Taking the train from Paris to Genève / Geneva is wonderfully straightforward thanks to the high speed trains which provide a direct link between the two cities.
Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.
Final Destination: Geneve or Lausanne
All trains also call at: Bellegarde
Connections are available at Bellegarde for Annemasse and Evian-les-Bains.
Connect in Geneva for destinations without direct trains from Paris including Brig, Montreux, Neuchatel and Sion.
Monday to Friday: 8 x trains per day
Saturday and Sunday: 7 x trains per day
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
If tickets aren't on sale yet for your travel date, then this is a journey for which it's worth signing up to the ticket availability notification service on SNCF Connect.
Do that and you'll receive an email within moments of the tickets being released for sale.
It's worth doing, as this is a journey on which the very cheapest tickets tend to sell out particularly fast.
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
There can be particularly big discrepancies per train on this route.
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.
Rail Pass Users:
The TGV-Lyria trains are the only direct trains from Paris to Switzerland.
However, if you will be travelling with a Eurail or InterRail pass, which is vaild in both France and Switzerland, the rail pass reservation fees for the Lyia trains are comparatively expensive.
For info on how you can avoid paying these fees, click on the train guide.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
Trainline | from €29 | |
SNCF Connect | from €29 | |
Save A Train | from €29 | |
Happy rail | from €29 |
This is a journey of two distinct contrasts
1: The first two thirds of the journey is on a high speed line
2. The train will inevitably slow down when it leaves the high speed line, but the journey the becomes a lot more scenic once the train has passed through Bourg-en-Bresse.
Though the views are pleasant rather than amazing; this isn't a route to single out because you want to take a scenic rail journey.
If your reserved seat is on the right of the train (when facing the direction of travel) and you're on the upper deck , there are views of the river valley to be enjoyed, once the train has departed Bellegarde.
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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.