My 18 y/o son and I will be traveling from Paris to the Berner Oberland and are intrigued by Vezelay. If we stop off for a night or two and then continue on is it better to travel by train to Basel/Bern/Interlocken? Or instead make our way to either Geneva or Lausanne first? I'd read (I believe in Rick's Switzerland book) that the views on the train route between Paris and Geneva are spectacular, so I hate to miss that but my train route searches are showing that we have to go from Paris to Sermizelles by train, catch a bus to Vezelay, and then backtrack all the way to Paris to take another train out to Geneva. That's a crazy route. Should we just forget the Vezelay portion and go directly from Paris to Geneva and then up to Interlocken? Thanks for the input!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33832 posts
Route via Dijon. It will take you all day with a variety of buses, local trains, and express trains but you don't have to go anywhere near Paris.
Hope its worth it.
When you are doing your searches you will need to spell correctly - it is Interlaken. The spelling you use reminds me of an area of Arlington, Texas, famous for its Christmas lights. I wonder if they still do that.
Interlaken Ost is the station with the little trains which go up to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, with connections to Muerren, Wengen and the Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe as the marketers call it) and Schilthorn of 007 fame.
Interlaken West is convenient for the ships on the Thunersee and for a large supermarket.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10623 posts
Yes, it is kind of crazy. So either Vezelay becomes a side trip from Paris, allowing your to fulfill both of your priorities, or you could reserve Vezelay for a time when you can devote more time to seeing more of Burgundy. In France you often have to backtrack as the trains were originally founded by independent companies, all starting or stopping in Paris, radiating out like spokes on a wheel.
Posted by
OP
Austin, TX
2 posts
Thanks for the input. I think we'll have to skip Vezelay this time and plan for another when we can devote more time to the region. I appreciate all the help.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32352 posts
kelley,
Although I've noted that you plan to leave Vezelay for another visiit, I wanted to add a few thoughts.....
In the same situation (depending on how much time you have), one method to consider would be to go to Vezelay before the visit to Paris. As you've found, travel to Vezelay is a bit more challenging with one train and two bus segments and travel time of about 3 hours. After your visit to Vezelay, return to Paris for your visit there, and then continue to the Berner Oberland.
Unless you have lots of time, I wouldn't be too concerned about the scenery between Paris and Switzerland. It's going to be a longer travel day anyway, so I'd suggest using the quickest travel route possible. I don't remember any significant differences in "views" between the Paris - Geneva route and the Paris - Basel route. In any case, the views will be short as the train will be travelling at 300 km/h. For the Paris - Interlaken segment, I'd probably use a departure from Gare de Lyon at 10:23, arriving Interlaken Ost at 15:28 (time 5H:05M, 1 change at Basel SBB).
When you arrive at Interlaken Ost, you'll transfer to the the Berner Oberland train for the trip to Lauterbrunnen, and then from there to the location you'll be staying. Have you decided yet whether you'll stay in Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, or Wengen?