Is it feasible to travel to Stuttgart via Zurich?

I might be unaware of something, but in my experience traveling from Switzerland to Stuttgart is extremely painful. The Swiss train system (SBB) takes you as far as Basel Badischer Bahnhof, which is the Deutsche-Bahn (German railway) station in Switzerland. From there you will have to travel by local trains with two (or more) changes on small stations.

As suggested in other answers, you would do much better traveling to Frankfurt or to Strasbourg (or even Paris) and taking an express train from there (ICE in Germany or TGV, if you start from France, i.e., from Strasbourg/Paris.)

An intermediate option is traveling to Mulhouse-Basel-Freiburg airport, and continuing from there via Freiburg, using German railways - it is likely to involve changing trains.

To expand on answers provided by others: I also wouldn't look at Zurich as the first choice. What you save on airfare, you may end up spending on inconvenience, especially if you end up spending an extra night in a hotel or so.

In this scenario, I would look at Munich. In part because based on the provided screenshot, the fare is lower than FRA, and in part because the train station may (or may not, depending on which terminal you arrive at) be more convenient.

Munich is Germany's second-largest airport (after Frankfurt) and also a major hub, so it has most of the same benefits as Frankfurt. But the train station is probably closer to your arrival gate than in Frankfurt (or maybe I just like Munich's layout better). The price for that is that you have to change trains at the Munich main station (Hauptbahnhof).

Last time I flew into Frankfurt (which is way too long ago, and may be outdated - others may be able to provide more up-to-date information), the long-distance train service from Frankfurt Airport had been discontinued, so in FRA, too, you might need to take a train into the city to the main station.

Why not fly directly to Stuttgart? Just looking at the map you posted any savings you make by going to a cheaper airport would be lost by the costs of transportation to Stuttgart. Some tickets fly via FRAnkfurt and will include the connecting flight or a high-speed train link onward to Stuttgart.

Also, Switzerland is very expensive compared to the Eurozone so any snacks etc may hurt your budget.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet: When you fly to Germany you can add a "Rail and Fly" segment to your booking. Most airlines offer this. The cost is 30,- euro one way in second class and it equates to a flexible train ticket to anywhere in Germany. So you do not have to worry about train schedules in advance, and can just hop on the first train that comes along that goes your way.

You can book that with most airlines flying to Germany. When you do not see it offered directly try seeing what turns up if you try to book the QYG, which is the airport code for "anywhere in Germany by rail". This is even offered from Zurich, so you could still fly through there.

https://w2ticketing.com/deutsche-bahn/ https://www.bahn.de/service/buchung/bahn_und_flug/rail-and-fly-english

Note that depending on how you book this a Rail and Fly ticket may have a entirely fictitious train segment added to your booking, because the airline ticketing system cannot deal with tickets not tied to a particular service. Your ticket is nevertheless still fully flexible, and you are supposed to find out the trains you will take in the end yourself.

I'm from the area, travelling frequently between Stuttgart and Switzerland.

Yes it's feasible. And if these are indeed the prices at the only time you can fly then I would go via Zurich.

Frankfurt is more convenient in terms of train connection (direct fast rail, 1.5hr, 40-55 EUR), but it's actually slightly more expensive than Zurich Airport-Stuttgart (3.5hr, 30-40 EUR) by train (due to higher train class).

Munich-Stuttgart takes similarly long as Zurich-Stuttgart but costs as much as Frankfurt-Stuttgart.

Overall the price differences of rail travel are quite small, but I don't know how tight your budget is. For some people saving 20 EUR is worth 2 hours of extra time...

If you really value saving money, you can look at bus instead of train. They are often half price of rail, but less comfortable and potentially less reliable due to traffic jams (but rail is also not that reliable) so most people don't seem to consider bus. But if you're keen on saving that's the way to go.

Given your provided flight price options, Zurich would be a no-brainer for me. Other people here seem to answer the more general question: "which city is best for travel to Stuttgart" and disregard the price difference.

I would second Hilmar's suggestion of looking at Frankfurt.

• Frankfurt's airport is larger than Zurich, so if anything happens to your flight, you may have a better chance for a rebooking. (Larger airports may also be more prone to delays - I don't know about the track record of FRA vs. ZRH here, though.)
• The train connections from FRA to Stuttgart are much better: it takes about 1:15 hours from FRA, vs. 3:20 hours from ZRH, and most connections from FRA are either direct or with a single change, whereas coming from ZRH, you will probably have to change trains at least twice or even more often. Far more ways for things to go wrong, and things going wrong is usually the last thing you want after a long flight in an unfamiliar country.
• Plus, if anything goes wrong with the train, you only have the German system to worry about, rather than both the Swiss and the German ones. (Should not be a major problem though, your ticket should be valid, and both websites at bahn.de and SBB.ch are integrated and should give you the same information.)
• The frequency of train connections is about the same, though - no need to pre-book a specific train, especially since your flight might be delayed, just buy a flexible ticket and hop on the first train.

Munich (MUC) is so far out of the way that you first have to take a train to Munich main station, that's a bit painful. From there, there are frequent direct trains to Stuttgart, though, so overall, I would consider it on par with Zurich.

Finally, Stuttgart does have its own airport (STR), with mostly regional connections. Depending on where you come from, you could fly there and take local transport to your final destination, regional trains or a taxi.

Source: I live rather close to Stuttgart and actually work close to Zurich.

Additional information: Going through Zurich is certainly doable but the most convenient option is IMO Frankfurt.

Frankfurt airport has a high speed train station and there are plenty of non stop trains to Stuttgart directly from the airport. Takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. And you only have to deal with a single country and currency.

Most trains from Zurich will require two changes and it takes over 3 hours. Switzerland is not part of the EU so you will occasionally run into a passport check at the border (or when boarding the train). You typically can get by using a card, but everything (snacks, drinks, yummy chocolates) will be way more expensive.

Munich is somewhere in between. The airport is out in the boonies, so you always have a longish S-Bahn ride to Munich main station first.

Prices for trains are not much different.

You should apply for a visa at the consulate of the country of your main destination

• where you will be staying the longest

In this case Germany, independent as to whether you arrive in the Schengen Area in Frankfurt, Munich or Zürich, is where you must apply for the visa.

All 3 cities have good train connections, so it a matter of checking when you arrive and the best connection time/price relation.