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Bern to Genève / Geneva by train
How to take the rail journey from Bern to Geneva/Genève
Bern is connected to Genève / Geneva by two train services, both of which depart hourly:
1: The IC trains are double-decked, have a restaurant car and seat reservations are available.
2: The IR trains are single-deck (usually) don't convey restaurant cars and seat reservations aren't bookable, but you can virtually guarantee that seats will be available.
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Routes
From Bern to Genève/Geneva-Cornavin
Journey Summary
1hr 42min - 1hr 57min
Daily
Travel Information
Final Destination: Genéve-Aeroport
The trains will arrive there around 10 mins after they have arrived at the main station in Geneve.
All trains also call at: Fribourg and Lausanne
The IR trains also call at Nyon and Morges, connect for the BAM trains to Apples and L’isle-Mont-La-Ville.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes - If you book Supersaver tickets (more info is available on the the SBB ticket guide below)
You may need to search through the departures to find them using the ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ buttons; so try and be flexible with your departure and arrival times.
Though the Supersaver tickets tend to sell out particularly quickly on these IC trains on this route; they are usually much more likely to be available on the alternative slower IR trains.
Online bookings open: up to two months ahead of the travel date
Seat reservations:
Seat reservations are optional on Swiss IC trains, so seats won't be assigned when booking online.
You can book reservations online for journeys by these IC trains, AFTER you have booked a ticket, by using the SBB (Swiss national railways) seat reservation service OR request a reservation when booking at a station ticket office.
Seat reservations aren’t available on the alternative service of IR trains.
Travelling with a rail pass:
Rail Pass users can target the faster IC trains, though it's possible to hop on any train on this route.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| SBB | * | |
| Trainline | * | |
| Rail Europe | * | |
| Happy rail | * |
On this journey
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Because of their additional station calls the IR trains are typically slower than the IC trains by 15 minutes.
Journey description:
From the left of the train (when facing the direction) of travel there are some incredible views over Lake Geneva, as the train approaches Lausanne.
It's worth travelling on the upper deck in order to see these views at their best; these two videos below were filmed from a train travelling in the opposite direction.
This part of the journey is so fabulous that it merited a place on the list of the 20 Most Beautiful Swiss Train Journeys
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See if there’s a unique journey guide for your trip, featuring info on the trains, tickets & stations.
This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.
