Travel Paris to Swiss alps

lianne,

The "fastest way" to get from Paris to Switzerland is via the TGV high speed train to Basel (about 3.5 hours if you choose a direct train). Where in the Swiss alps are you wanting to go? From Basel you'll connect with a Swiss train to your destination.

The best location for "hiking trips" (IMO) is the Lauterbrunnen Valley outside of Interlaken. Staying in Lauterbrunnen would be convenient to both sides of the valley, but you could also stay in Mürren or Gimmelwald. Here's some information you can look at - http://www.gimmelwald.ch/e/activities/summer/hiking.htm .

Here's another video you may find interesting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ru9JguLrY

I'd suggest checking your local Library to see if they have a copy of the Rick Steves Switzerland guidebook, as that will provide a lot of great information that will help your trip go smoothly.

I would really like to get some day hikes in so any suggestions would be great. Then we thought head back to Paris with a stop maybe in Bordeaux

lianne,

There are hiking suggestions in the website that I linked above. I believe the guidebook also has some, but I haven't checked.

lianne, are you planning to visit the Alps and do these hikes all in a day trip from Paris, as it sounds in your second post?

If so, can I strongly encourage you to not consider doing that. The weather in the mountains is fickle, they make their own weather, and the skies are often much clearer in the mornings. You need enough time there that if the weather isn't perfect you can wait it out.

When the skies are clear and the sun is out it is worth traveling there from around the world. When the clouds and rain fill the sky you may wonder.

Click on my name to the left and you'll see all sorts of hiking suggestions in my posts about the Lauterbrunnen region.

I will have about 3 days here so can wait it out if needed. Really wanted to stay in Paris 2-3 days then head to Switzerland for 3 as well. Does this seem manageable ? My goal was to get two places in on this trip. Thanks for all the suggestions

Ok we are about to book hotel reservations. Wanted to clarify that the best way from Paris to the Alps is to first take the TGV then is there another train that we would take into town? What are some suggestions of Hotels to stay at that will allow us to get to hikes easily and also have accommodations for eating etc. My boyfriend defiantly likes a more spa like hotel and I really would like to be close to hiking so trying to find something that will apply to both.
thanks

lianne, "the Alps" is a big area. As other people have said, the TGV from Paris runs to the city of Basel, which is not close to any high mountains. Have a look at a guide to Switzerland and pick a town, or go for Lauterbrunnen as recommended.

You'll first take a TGV from Paris to Geneva, or Basel, or Zurich. I know that the TGV to Geneva leaves from Paris Gare de Lyon. Check which station your TGV leaves from, there are several Paris train stations. Buy that ticket in advance for a discount, using trainline.eu
Once in Switz. ask to buy tix from there to Lauterbrunnen. There will be at least one change in Interlaken Ost, where you get the Lauterbrunnen train. Check the names on the sides of the cars because half of that train goes to Grindelwald.
If you are staying in Murren, you'll also need to buy in Lauterbrunnen a cable car/train ticket to Murren. That cable car is across the street from the train station.

We did a trip to the Berner Oberland from Paris -- the train Paris >Lausanne >Interlaken > Lauterbrennen >Murren took a full day, one day to ride the lifts up the Schilthorn, one day walking down to Gimmelwald, and one day when the clouds covered the views seeing the inside waterfalls in Lauterbrennen. Then another full day getting back to Paris by train. Wonderful trip -- but certainly not a day trip or even two days.

I would say: Forget Bordeaux (unless that is a typo for "Burgundy," but in any case forget Bordeaux), and forget going all the way back to Paris.

Take a train to Murren or someplace else in the mountains and fly home from Zurich, Geneva, or Mulhouse (whichever has the best air deals). This will give you an extra day to enjoy Paris.

If you want to visit Burgundy, and have the time to do so, stop on your way to Murren. It's a detour but not a huge one, and the rail connection are good.

from Paris to the Alps is to first take the TGV then is there another train that we would take into town?

Lianne, you can get to anywhere by train. The reason the answers so far have been vague, is you haven't said which town you want to go to. 50% of Switzerland is "The Alps", with hundreds of small towns and villages with railway stations. Depending where in Switzerland you want to go to there are multiple TGV routes from Paris, with dozens of possible onward connections.

Pick a destination (Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Luzern, Zermatt, Chur, etc.etc.), then go the the Swiss Federal Railways website ( https://www.sbb.ch/en/ ) and look up from Paris to whichever location, with time and date, and it will show you the trains to take, with all the connections.

Thank you all for your responses. Seems to be quite a bit of choices in terms of what town to go to. I guess since I've never been there it's hard to gauge what is the best option given the short period of time we have. I like the suggestion of taking the train from Paris To Switzerland and then flying back. That should save some time. In your opinion what town has the best hikes, seems to be murren?

Looks like we saw the Trift Bridge and that looks like an amazing place to go see. What is the best place to stay overnight and be able to get here easily ?

(Trift Bridge)

What is the best place to stay overnight and be able to get here easily ?

This one is a new one to me, despite years of visiting the area, so I had a look. As far as getting there easily, that's not possible.

According to wikipedia,

Reaching the bridge requires taking a cable car in Meiringen, followed by a gondola. Finally, a difficult 1.5-2 hour uphill hike leads to the bridge.

so, from wherever you are in the Berner Oberland you will need to get to Interlaken Ost station and take the hourly Zentralbahn train along shore of the Brienzersee (very very scenic) through Brienz (where the wood carvers are) all the way to Meiringen (the scene of the epic battle between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls - where you can take an ancient funicular up the falls to near the battle scene, reachable on foot beyond the funicular) and you then walk through the town to the cable car, at the top of which you change to a gondola, and at the top of that do your difficult 1.5 to 2 hour hike to the bridge. Then reverse all that to return.

You wrote: I like the suggestion of taking the train from Paris To Switzerland and then flying back. That should save some time. Lest you misunderstand, the suggestion was to fly home from a Swiss airport. From Lauterbrunnen you can get to the Zurich or Geneva airport in less than 4 hours by train, making it feasible (depending on flight time) to go straight to the airport from Lauterbrunnen. Going back to Paris would probably require an overnight there to make sure you didn't miss your transatlantic flight - and flying to Paris would probably mean a longer journey than the train.

According to the schedules at bahn.com (the best for European trains), the journey from Paris to Lauterbrunnen takes 6-7 hours and from 2 to 4 train changes. You'll need about 1/2 hour to get to the Paris station. The station in Lauterbrunnen is a short walk from the hotels (it's a pretty small place). I'm not sure what the best way is to get to Murren if you want to stay there. Our group stayed in Lauterbrunnen and took the bus, then the cable car.

taking the train from Paris To Switzerland and then flying back

That makes no sense. Train is quicker and more comfortable from nearly anywhere in Switzerland to central Paris.
First you need to decide where in Switzeralnd you want to go. Until you have deciided that, details of routes and hotels are academic.

Choice of location is also influenced by where you want to go after Switzerland? Are you going on to somewhere else in Europe? Are you going home, if so where is "home", Australia, India, Brazil, you don't say?