" fare it told me there was no availability - so the "summer special" contingent must have sold out.

When I selected the regular fare it told me that availability would have to be checked manually, and took me to a "request availability" screen. I didn't take things any further.

A friend in Germany suggested I use the Swiss website, http://citynightline.ch. I did and it clearly confirms what Aviatrix found on bahn.de, plus it shows the standard fares that bahn.de omits. The standard fare (for an "Economy 4-bed") is slightly higher than the fare for 3 one-way tickets from Hannover to Zurich on Air Berlin the same evening.

wow, AB is a great idea ^ , unless you really want to experience the night train (which is not really exciting or romantic).

Of course, in this case one should add the Bremen - Hannover Airport commute, a hotel night in Zurich ( double plus extra bed?) and taxi and/or train from the hotel to Zurich Airport to the costs.

Swiss Railways and Swiss are offering a rail & fly type package to several German destinations from Zurich. Maybe checking that out might be worthwhile. Also, if you change trains at Basel ( also other options ) you can take a comfortable IC straight to Zurich Airport.

Well, that would depend on who he is travelling with, wouldn't it?

The benefits of a night train are: costs (pay for hotel and transport together) and efficiency (sleep and travel simultaneously). If someone is trying to maximize their travel time, this is clearly the way to do it.

There is basically one choice for you:

The schedule for the train is:
Bremen HBF, 21:29, Sep 3
Z�rich HB, 08:22, Sep 4

The prices are:
a) "Sleeper" (with 4 ppl per cabin)
Adult (16 and up) 109.00 EUR, Youth (6-15 years) 29.50 EUR

b) "Sleeper" (with 6 ppl per cabin)
Adult (16 and up) 99.00 EUR, Youth (6-15 years) 19.50 EUR

c) Seats
Adult (16 and up) 79.00 EUR, Youth (6-15 years) 9.50 EUR

I would strongly recomand you to chose the first option.

All information about night trains between Switzerland and its neighboring countries can be found on the City Night Line websites.

Furhter transportation between Z�rich HB (main station) and Z�rich Flughafen (airport) can be found either on the Swiss Railway or on the Z�rcher Verkehrsverbund websites.

Good luck and enjoy your journey. If you have further questions, please PM me.

This is great info--thanks, everyone.

Can I reserve an entire 4-bed cabin by buying a 2nd child ticket?