We will be flying DTW-CDG in October. Looking at taking TGV from Gare de Lyon to Lausanne. Our flight lands at CDG at 8am. There is a 1215 train departing Gare de Lyon. Will 4 hours be enough time to go through passport control, collect our checked bags, and get a taxi to Gare de Lyon? Just trying to put together a good timeline here and get our rail tickets before they go up in price. Thank you!
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
Yes, 4.15 hours is enough time to make it to Gare de Lyon. It will become tight if your flight is delayed by more than 45 minutes or so, which I find an acceptable buffer.
Plus, there will be later trains to Lausanne if need be - expensive, but if you are able to cancel the tickets for the missed train you will get some money back if you purchased a "Standard" fare.
However there is a pretty good connection to Lausanne at 2.18 PM on most days, which might provide a better buffer, with a chance to have lunch at or near Gare de Lyon. Given that the day is basically lost to travel and jetlag... I would perhaps opt for the later train. But then, I am a bit of a control freak.
Posted by
OP
DTW
122 posts
Thanks for the response Balso! From Lausanne we will be going to Interlaken then to Lauterbrunnen for the week. I completely get why you suggest the 2:18 train but I'm hesitant on arriving in Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen in the dark. Was planning on doing 2nd class for the Paris-Lausanne leg. Is that good or first class definitely the way to go?
Posted by
Wisconsin
466 posts
That is a lot of connections and train time, going from CDG to Lauterbrunnen. My assumption is that you're on Delta, which has waived change fees. Can you arrange to instead fly into Zurich?
Posted by
OP
DTW
122 posts
Vickie...yes my husband works for Delta so that's my airline of choice lol 😍
We were scheduled to go DTW-JFK-ZRH. Yesterday that all changed. They routed us DTW-JFK-AMS-ZRH. There was a 50 minute connection in AMS and that is just not long enough. Delta will be starting their JFK-ZRH route on 10/6. So, back to the drawing board and we came up with the DTW-CDG route. There's a SwissAir flight we could take to ZRH but I think seeing the scenic route via Geneva/Lausanne will be ok..
Posted by
NM, USA
911 posts
You can also fly CDG to Geneva and take the train from there to Lausanne. There is an SBB train station at the Geneva airport and the ride to Lausanne is about an hour (27 swiss francs).
I'm flying Delta/KLM in late Aug - Atl-Ams-Geneva with about a 2 hour layover in Amsterdam.
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
If you are going to Lauterbrunnen, then Lausanne is not the best port of entry: better go via Basel!
There is a 12:22p departure to Basel on most days, still from Gare de Lyon. Then you take a train to Interlaken, and another one to Lauterbrunnen, so there are only 2 connections vs. 3 and longer travel time going via Lausanne.
2nd class is perfectly OK, no need to splurge.
This being said... There is nothing particularly scenic about the train rides between France and Switzerland. Maybe a few stretches between Dijon and Lausanne, and the first 15 minutes out of Lausanne towards Bern, but otherwise, if you can find a suitable flight to Zürich or Basel, take it. Geneva could work too, at a stretch.