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Paris to Lausanne by train
How to take a train journey from Paris to Lausanne
High speed trains link Paris and Lausanne on two routes, via Frasne or Geneva, the latter is slightly longer in journey time, but what will matter more are the departure and arrival times of each specific train.
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Routes
From Paris Gare de Lyon/Paris Lyon to Lausanne
Journey Summary
3hr 41min - 3hr 59min
Daily
Travel Information
The usual schedule
Three of the six departures, those usually scheduled to leave Paris at 06:18; 14:10 and 16:18 will be taking the longer route via Geneve, so will have a journey time of just under four hours.
The departures usually scheduled for 07:53; 11:54 and 17:47 take the more direct route; though it is faster by under 20 minutes.
Final Destination: Lausanne
Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.
If you're heading to stations on the route between Geneve and Brigue/Brig, including Montreux, Martigny, Vevey, Sion and Visp, then the optimum journey is to take these trains and make connections in Lausanne, rather than Geneve.
Which of the two routes the trains take from Paris, doesn't impact on the availability of the onward connections; though if you take the trains which travel via Geneve, you'll have only 6 minutes to transfer into the onward trains towards Brig.
Monday to Saturday = 6 x trains per day
Sunday = 5 x trains
Tickets
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.
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 valid in both France and Switzerland, the rail pass reservation fees for the Lyria trains are comparatively expensive.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Trainline | from €29 | |
| SNCF Connect | from €29 | |
| Save A Train | from €29 | |
| Happy rail | from €29 |
On this journey
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Travelling via Frasne:
Around seven minutes after departure, the train will move on to the high speed line south from Paris and it will then travel at more than 270 km/h for around 1hr 10mins.
The video was taken from a train travelling in the opposite direction, but it give an idea of the journey experience on this part of the trip.
The train switches to conventional tracks for the remainder of the journey north of Dijon.
Travelling via Geneve:
The first two thirds of the journey is on the same high speed line, but the trains to Geneve leave it farther along
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; and some glimpses of Lake Geneva for the final 25 minutes of the journey.
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