French railway company SNCF brings us an offer for trips from Paris to Switzerland. A ride on the double-decker TGV Lyria from Paris to Geneva, Lausanne, or Vallorbe can be booked for as little as €29 each way.
The offer applies to all TGV Lyria connections between Switzerland and Paris. The most attractive options for their value are likely to start or end in Lausanne, Geneva, or Vallorbe. Sadly, there’s no availability for less than €30 to Basel and Zurich.
These are travel routes from Paris to Switzerland:
- Paris ↔ Geneva
- Paris ↔ Lausanne
- Paris ↔ Vallorbe
Paris ↔ BaselParis ↔ Zurich
Trains are starting or ending at Gare de Lyon in Paris. An expiration date for the offer is not mentioned, although some offer conditions are specified on the TGV Lyria’s website. Currently, bookings are available until mid-December 2025.
Availability
The availability is very good between July and December. These were all the available dates we were able to find:
Paris → Lausanne:
- June: 11, 25
- July: 9, 16, 23, 30
- August: 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23 – 31
- September: 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 24, 27, 28, 30
- October: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28, 29
- November: 2, 4, 5, 8, 15, 16, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30
- December: 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13
Paris → Geneva:
- June: 11, 25
- July: 1, 2, 8, 9, 16, 17, 22, 23, 20, 30
- August: 2, 5 – 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18 – 23, 25 – 30
- September: 1 – 6, 8 – 13, 16 – 20, 23 – 27, 29, 30
- October: 2, 6 – 11, 13 – 18, 20 – 25, 27 – 31
- November: 1, 3 – 8, 10 – 15, 17 – 22, 24 – 29
- December: 1 – 6, 8 – 13
Paris → Vallorbe:
- July: 9, 16, 23, 30
- August: 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23 – 25, 28, 31
- September: 7, 16, 17, 24, 28
- October: 8, 15, 22
- November: 16, 23, 30
- December 9
Lausanne → Paris:
- June: 16
- July: 1, 2, 8 – 10, 16, 17, 22 – 24, 29, 30
- August: 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27
- September: 2, 3, 7 – 10, 14 – 17, 22 – 24, 29, 30
- October: 1, 6 – 8, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 27 – 29
- November: 3 – 5, 12, 16 – 19, 23 – 26, 30
- December: 1, 3, 7 – 9
Geneva → Paris:
- June: 3, 4, 7, 11, 16, 17, 24, 15
- July: 1, 2, 8 – 10, 16, 17, 22 – 24, 29, 30
- August: 4 – 7, 12, 13, 19 – 21, 26 – 28
- September: 1 – 4, 6, 8 – 11, 15 – 18, 20, 22 – 25, 27
- October: 1, 2, 4, 6 – 9, 11, 13 – 16, 18, 20 – 23, 25, 27 – 30
- November: 1, 3 – 6, 8, 12, 13, 15, 17 – 20, 22, 24 – 27, 29
- December: 1 – 4, 6, 8 – 11, 13
Vallorbe → Paris:
- July: 1, 2, 8, 9, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30
- August: 5, 6, 12, 13, 21, 26, 27
- September: 2, 3, 14 – 17, 23
- October: 6, 8, 14, 15, 19, 21, 27
- November: 3, 17, 26, 30
- December: 8
Booking
Unfortunately, the SNCF website is weird. To search for a connection, you first need to enter a destination, such as Vallorbe, in the search field.
The SNCF website is throwing an error message if you select a city. To avoid this, select any station from the list. For instance, instead of selecting Paris, select Paris Gare de Lyon. Or any other station – the correct route will be displayed anyways.
Only then does the actual search for connections open up, and you can look for tickets from, e.g. Paris to Lausanne:
If you have trouble booking with SNCF, you can book TGV Lyria tickets with Omio, but you will be charged a €2 service fee for issuing the ticket. At least you can recoup that service fee by using this coupon.
Route and Comfort
Between Switzerland and Paris, only double-decker trains of the TGV Duplex type operate. These are operated by TGV Lyria, a joint venture of SNCF and SBB. The journey to Paris takes about 3 hours.
WiFi is available and free of charge. The trains have a seating space of 92 cm in 2nd class, with a seat arrangement of 2-2. You can find a review of the journey on simpletrain.ch. The seats are highly praised there.
The French have installed the most comfortable seats in the second class that I am aware of on European tracks. Although they may look somewhat like a suburban train seat in design, once you settle into them, you never want to get up.
simpletrain.ch
On the following map, you can see the routes from Paris to Switzerland marked:
By the way, on this route, seat reservations are mandatory. The seat reservation is included in the price. You can choose whether you prefer to sit on the upper or lower deck and, if desired, select a window seat.
Cover Picture: © TGV Lyria