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Paris to Lucerne - via Basel or Lausanne?

My family will be making a trip to Europe this summer and I've been tasked with planning the trains. We will be traveling from Paris to Lucerne and I have found 3 major routes - through Basel, Zurich and Lausanne. While I know Lausanne is the longest, time is not a deciding factor (to a point!). I would like to know which trip is more scenic? We will be traveling to Bern as a side trip later and will be leaving out of Zurich when we head on to Munich, so I'm not as concerned with the Zurich route. Also, there is concern amongst my family that if the trains are high-speed, will we even see much? Thanks!

Posted by
9100 posts

None of the options are very scenic. The fastest connection is via Zurich from there catch local trains to Luzern....1 hour away.
If you really want to see some scenery, take the TGV to to Lausanne, take a local train to Montreax and then take the scenic Golden Pass trains to Luzern. But it will add about five hours to the journey and require up to 3 changes in route.