Zurich Hauptbahnhof's 1871 facade, where the Bern InterCity terminates a short walk from Bahnhofstrasse.
Photo: Ikiwaner / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Bern to Zurich by Train
A domestic route within Switzerland.
Reviewed by Eurotraintrip on 2026-07-30
- Duration
- 0h 56m – 1h 15m
- Price from
- 21 CHF
- Distance
- 95 km
- Operators
- SBB CFF FFS
- Frequency
- Direct InterCity trains roughly every 30 minutes throughout the day on Switzerland's core Bern-Zurich trunk corridor
Compare and book Bern–Zurich tickets
Check pricesWhat makes Bern to Zurich different
- The direct Bern-Zurich InterCity run is built on the flagship project of Switzerland's Bahn 2000 rail investment programme: a new 45km high-speed line between Mattstetten and Rothrist, opened in December 2004 and rated for up to 200 km/h, which cut the journey time between the two cities by around 15 minutes and became the template for the takt-timed, clockface schedules used across the rest of the network.
- At just 95km apart, Bern and Zurich are connected roughly every 30 minutes throughout the day by SBB's core InterCity network - a far denser timetable than the roughly hourly service typical on many Swiss InterCity corridors of similar or even shorter length.
- Unlike the lake-shore or mountain-pass scenery on this site's other Swiss routes out of Interlaken, the direct Bern-Zurich line runs through the flat Mittelland via Olten - it's the fast, business-focused corridor the Mattstetten-Rothrist line was built to speed up, not a scenic one.
Bern station
Departs from Bern Hauptbahnhof, a five-minute walk from Bundesplatz and the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal parliament - a rare case among this site's routes of a station standing that close to a national government building rather than just a historic old town.
Zurich station
Arrives at Zurich Hauptbahnhof, where Niki de Saint Phalle's 11-metre, 1.2-tonne sculpture 'L'Ange Protecteur' has hung above the main concourse since November 1997, a gift marking the Swiss Federal Railways' 150th anniversary - impossible to miss on the walk out toward Bahnhofstrasse.
Train vs. other options
There's no scheduled commercial flight for a 95km domestic hop like this; driving via Switzerland's motorway network covers the distance in a broadly similar time to the train without traffic, but needs a Swiss motorway vignette and doesn't match the roughly-every-30-minutes InterCity frequency, or spare you from finding parking in either city's dense centre.
Booking tips
- Book an SBB Supersaver ticket as early as possible - fares on this corridor start from around CHF 21, well under the standard 2nd-class fare of roughly CHF 51, though as with other Swiss Supersaver deals it locks you to one specific train and can't be refunded or exchanged.
- SBB runs a direct InterCity roughly every 30 minutes on this trunk corridor throughout the day, so if you miss one departure there's rarely more than a short wait for the next - rarely worth restructuring a day around one specific train time unless you've booked a non-refundable Supersaver fare.
- A Half Fare Travelcard is worth considering if you're taking more than a couple of Swiss trains on your trip - it stacks with Supersaver pricing and also cuts the standard walk-up fare on this route roughly in half.
Good to know: SBB's timetable groups this Bern-Zurich InterCity with several other lines that share the same fast Mattstetten-Rothrist bypass, so the departure board can show trains bound well beyond Zurich (toward Winterthur or St. Gallen) in quick succession on the same platform - check that Zurich HB is listed as a stop on your specific train, not just glance at the platform number.
While you're in Zurich
Zurich's Altstadt straddles the Limmat River, with the Grossmunster's twin towers rising above the east bank.
Photo: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)Switzerland's largest city packs medieval alleys, Marc Chagall's stained-glass windows, and a converted-warehouse nightlife district into a small footprint, with a cable train up to a panoramic mountain viewpoint just 20 minutes from Zurich HB.
Full Zurich travel guide →Frequently asked questions
How long is the train from Bern to Zurich?
Direct InterCity trains take about 56 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on the specific departure and how many intermediate stops it makes.
How much does the train from Bern to Zurich cost?
Advance SBB Supersaver fares start from around CHF 21, while the standard 2nd-class walk-up fare is roughly CHF 51.
How often do trains run between Bern and Zurich?
Direct InterCity trains run roughly every 30 minutes throughout the day, one of the most frequent InterCity corridors on the Swiss network.