I'm trying to get all this organized for my mother and myself for June. It looks like there's only one TGV train out of Paris on the 23rd and it's much later in the day than we had thought... Are we missing something? I really hope so! Help, please. :)
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
There are trains leaving Paris early in the morning to Basel from where you can connect to other trains to Interlaken . Earliest possible arrival is 11.28 AM on a weekday.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Katherine, there is more than one train out of Paris to Interlake on June 23. I can see and buy tickets on www.tgv-europe.com right now for a half dozen train runs. If you book right now, I see a fare of 89.20Euro on the 8:23 departure right now. Regular fare can be as high as 135Euro. You can buy these tickets now but you won't be able to print them out at home. You will need to pick up the tickets at a staffed train station in France. If you use www.tgv-europe.com, Canada or Great Britain as your Ticket Collection Country. Don't worry, you won't have to go there. If you USA, the website will switch you to RailEurope which you don't want. Note that by entering and international trip, you may not see all of the possible runs. For example, there are numerous TGV trains a day that go from Paris to Basel. I see 11. It's most likely the same quantity or more from Basel to Interlaken. But, you will be just fine with ing what is presented to you. Note that the Swiss show this run as well on their www.sbb.ch website. But, I can't see the fare at this time.
Posted by
OP
Rocky Mount, NC, USA
7 posts
WHAT a relief! Thanks for your responses!! That's what I thought was the case...I don't know why I couldn't get the early morning trips to show up! I'll try these suggestions right away. Thanks again for your help!!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32329 posts
Katherine, As the others have mentioned, there are numerous trains travelling from Paris to Switzerland each day. The first leg will usually be via TGV (high speed - 300 kmH) trains to Basel, where you'll transfer to a train with the Swiss rail network. The trains I'd use depart Paris-Gare de Lyon at 08:23 or 10:23, arriving Interlaken Ost at 13:28 or 15:28 (time 5H:05M, 1 change at Basel SBB, reservations compulsory). You can check the details on the sbb.ch website, and likely pre-purchase tickets there also (I didn't bother trying to go through the purchase menus). I don't know if this will be a concern, but when you arrive at Basel station, the ONLY washrooms are McClean pay-per-use facilities (AFAIK). They ONLY accept Swiss Francs, so Euros will be of no use. You might want to pack along a few Francs. Happy travels!