Bad Ragaz. Zurich or Altenrhein, chosen to suit your aircraft, with a car waiting when you land.
About an hour from Zurich, forty five minutes from the small field at St Gallen Altenrhein and five minutes from Sargans station. We put both airports in front of you with honest times and plan the whole trip as one itinerary.
- 20+years in private travel
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In partnership with Harrods Aviation · Signature Aviation · SW Global
The geography
A village on the floor of the Rhine valley
Bad Ragaz sits in the canton of St Gallen, on the flat floor of the Rhine valley where the mountains of Graubünden begin. It is a small place, walkable end to end, with the A13 motorway running past it and the Tamina gorge climbing into the hills behind. Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, at Bernhard-Simon-Strasse 20, is the address most often handed to a driver here, and it is named for that reason and no other.
Three things sit close by and all of them matter to an itinerary. Sargans, the junction station five or ten minutes down the road, is on the main line from Zurich to Chur and has direct trains through the day. Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, is about twenty minutes away across the Rhine. And Landquart, a little further south, is where the road turns off for Klosters and Davos.
That last one is the reason this page mentions a business conference. For one week each January the valley is the approach road to the World Economic Forum at Davos, and the roads, the hotels and every car for hire between Zurich and Chur behave accordingly. A stay booked in that week is not a problem, but it is a different plan.
The essentials
Two airports, and the honest difference
- St Gallen AltenrheinAbout 45 minutesA small field near Lake Constance with a general aviation terminal and a runway of roughly 1,500 metres, which suits business aircraft rather than large ones. The resort publishes the same figure.
- Zurich (ZRH)About 1 hour to 1 hour 50The dependable choice: full handling, long hours and the aircraft availability to match. See Zurich Airport and its private terminals.
- By railSargans, five to ten minutes awayDirect services from Zurich main station take about an hour. A useful fallback in snow, and a sensible way for a companion to follow on a different day.
- Zurich curfew23:30 to 06:00Applied strictly. An evening that runs late on the last day becomes a morning departure, so the return is planned with that in mind.
Ranges for planning, checked in September 2026. The A13 is a reliable road; the variables are the Zurich ring at the peak, valley fog in autumn, and the January conference week.
From the field to the door
Road times to Bad Ragaz
| From | Quiet roads | Busy periods |
|---|---|---|
| St Gallen Altenrhein (ACH) | 40 to 50 minutes | 50 to 70 minutes |
| Zurich (ZRH) | 1 hour to 1 hour 15 | 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 50 |
| Sargans station | 5 to 10 minutes | 10 to 15 minutes |
| Vaduz, Liechtenstein | 20 to 25 minutes | 25 to 35 minutes |
| Chur | 25 to 35 minutes | 35 to 50 minutes |
| Davos and Klosters | 55 to 75 minutes | 1 hour 20 and upwards in conference week |
Realistic ranges rather than promises. Snow on the Graubünden roads is dealt with efficiently here, but it is dealt with slowly, and a winter transfer to the higher valleys should be given an extra half hour as a matter of course.
Choosing between them
Forty five minutes saved, against an aircraft that fits
Altenrhein is genuinely closer, and for a light or midsize aircraft with the right permissions it turns a transfer into a short drive round the end of Lake Constance. It is a small field with modest hours, so a late arrival or a departure that slips needs checking rather than assuming.
Zurich is the opposite: an hour further away and dependable in every other respect, with handling at any hour the curfew allows, aircraft available at short notice and a straightforward motorway run down the A3 and A13. For anything larger than a midsize aircraft, for a group, or for a trip where the return date is genuinely uncertain, Zurich is usually the better answer even though it looks worse on the map.
We put both in front of you with the honest times rather than the flattering ones, and if the aircraft you want cannot use Altenrhein we say so at the outset. See Swiss clinics and wellness stays for how the four Swiss clusters compare.
Planning it properly
What the desk will ask you
Nothing clinical, and we do not ask why. These are simply the things that decide the field, the car and the departure time.
- The dates, and whether they fall in the January conference week at Davos. If they do, the plan changes and the cars are arranged much earlier
- The aircraft, or the number of passengers and bags, so that Altenrhein can be ruled in or out honestly rather than hopefully
- Whether anyone is going on to the mountains afterwards. Klosters, Davos and the Engadine are all reachable from here, and one car held for the period is calmer than three transfers
- Who else is travelling and when. Sargans makes it easy for a companion to follow by train a day later
- The last commitment on your final day, because of the Zurich curfew at 23:30
How it is put together
One itinerary, front door to the valley
- 01
The outline
Dates, the address at Bad Ragaz, how many are travelling and what luggage there is. Nothing about the reason, and we will not ask.
- 02
The plan
Aircraft options with the field chosen for the destination rather than for habit, the transfer at the far end, and the car from your door to the London terminal, in one document.
- 03
While you are there
One number. A car to Vaduz for an afternoon, a relative to collect from Zurich, a departure moved by three days.
- 04
Coming home
Planned before you go and changed as often as it needs to be, with the curfew allowed for and the car in London told.
Our part in the trip
We look after the travel, door to door
We arrange the aircraft, and the cars in Switzerland through operators we know, with one contact holding the whole itinerary from your front door to the valley. We are a travel company rather than a medical one, so we bring no medical staff or equipment, give no care or advice, and neither work with nor recommend any clinic, hotel or resort named here.
Around the trip
Related pages
Airports and terminals
Getting there
Request a quote
Tell us the dates and who is travelling
The dates, the address at Bad Ragaz, how many of you and how much luggage there is. We reply with aircraft options, a straight answer on whether Altenrhein works for your aircraft, and honest transfer times for both fields. You need tell us nothing about the reason. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About travel to Bad Ragaz
Do you work with the resort or any clinic here?
No. We have no relationship, commercial or otherwise, with any clinic, hospital, hotel or resort at Bad Ragaz, and we recommend none. Places are named as destinations for a car.
Is any of this a medical service?
No. We arrange the aircraft and the cars and look after the itinerary. We bring no medical staff or equipment and give no care, advice or supervision of any clinical kind.
Is Altenrhein always the better choice?
No. It is closer, at about forty five minutes, and its runway of roughly 1,500 metres suits business aircraft rather than large ones. For a bigger aircraft, a group or an uncertain return date, Zurich is usually better in spite of the extra hour.
What happens in the week of the Davos conference?
Roads in the valley are busier, hotels are full and cars are scarce across the whole canton. Nothing is impossible, but everything needs arranging much earlier, and the transfer times in the table above stop applying.
Are the cars in Switzerland yours?
Our own cars and chauffeurs are in London and Manchester, and a trusted global network covers everywhere else. Swiss transfers come through operators we know, and one contact at Odyssey holds the whole itinerary.
One contact, wherever you are