SanDiego1K

Forgive a novice when it comes to European transport.

I would like to do the following:

1. Fly into Geneva, stay a night
2. Take the train to Evian, stay at Hilton
3. Travel to Zurich - train? ferry and train?

It's pretty easy to figure out the train from Geneva to Evian. I'm much less certain about going on to Zurich. Is there a ferry over to Lausanne? Should I take it and from there take the train to Zurich? Or is there a train to Zurich from Geneva?

I will be traveling in January. I'm interested in a scenic trip, though staying warm as I travel. I've no idea how difficult it is to get from a ferry landing to a train station in Lausanne, for example.

imagineertobe

From Evian, you can take the ferry to Lausanne (PDF Schedule) and hop on the metro station (line 2; site in French) just at the ferry terminal. The train station is a couple of stops away, and I believe there's an sheltered corridor between the metro stop and the train station. Trains from Lausanne to Zurich are scheduled for just over 2 hours, but you can't yet buy them on the train company's website (they've only got availability through 24 Dec right now).

Hope that helps. Judging by your handle and your location, you'll probably be the coldest you've ever been. Be sure to bundle up, and enjoy the trip.

SanDiego1K

imagineertobe, that's very helpful. Thank you.

nrr

Unless you are riding during the rush hour (for commuters) you would not need to purchase an advance ticket between Lausanne and Zurich--the Swiss trains have lots of seats on the intercity routes.
If you have a lot of time free, a really scenic route from Lausanne to Zurich would be (1) Lausanne to Montreux, (2) change in Montreux for line to Zweisemmen (some days this route has vintage coaches), (3)Zweisemmen to Spiesz, (3) Spiesz to Interlaken Ost, (4)Interlaken Ost to Luzern via Meirringen, (5) Luzern to Zurich.
(2) and (4) has super spectacular scenery.
In any event, have a wonderful trip.

imagineertobe

Je t'en prie

Concerto

It's a brilliant trip to make. Being based here myself, I totally endorse it as a good idea. If the OP can't face the ferry, or it is too cold and windy, or is canceled for some reason, it is not implausible to go back into Geneva and take the train from there. The Zurich trip is quite rapid from there, about 2 and a half hours.

If taking the CGN ferry, there is a short walk at the Lausanne-Ouchy end to reach the metro, which is on the other side of the lakeside road, slightly to the left from the ferry port. You'll need about 3 francs change in the pocket, for a single zone (Zone 11 I think) adult tkt to go the 4 stops to Lausanne Gare (main station).

Actually, they're really proud of this brand new metro (M2). Although the route from Lausanne-Ouchy by the lake to the main station is well over 100 years old, the remainder which goes up to the heights above Lausanne is brand new, and a real feat of engineering. It is the only metro subway train (although much lies outside in the open air, weaving through tunnels and across bridges) to have such a height difference between the beginning and end of the line. It is fully automatic, with no driver, and each stop is preceded by an audio jingle representing the place in question. It's worth a trip on its own all the way up to the terminus at Croisettes and back. It is possible to do it there and back within the 1 hour validity on one ticket, but you would need a two zone (Zones 11 & 12) ticket, which is actually only a few centimes more than the single zone one.

Concerto

To get back on topic, which is the OP's train trip to Zurich, it is easy to buy a ticket from the ticket office on the day of travel because train seats are never reserved in Switzerland, like they are in other European countries. You can even try your hand at using the blue ticket machines, which can be put in English. They take all cards and cash, but don't give back more than CHF20 change.

Better still, is to check out the billets dégriffés section of the Swiss railways website. You can get amazing reductions here, particularly interesting if you don't have the half-fare card like most of us here do (costs CHF150 for one year half fare travel). A quick look revealed fares as low as CHF26.80 on the 9th December for example (offers appear about a maximum of 10 days before travel), and that is without the half fare card. I believe the current offers run until 13th January, though. Here is the English language link:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

Roger

The Supersaver offer which Concerto describes is at https://www.sbb.ch/mct/wi/shop/b2c/adw.do?4004

About seat reservations, I was a little perturbed yesterday travelling from Zurich HB to Basel SBB on an almost empty train when our seats actually had 'reserved' labels on them. As they were from Basel SBB to Chur, we ignored them!

nrr

On most of the intercity routes there are coaches with seats that can be reserved. But if no one with a reservation is occupying the seat, anyone can use it.

On a few mountain trips (Glacier Express, Bernina Express and a few others) reservations are required.

SanDiego1K

This has been a tremendously helpful thread for me. I used the .pdf given above to see the ferry schedule from Evian to Lausanne. Can anyone tell me how much the ferry costs?

I have had a frustrating time attempting to use this. I found three different train times that would work for me. Each said there was one ticket still available. In each case, when I chose the train, it wouldn't show up in my shopping cart. Then I would try again. The first choice I had made would be gone, and I had two choices left. For my 3rd attempt, I moved from Firefox to Internet Explorer. I struck out. It does not appear to me that I am doing anything wrong, and yet all three alternatives are now gone.

Roughly an hour later, I've logged on again. All three trains are available again.

I certainly appreciate being told about the supersaver ticket, as I would not have otherwise known about it.

tom tulpe

EUR 12.70 2nd class, EUR 17.40 1st class (adult full fare single walk-up fare).

bodory

For those looking for scenic pics of a dynamic train webcam, check the MOB one : http://www.bildersammlung.ch/bahn-we....../webcam.php

SanDiego1K

I've now completed my trip in and out of Evian. I had some interesting glitches, despite my research and the very useful posts here, so thought I'd report on them. My problems were basically these:

1. There is more than one train station in Geneva
2. There aren't many trains between Geneva and Evian

Geneva to Evian
I took the bus from my hotel to the train station, and there encountered my first problem. There's a second train station! I was fortunate, and had a lovely, helpful, English fluent young lady helping me. She printed out the train schedule from Geneve-Eaux-Vives and wrote down the tram number to get me there. Trains only ran at roughly 3 hour intervals, as best I could tell.

I took tram 16 around the corner from the train station toward Amandolie. It was about 20 minutes to my stop. Again, a very helpful young mother went out of her way to make sure I got off, then walked a few steps with me to show where I needed to go to the train station. You walk backwards to the corner from the tram stop, then a block to the right. The train station is across the street.

The train station was virtually deserted. The story I subsequently got was that the ticket station had been robbed, so it had been closed. I had a 2 1/2 hour wait til my train, and had naively expected to find a cafe. Not. The outer room was open, but unheated. I was completely baffled as to whether I was at the right place, and whether indeed the train would be running. My call to the hotel in Evian found people no better informed than me. They offered to book a cab at 105 euros, but I couldn't imagine paying so much. I had a charming young Russian girl express concern that if I didn't buy my ticket in advance, I risked a severe fine. Nevertheless, my train finally came and I boarded sans ticket. I was sold one on board for 10 euros with no drama.

Before I learned about the two train stations, I had intended to return to Geneva to go on to Zurich. It seemed so easy, going from one track to another. But now I knew that the trip involved the wait for a tram on a snowy chilly day. Suddenly, heading across the lake had considerable appeal. So that is what I did.

Evian to Zurich
imagineertobe and Concerto very clearly laid out the instructions for me in this thread. It was really very simple. My costs:
18.5 CHF - boat, one way - buy ticket on boat. Off season, the ticket office is closed. The boat was filled with locals.
2.6 CHF - metro, Lausanne - beautiful, modern metro
67 CHF - train to Zurich - no supersaver fare due to the last minute decision to travel this way

I was on the 8:20am boat out of Evian. I arrived in Zurich about 11:30am.

kanopemainer

There is not a single person in this world who could take this wonderful experience away from you. Thanks for sharing