Hi folks, I'm not 100% if this is the right place to post this or not so if its not then my apologies in advance!
I'm going to be flying to Geneva and need to get to Lausanne that day, I've looked at the swiss rail site and it looks like I will be able to get the train there without any problems.

As this is my first time in Switzerland I do have some questions about using the public transport ( I hate being the hapless tourist ) Can I get the train to Lausanne from the airport or would I need to go to the city center to get it? I'm assuming there are ticket offices / machines I can use to purchase the ticket from?

These are probably pretty stupid questions but if anyone could help it would be really appreciated!

Hi Amiller

Welcome to the forum.

The station is pretty much in the airport and you can buy your tickets either from the counter or from the ticket machines which have an English option.

Good luck
Nats

Thanks NatsBrit!

yup when you get out the arrival gates towards the exit , just go left all the way down through the revolving doors and you are in the train station. Buy your ticket

Then go to platform 3 or 4 (they are next to each other)

After collecting your bags, exit customs into the arrivals hall and turn left. A couple of minutes walk down the concourse and through the revolving doors brings you into the airport train station where you buy your ticket to Lausanne.

Thanks Anthony! Was a bit worried about it all hehe

Cheers Nev! (I can't seem to edit my posts yet)

The Geneva-Aeroport railway station is under the building right next to the airport terminal. There are signs showing the way and they are hard to miss.

You can buy the ticket either at a ticket counter or from a machine. All Swiss railway staff speak good English. If you use a machine, you can also select English as your language.

On a machine, the only thing that may not be self-evident is the selection between "1/1" and "1/2". "1/1" means that you pay the full price for the ticket. "1/2" is the price for the half-price-card holders, who (rather obviously) can travel at half prices.

If you plan to travel quite a bit in Switzerland, it may be a good idea to get a half-price card, and you can get one at 100 CHF/month. You can apply for it directly at the ticket counter.

On the train, there will be a railway staff checking the ticket between stops. It is also possible to buy a ticket directly on the train, but you pay an additional fee.

Have a good trip.

Yeah I had read about the 1/2 fare stuff on the swiss rail site, If this trip goes well I may be moving to switzerland so I'll definitely pick one up then.

Once you live here and have your papers you can get a card for 150chf that allows you to buy tickets for 1/2 off. It is nice and will allow you to do most of the boat tours for half off as well. The Lake Steamer boats are nice.

Just a bit of information, do NOT get in the habit of trying to buy the ticket on the train. You may end up doing it on the wrong service and the fines are multiple times more than the fare would be.

Good Luck.
Brian.

Just to clarify, you don't actually need to be resident here to buy a 1/2 fare card. When I got my first one, I had not yet sorted out a permanent place to live, and they delivered the card to my local station and I picked it up from there (obviously if you are just visiting, you might not be around long enough for that to be practical). Also, my brother, who lives in London but visits a few times a year, bought one, and they were happy to deliver it to my address without asking for any proof that he actually lived there.

This mistake pops up on EF every few months. ANYONE can buy the half-price card, including tourists who are here for just a brief period (although if it is for less than a month, they should get the one month version for 99 CHF). People always disagree every time this is mentioned, but many people have personal experience of getting one without any requirements and it says it somewhere on the SBB website that this is possible.

I don't know how you are getting the full ID half tariff version without Swiss papers. I was required to show a residency permit B or C when I applied for mine. Don't know what you did differently.

Please read what, I wrote again, and then the following.

I never said that people without some from of Swiss papers could not buy a half tariff. My mother bought one when she came over here last year. It did, as you observed, cost 99 chf and was only valid for one month. She did need to show her passport at the station to prove that she was a Foreigner.

What I said is that once you get Swiss Id papers, of one kind or another, you can then buy a full year HalbTax, DemiTariff, Half Fare card for 150chf.

Unlike the one that my mother got, this one is like an ID card and has my photo in it and is renewable online at the end of the year. I just wanted to point out that one can get a slightly more expensive version that lasts the whole year. If one only needs a months worth, then by all means go for that one instead and save the 50chf.

Good Luck,
Brian.

Funny,

Nobody mentioned www.cff.ch, good for checking what trains you can get! and if you need to change?

Good, point, I always use the www.sbb.ch website but it is the same thing.

Also, there is an iPhone Application for SBB, that shows connections and train routes (pseudo) real-time. It is very useful and sort of fun. But you had better have alot of money or a Swiss phone contract before you use it. International data rates will kill you!

Good Luck,
Brian.

And on there you can also book/pay for/print tickets - dead easy.

In terms of the demi I'm a non CH resident with no CH address yet still have one - 5 mins in the ticket office at GVA with an English speaker and 150CHF sorted it.

Doesn't look like anyone mentioned this, but not all trains from Geneva Airport go to Lausanne.

You have to check to make sure you get one that goes to/through Lausanne, or take any train, then change in Geneva Main train station to the next one that goes to Lausanne.

And my point is that on both occasions I mentioned (when I was newly in the country, and a year later when my brother visited last), we were both able to buy the CHF150 one year card, with the photo-card, without being asked to show any kind of Swiss papers (they asked to see ID, and were happy in each case with a UK passport). In my brother's case, the guy selling it to me was quite clearly aware that he was a non-resident (he prompted me, when I gave my address to have it delivered to, that perhaps my brother's name might not be on the letter box, so he needed my name as part of the address), and was still happy to sell it.

I've just had a play with the SBB website to buy a half fare card online, and the options for entering personal details certainly allowed you to enter an address outside Switzerland, and the online shop accepted reference numbers from German, French, Italian and a bunch of other non-Swiss ID formats, which seems to imply to me that there is no residency requirement.

Of course none of this stops officious jobsworth types refusing to sell a full Halbtax card to non-residents at other stations, even if it isn't prohibited by the rules.

I feel I should mention that Swiss trains are very efficient - they don't cease to function because of the wrong type of snow, wrong type of leaf, or cold weather! They are clean, depart on time and, more importantly, arrive on time. In fact, in the unlikely event that a train arrives just four minutes (or more!) after its arrival time, it is officially late! Sit back and enjoy!

If anyone is visiting for a one-off trip e.g. job interview, this ticket can be good value for longer journeys. Swiss Transfer Ticket. It is £75 for a return journey from any point of arrival to destination. the ticket is valid for a month.

As the fare from Geneva to Lausanne is CHF50 return it would not warrant getting for your journey.