Lyon to Geneva by TER

Every couple of hours a French Train Exprès Regional (TER) links Lyon Part Dieu with Geneva.  Change at Geneva for destinations all over Switzerland.

2nd class seats on Lyon-Geneva TER.  These are comfortable old mainline Corail cars, some with 8-seat compartments, most open-plan like this.  Larger photo.		A TER to Lyon about to leave Geneva.  It's a push-pull train:  There's an electric locomotive at one end, and a driving cab built into the coach at the other end.

2nd class - table seats		2nd class - 8-seat compartments.

Scenery between Lyon & Geneva, along the River Rhône.  The line follows the river for much of the way, mainly on the left hand side going Geneva to Lyon, right hand side Lyon to Geneva.

How to buy tickets

• These trains have a fixed price and no seat reservations, you sit where you like.  So tickets can never sell out, you can always turn up on the day, buy a ticket and hop on.

• You can buy tickets at www.sncf-connect.com (in €, no booking fee) or www.raileurope.com (easy to use, in €, £ or $, small booking fee), www.thetrainline.com (also easy to use, in €, £ or $, small booking fee) and either print it out or show it on your phone.

  Tip:  www.thetrainline.com and www.raileurope.com connect to both French & Swiss ticketing systems, so can book tickets in both France & Switzerland.

Travel tips

• There are no reserved seats, you sit wherever you like.  The river scenery is mainly on the left hand side going from Geneva to Lyon, on the right hand side from Lyon to Geneva.

• The train has 1st & 2nd class with a variety of seating configurations, including open-plan cars with rows of seats and some bays of 4 seats around a table, and classic compartment cars with 8-seat compartments.  Sit in whichever you prefer!

• Luggage goes on the racks above your seat of at the car ends.  Nobody weighs or measures anything, within reason you can take anything you can carry.  More about luggage on European trains.

• There is no catering on these TER trains, but you can take your own picnic and bottle of wine or beer.

• There's no check-in, you just board any time before the doors close and it leaves.

• Border formalities

  In Geneva, these trains use platforms 7 & 8 which are the segregated platforms used by all trains to & from France.  To access these platforms you pass through a narrow border control corridor, one for arriving passengers, one for departing passengers.  However, as France & Switzerland are both in the Schengen area, there are normally no checks, you just walk through unhindered in spite of the occasional official lurking inside the various offices.  However, border police reserve the right to do spot checks.  There are no formalities at all in Lyon.

• See Lyon Part Dieu station guide.

• See Geneva station guide.

• Lyon to Geneva is 168 km or 104 miles by train.

Route map

Highlighted = Lyon-Geneva route.  Green = scenic sections of line.  Red = high-speed line.

Reproduced from the excellent European Rail Map with kind permission of the European Rail Timetable people.  I recommend buying the European Rail Map for your travels and a copy of the European Rail Timetable, www.europeanrailtimetable.eu with shipping worldwide.

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