Hi folks, we're looking to ski at Thollon les Memises (Evian) in Feb 2011. Part of the family are flying into Geneva Airport, is it easy for them to jump onto a train at the airport and travel by rail to Evian?

Hi TimG,

No, I don't think it'll be all that easy. The Swiss rail site sends you to Lausanne, where you'd catch the ferry boat across the lake. It's not horrible, except that getting from the train station to the harbor could be a hassle.

Might be easier to take a taxi to the bus station, Gare Routiere. There are a few busses a day to Evian & Thollon, and they take about 90 minutes. Here's a link:

http://212.203.98.98/WD140AWP/WD140A.../CONNECT/GRweb

Use the drop-down menu to select "Regular Lines Region Bordercross," and you'll get a pdf with the schedules.

Good luck!

s

Hi Swandov2000. The advice is much appreciated, I can see if they land as scheduled on 20th Feb at 16:15, they should be able to get the 16:45 to Thonnon arriving at 18:00. I can collect them from there rather than wait another 25 mins for them to arrive in Evian. Many thanks.

Until Dec. 11 when the new timetables across Europe come into force, it's all guesswork.

The link Swandav gave currently is not showing bus service on Sunday 2/20/11 (20.02.2011), but on Sat. Feb. 19 and on Monday Feb. 21.

When it gets closer, check again, or call +41 22 732 02 30 and hope for an English speaker.

There may be faster TGV or TGV-offshoot trains to Evian-les-Bains by then (ski season) but probably not on a Sunday evening - still, it is too early to get the info.

There is also another way to get to Evian by train - take the train from the Geneva airport to Geneva's central train station (Cornavin), a tram (#14) toGeneva's French train station Amandolier which is adjacent to the Genève Eaux-Vives station (or just take a cab from the airport to Eaux-Vives). From Eaux-Vives you have regioexpress trains that go all the way to Evian-les-Bains, in just under an hour. Check out www.rail.ch.

Currently the message from sncf is "Les trains ne sont pas encore ouverts à la réservation pour les voyages entre le 12 décembre et le 13 janvier. Connectez-vous dès le 23 septembre pour un voyage avec iDTGV et dès le 13 octobre pour un voyage avec TGV/Teoz/Lunea, etc."

And the Swiss say "Ihre Eingabe liegt nach dem Ende der Fahrplanperiode vom 13.12.09 bis zum 11.12.10." - referring to the timetable change on Dec. 11.

Wait, then give it another shot after Dec. 12, 2010.

Not that you would or should try it on arrival on Feb. 20 - it would be too late (after dark), but just in case you thought about making a daytrip of it - boats across the lake between Evian and Ouchy (Lausanne) don't run in winter. See

http://www.cgn.ch/horaires/doSearch.php, click horaire hiver.

Even though the red line on the map persists, there are no connections across the lake in winter, only along the coast from Ouchy to St. Gingolph.

If you want to make a boat trip, you might be able to take the bus from Evian-les-Bains to St. Gingolph, it doesn't currently run on Sundays, not sure what the winter timetable will be.

Getting from the train station in Lausanne down to the ferry dock in Ouchy for the boat trip over to Evian is not the least bit complicated:

travelers can easily connect to the Lausanne Metro, the entrance of which is across the street from the main exit from the train station; Metro trains run frequently and the Ouchy station is DIRECTLY across the street from the ferry dock.

or there is always a TAXICAB

Dukey1 - That was never the point - boats don't run in winter from Ouchy (Lausanne) to Evian.

http://www.cgn.ch/horaires/doSearch.php, click horaire hiver

Dukey1,

As DalaiLlama says, his point was that the ferries don't run in winter. And he's right! When I did my quick look on the SBB site above, I just used the current date and forgot that the current schedule won't, of course, be valid for Feb 2011.

And I never said the connection in Lausanne (if someone wanted to do this when the ferries are running) is "complicated." I said it could be a hassle. For me, every time I change trains or busses, it's a little bit of a hassle; if I have to move across town during a change, it's a bigger hassle.

I always look for the connections with the fewest changes. For me, that would be the bus!

As DalaiLlama says, I'd call or check the bus schedule.

s