Between Olten and Zurich

Paris to Zürich / Zurich by train

How to take a train journey from Paris to Zurich

Direct high speed trains mean that travelling by rail from Paris to Zurich is a very straightforward journey.

Connect in Zurich for Swiss destinations with no direct trains from the French capital including Chur, St Gallen and Zug.

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Routes

From Paris Gare de Lyon/Paris Lyon to Zürich HB / Zurich main station

Travel Information

Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.

Final Destination: Zurich,

All trains also call at: Mulhouse-Ville, Basel SBB

Most trains also call at: Dijon-Ville

6 x trains per day
The usual first train of the day does not depart on Sundays.

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: Around 105 days ahead of the travel date
Yes this does seem random and apologies for not being more precise, but there doesn't seem to a firm rule for when tickets will be released for this journey.

If tickets aren't on sale yet for your travel date, then this is a journey for which it's worth signing up to the ticket availability notification service on Oui.SNCF.

Do that and you'll receive an email within moments of the tickets being released for sale.
It's worth doing, as this is a journey on which the very cheapest tickets tend to sell out particularly fast.
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
There can be particularly big discrepancies per train on this route.

When looking for tickets on Oui.SNCF tick the 'direct trains' box, on Trainline tick the 'fastest journeys' box.

Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.

The TGV-Lyria trains are the only direct trains from Paris to Switzerland.

However, if you will be travelling with a Eurail or InterRail pass, which is valid in both France and Switzerland, the rail pass reservation fees for the Lyria trains are comparatively expensive.
For info on how you can avoid paying these fees, click on the TGV-Lyria train guide.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
Trainline from €49

Trainline Guide

Oui.SNCF from €49

Oui.SNCF Guide

SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.

Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.

Though a legacy of when SNCF sold international tickets under the Rail Europe branding is that OuiSNCF is available in multiple translations with the offerings on the site then tailored to international visitors to France.
However, some of the site's features, including the integration of mobility assistance into the booking path, are only available on the French language version.

Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF 'My Travel' phone app, so it's therefore often a good idea to book on the OuiSNCF mobile service.

SaveATrain from €49

SaveATrain Guide

Happyrail from €49

Happyrail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - NoHigh Speed (partial)
Between Olten and Zurich Between Olten and Zurich

This is a journey of four distinct parts.

1: Initially the train will travel on the high speed line south from Paris.

2. The train switches to conventional tracks north of Dijon - the most scenic part of the journey

3. Between Dijon and Mulhouse there is another high speed line.

4. The final part of the journey from Mulhouse to Zurich is on conventional tracks.

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