I had never been to Switzerland but always wanted to go, especially since my June trip to Austria. I loved the views from the window on my train journey from Salzburg to Innsbruck. That train was going to Zurich, and I wished I had been able to extend the trip.
Once I got home, I started planning a trip to Switzerland. Having already spent time in Paris recently, I planned to travel to Zurich and spend extra time there rather than spending the day in Paris.
In this post:
The Early Morning Eurostar from London St Pancras to Gare Du Nord
The day before, I had travelled from Cornwall to Paddington, then to Kings Cross. I stayed a 3-minute walk from St Pancras Station, which shortened my journey time.
After arriving late and with an early start, I just needed a bed for the night, so I opted for the Apollo Hotel Kings Cross.
There are plenty of other options nearby, including the St Pancras Renaissance hotel, recommended by Michele.
I booked the 7:55 am train, which arrived in Paris at 11:27 (2 hours, 35 minutes).
Arriving at St Pancras, I was pleased I had opted for an early train. It took around 10 minutes to queue and get through security.
Once I entered the waiting area, I headed to Pret. However, it seems most people also had the same idea! There were also no seats available in the entire waiting area. After walking around a bit, I joined the long queue.
Boarding was announced on time. It took longer than usual because one of the escalators is in maintenance. Once on board, I had a seat next-door to me free.
You can read more about my past experiences travelling on The Eurostar below:
Standard Vs Standard Premier: Is it worth the upgrade?
A Day Trip from London to Paris on The Eurostar
Travelling from Paris Gare du Nord to Gare Lyon
One of the issues I encountered during the planning process was that Eurostar arrives at Gare du Nord Station, but most other trains leave from another station in Paris. However, from my previous trip to Paris, I knew the transfer would be straightforward.
However, when I arrived, lots of building work was going on, and the taxi rank position had changed. People outside the station offered me quick rides to Gare de Lyon to take me through the traffic via motorbike. I declined and opted for a taxi.
The queue was 10 minutes at maximum, but it was a lot longer by the time I got to the front. I had booked the 12:19 train, which arrived in Zurich at 16:26.
The strikes in Paris had caused the roads to be even more congested than usual. Unfortunately, the journey took so long that I MISSED my pre-booked train from Paris to Zurich.
This is the moment I realised it would have been easier to fly and get trains around Switzerland once I was there! The taxi pulled up at Gare du Nord the minute my train was due to depart. When I arrived at the departure hall, there were no trains there.
Maybe I made the wrong decision leaving 1 hour to transfer, or perhaps it was just unlucky with the Paris strikes – which also went on to cause a 4-hour delay to my flight home from Geneva to Bristol.
Booking a New Ticket at Gare de Lyon Station
It was easy to book a ticket at the station, and though I could not get a direct train, I purchased one with a 7-minute change in Basel. Because I had booked an advance single via Rail Europe, I lost that ticket and had to buy a new one. The original ticket was £70, and the new one was £142 to leave 2 hours later.
If you choose to travel from the UK and transfer from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, make sure you book a flexible ticket!
Lunch in Paris Waiting for the New Train
One of the benefits of missing my train was having the chance to eat lunch in Paris. I ate at Bistrot De La Gare, which was a good choice! You can find Bistrot De La Gare at 1 rue de Lyon — 75012 Paris. You can view the menu here.
Boarding the New train from Paris to Zurich
The new train departed from arrival hall 2.
The platform was suddenly announced, so there was a long queue to get through the ticket barriers and onto the train.
The Train from Paris to Zurich
The train was configured with a top and bottom floor. I found a good seat on the top deck. A large tray table was big enough to fit a full laptop (unlike some standard-class carriages in the UK).
The train had a trolley service, and I opted for a delicious Cappucino for around £3.50. This was a lot nicer than the filter coffee on some UK trains.
The journey from Paris to Basel was 3 hours and went very fast.
If you are planning a train trip from London to France or Switzerland, the train also stops at Dijob, Mullhouse and Bellfort.
Changing Trains in Basel
Arriving in Basel, there were just 7 minutes to change. I was nervous about this after missing a train earlier in the day. However, it was straightforward. Most passengers were also doing the same change. It involved going up and down the escalators to another platform, and there was plenty of time on the train before it left.
The train was not as modern as the Lyria train I had just been on. It still had a top and bottom deck, but it was jam-packed, and much of the top deck was reserved for first-class passengers. I ended up sitting on the stairs, so it may be a good idea to upgrade to first class for this part of the journey or book a direct train from Paris.
Arriving into Zurich
I was very impressed when I arrived in Zurich. The station was easy to navigate and had many shops, cafes and restaurants. The walk to my hotel took me across some beautiful bridges with amazing views of Zurich at night.
Knowing this was a long journey, I booked a circuit at the Hürlimannbad & Spa Zürich, which has a rooftop pool with panoramic views of the Zurich cityscape. This was the perfect introduction to Zurich. Even though I arrived much later than I had imagined, there was still time to visit before it closed.
I booked my ticket through Get Your Guide. The spa also has packages which include a Roman-Irish spa ritual, packages with dining included, and many bookable treatments too. If you stay at the B2 hotel Zurich, it also includes access to the spa.
The Cost of Travelling by Train from London to Zurich
The cost of the journey ended up being more than the average economy-class flight.
Eurostar – I bought my Eurostar ticket in September for £56.
Taxi from Gare du Nord to Gare Lyon – £19.35
Lyria Train Paris to Zurich – £76 (£142 extra paid after missing it!)
Total: £217.35 (this would have been £151.35 without missing the train)
Flights from London to Zurich
Flights from London to Zurich are around 1 hour 43 minutes. Multiple airlines make this journey meaning there are up to 301 flights from London to Zurich every week.
BA and SWISS are the major carriers operating this journey from London. EasyJet also flies this route often, as well as many other airlines!
You can read TLFL reviews on travelling to Switzerland below:
- Swiss A220 business class review Geneva to Heathrow and how to upgrade an economy flight with Swiss
- Swiss A220 economy Heathrow T2 to Geneva review and how I pimped it up for lounge access & fast track
- Swiss A220 (Bombardier C Series) business class review – London to Zurich
Train Travel in Switzerland
Although this particular journey did not go so well, I had a fantastic experience with other train journeys in Switzerland, including Zurich to Lucerne and Lucerne to Geneva. I also spent a day travelling from Lucerne to Grindelwald via Interlaken on the part of the Golden Pass line, and the views were stunning.
My Thoughts
Travelling by train from London to Zurich was a one-off – a bucket list experience I had always wanted to do. After this experience, I now think it is better to fly to Switzerland, especially if you are like me and do not live near London.
With the multiple train changes, traffic, security and missed trains, flying would be much easier. It is important to remember that the issues encountered were due to the strikes in Paris. My plane from Geneva to Bristol on the way home was 4 hours delayed due to the Paris strikes, so maybe the issues are only temporary.
However, I highly recommend travelling by train once you are in Switzerland. Whether you opt for a normal train journey or a special journey like the Bernina Express or Glacier Express, the views are always stunning.
8 comments
Paris is a nightmare on the roads at the moment, with all the strikes and demos going on. We transitted back on this journey last month on the way home from skiing.
On the outbound day (in early March and before everything kicked off) I had booked a taxi and it took 19 mins between the two stations. On the inbound (two weeks later), the demos had started and the police were constantly closing roads – it took nearly 2 hours from GdL to GdN and we almost missed our Eurostar.
The obvious answer given that you had no luggage and were on a day trip – was to take the metro. I think it’s only 4 stops and costs 3 euros – we didn’t do that because we had loads of bags with us and thought it would be too much to navigate them around the underground.
I used to live in Switzerland and the trains there are great, but connecting into them via France on what are usually rickety local trains, is somewhat more challenging, as the high speed lines don’t all navigate across the alps, unless they’re in a tunnel.
I agree I think it’s better to fly and then train when you get there.
I’m always baffled at why people take a taxi between stations in city centres. It’s almost always quicker and cheaper to take a metro/underground connection. In this case, the RER or Metro. It’s hardly much more inconvenient than lugging your bags to and from a taxi.
Unfortunately having split ‘Advance’ type tickets at Paris is risky, but for a trip such as this, an Interrail pass could easily pay for itself, particularly since you can also use it on two days for domestic journeys to and from a port of entry/departure (e.g. St Pancras) or airport.
Eurostar and SNCF charge ripoff fees for Interrail passholder reservations (€30 and €34 for the legs to/from Paris) but even so, this may well have cost the same or less as buying separate tickets. It also would have made it affordable to do the entire journey in first class/Standard Premier, as the uplift for that is only around 50%.
Me, I’d much rather take the train than the plane in this regard unless I am absolutely crunched for time – missed train or not. Glad to see you opted for the train and wrote about the experience.
My question, though – why did you try to take a taxi in Paris and not take the metro, especially as you had minimal bags? I wonder if your opinion on train vs plane would be different had you made your original connection?
I’ve done this journey just once but the Paris change was Nord to l’Est which is just a short walk – took about ten minutes from getting off Eurostar to be in the Gare de l’Est so would recommend that if you want to do this journey.
Personally I find the ‘overground’ train called RER the most efficient connection between GdN and GdL. 10min is realistic for train journey alone plus the escalators and winding tunnels adds 20min on foot, which means 30min from platform to platform. Potentially you could have made it to your train without much drama. Unless RER strikes of course 😉
Some sort of Interrrail pass might have been viable for this trip. There are supplements for the Eurostar (approx 30€) and Paris – Basel (approx £10), but would have covered the UK domestic train journey to/from London, and many of the trains in Switzerland would have been supplement free. Switzerland one country passes also work out good value compared to walk-up fares.
Is there a fault with the page that has caused some of the photos to be just placeholder gaps? If all the photos were missing then I’d assume it was one of my add-ons that block certain types of connection but I’d assume all photos were hosted in the same the manner?
Thanks Louise. We are having some issue with WordPress leading to duplicate photos and it appears that some photos were deleted which should not have been.
Comments are closed.