My husband and I will be in Paris in Sept. leaving on the 15th of Sept. for Zurich. We want to go by train. Our hotel is, I believe, on the Left Bank. Once we get to Zurich we will pick up a car. We can pick a car up downtown or at the airport. We would like to get to Zurich early in the day but do not want to take an overnight train. Does anyone know how to do this? I've gone on RailEuroope and can find a train from Paris Est to Zuerich HB but I can't find out where either of these locations are. Please, please can someone help? Thanks so much. Betty

There is a TGV leaving Paris Gare de l'Est at 8:24, arriving at 12:58. For a Saturday, this is your best travel time between the two cities. This particular connection requires no changes of train.

If you want to be there earlier, then there is a train at 6:54 arriving at 11:58. You must change in Basel and walk from the French part of the station to the Swiss part, which is a longish walk of about 15 minutes, particularly if you have trans Atlantic flight luggage in tow.

Gare de l'Est is a central Paris train station located not far from Gare du Nord. The location in Paris can be easily ascertained on any Paris map.

If you have an idea where the Louvre is, the station is located northwest of there.

Here are some quick directions:
Exit the Louvre onto Rue di Rivoli, which is the main street along the north side of the Louvre. Turn right.

Proceed to Boulevard de Sebastopol and turn left.

Proceed straight ahead until you run into the main steps at Gare de l'Est.

I estimate the distance at 6K. (Emphasis on estimate.)

The Zürich Hauptbahnhof is in the center of the business part of the city.
The Limmat River flows by the station at close quarters. Rental agencies are around the area. However, I don't know the hours. The airport is a 10 minute train ride away and all major car agencies are there with long hours of operation.

By the way, tickets from Rail Europe are a little more expensive. However, you might opt for the convenience of RE.

2nd class tickets are 198€ from the SNCF site.

Rail Europe wants $300, plus shipping.
The euro price converts to $270.00

OOOPS. Gare de l'Est is NORTHEAST OF THE LOUVRE.

REPEAT Northeast!

Bad error. Sorry.

Dear Bob,

Thank you so much for your help. I have had such a hard time figuring this train schedule out. After reading your note I booked thru Rail Europe. The fares went down from last night and I was able to get fare for $198 for two, first class. Now all I need to do is call Auto Europe and make sure my car connections are accurate and my trip is done. Again, thank you, thank you for your help. I've printed a copy for directions when in Paris. Betty

>Once we get to Zurich we will pick up a car.

Are you sure you need a car for your further trips? Sometimes it is better, but often a car is only a liability in Switzerland, or at least not useful.

The Autoeurope web site will show you the open and closing hours of the rental agencies in Zürich.

The downtown office on Josef Strasse is open until 3 pm according to the Auto Europe website. On my map Josef Strasse looks to be about 500 to 600 yards from the train station.

To get there, I will assume you will exit out the main entrance going toward the Limmat River. Turn left and walk a few yards toward the bridge.

When you reach Museum Strasse, turn left.
Keep to your left until you reach Zoll Strasse. Josef Strasse branches off of Zoll at an angle. The map makes me think there is a 3 way intersection with Zoll, Josef and Haffner all coming together.

If you find your self on Limmat Strasse, simply turn left at Hafner Strasse and walk back to Josefstrasse.

I double checked the directions to Gare de l'Est, or Paris East.

Exit the Louvre onto Rue de Rivoli and turn right, which is east, slightly south. At Boulevard du Sebastopol, turn left, which is north east. Follow Sebastopol to the station. The name of the street changes to Boulevard du Strassbourg before you get to the station itself, but the street is a wide boulevard and there is no curving or swerving - simply a name change.

If you have much luggage, I suggest a taxi. Every Paris taxi driver can easily find Gare de l'Est.

I really think a map comes in handy.
I have the big Michelin #10. It is a little large for use on the street, but what I do is get one of the freebies that most hotels have, look up where I want to go on the big map, and mark up the freebie with any important details. My #10 usually stays in my room.

I find Paris is much less intimidating if you have looked at a good map and have a good idea of where various landmarks are located.

Some people also say that Paris is confusing. I will admit that it is large, and that the streets often intersect at crazy angles, but I have never gotten lost.

About the closest I came to being lost was when I got on a Metro train going the wrong direction. Correct line, wrong way.

Easily corrected at the next stop.

Zürich can be a tangle of streets as well. That is why I got a map. My current copy is distributed by International Travel Maps.

If a local Borders or Barnes and Noble does not have one, you could order from One Map Place in Texas. It has a web site: onemapplace.com.
I usually call them to make sure the order is clear.

You might want a road map of Switzerland while you are about it. I have the Michelin version, but it is certainly not the only one.

Dear Bob,
Thank you again for your wonderful directions when we arrive i nZurich by train. I just assumed the car rental place would be open. At least we get in at 1 pm. We have an interesting trip. We arrive in Paris on the 12th of Sept and stay only 3 days. We take the train to Zurich on the 15th, pick up our car and drive immediately to Liechtenstein where I will spend 3 glorious days researching my family history. On the 18th we will drive to Geneva via Zurich and stop in Biel/Bienne on the way. I*n Geneva we will drop our car off on the Swiss side and pick up a car on the French side about 4 pm. Then we will drive to a little village 30 minutes from the airport called Yvoire. The next day we drive to St. Remy where we will spend about 8 days traveling from village to village and flying out of Nice. Now our big problem is the airport in Geneva dropping the car off on the Swiss side and picking one up on the French side. Auto Europe said no problem. They have their own staff working at the airport and they will accomodate us. What do you think? You must be a world traveler, Bob. I greatly appreciate your help. Betty

Sounds like you have a very interesting trip planned. I have not yet done what you are describing.

As for the car return, that is a new one one on me. I have always returned my car in Switzerland and departed by train or plane.

Unless your rental car company tells you a different thing, I found the following information from GVA airport's website helpful:

Cars hired in the French sector:

- on Swiss side go to the check-in level and follow signs to the French side;
-cross the customs (on the right of the check-in hall).
Attention: you necessarily have to show your contract for care hiring.

So what you will basically do is that you act like someone who comes from Switzerland and wants to depart from the French side of the airport. And after you passed French/EU immigration/customs within the airport building on foot you go to the rental car desk in the French side of the airport.
As the airport has this information on its FAQ site, it seems like a pretty usual procedure there.

BTW.. you should check if the rental car you will pick up on the French side has a Swiss motorway toll sticker (= vignette) - or not.

It is definetely not necessary to have one to go from GVA to Yvoire (a very pretty village, indeed), but just watch out that you do not get onto a Swiss motorway accidentely if your rental car does not have the "vignette". As you will have been driven around Switzerland before that, you will remember that directions in green will lead to motorways, e.g. a sign saying "anytown" on green and another one on blue background will guide you to the very same destination, the first via toll/motorway, the latter via toll-free national roads.

BTW.. the rental car you will pick up in Zurich will - of course - have the motorway toll sticker - so no worries there.

Why don’t you take a train directly to Vaduz in Liechtenstein rather than renting a car in Switzerland? By TGV the journey Paris – Vaduz is only 6.5 hours. This trip requires a change in Basel and then a transfer to a bus for a short trip at the end, but overall would be an easy trip, IMO. The TGV from Paris- Zurich will take you 4.5 hours, then the drive to Liechtenstein is about another 1.5 hours (not including time to find the rental car agency, figuring out how to get out of downtown Zurich, and hopefully not getting lost on the drive). So all in all, the train/bus combo is not going to take you any longer and IMO will probably save you time. This would also save you drop off charges, rental charges and gas prices (at US$7 a gallon). Assuming you aren’t going into the hinterland of Liechtenstein, you should be able to get around there fine with bus transport if you need to leave Vaduz. (You can literally walk a lot of this country.) Also, note that one of your days for researching history is a Sunday, you won’t find government or university libraries or offices open on that day to do any research. You will reach there too late on Saturday to find anything open as well. You will really only have the Monday the 17th to do the research if you need library or government office access.

Most importantly, the drive from Liechtenstein to Geneva is dull, dull in the extreme, all highway and quite surprisingly not really scenic (most of it is green, but very few mountain vistas other than the area around Liechtenstein). There can be a ton of traffic on the highway, esp. between Zurich and Geneva as it is the only main highway between the two. I don’t see any reason to do this drive if you aren’t spending any time in Switzerland with the car to begin with.

Another option might be to just rent a car in Liechtenstein and return it there, taking the train from there to Geneva. This would save a good bit I would think. Most all trains stop in Biel as well.

Sorry, if you really want to have a car, then another thing to consider doing is taking the train to BASEL and then going to the FRENCH SIDE of Basel airport and renting the car. You can take a bus or taxi from the Basel train station to Basel airport in about 10-15 minutes. (The airport name is Mulhouse airport; like Geneva there is a French and Swiss side.) A taxi is not cheap but is obviously faster. This would save you having to drop off the car in Switzerland and pick it up again in France. The drive from Basel to Vaduz is about 1.5 hours (I am guessing, but I think that is accurate). This would not save with the dullness of the drive for the most part. There are some back ways to go to Vaduz via the north side of Lake Zurich but overall I would not recommend them for a first-timer. There really is no back way between Zurich and Geneva other than the dull highway, believe me, I have tried to find them....

You can get to Basel from Paris in 3.5 hours, with no changes via TGV train or 4 hours with a change in Strasbourg. So all in, this would be faster than going via Zurich and IMO much easiser to find the highway from Basel airport than from downtown Zurich. Both Basel and Strasbourg are interesting towns if you want to stop there for lunch or a stroll (store luggage in the lockers at the train station).

Oh my gosh, I never thought about one of my days being Sunday. YUK!! Well, that is OK I will drive and see every inch of Liechtenstein and may drive across the border to Austria. I can spend Monday at the offices and on a tour. I should have most of my info before that. Unfortunately, I have booked by train from Paris to Zurich. Doing it yourself, I never knew I had the option of going from Paris to Vaduz. I do when a car in Vaduz, though. Some of your other suggestions on taking a train from Vaduz or Basel back to Geneva are interesting. This trip would be so easy if I didn't desperately want to go over to Liechtenstein. It is just plain out of the way. Thanks for your help. tomorrow I'll look at some more train schedules. Thanks for all of your help. Betty

Well, if you really need a car, and are taking the TGV 9291 train which departs Paris Est station at 8: 24 am and arrives at Zurich at 12:58 pm, you are STOPPING IN BASEL on that train trip. You arrive around Noon. You could just get off the train in Basel, and then hop a bus or taxi to the Basel airport and pick up the car. Basel is the last stop before Zurich, so you really aren’t paying for much of an unused ticket. (The one way first class fare is CH50, so that is what you are losing by hopping off the train early.) If you really can’t exchange the train ticket at this point, IMO, then I would suggest you consider getting off one stop early at Basel. The slight loss in fare has got to be cheaper than the two rental scenario you are considering, plus the attendant time and hassle of renting two cars.

Also, I assume you have looked into whether or not your tickets are exchangeable to just get a ticket to Basel.

Fro train schedules, take a look at rail.ch. To see the stops a train make, on the schedule for each train, click on “show intermediate stops”. For your trains, you can try this link, I don’t know that it will work http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe...mp;OK#cis_C0-1

dear Cicerone,

I wish Auto Europe could have explained to me how wise it would have been to pick up a car in Basel instead of Zurich and then the hassel in Geneva. I have my paid for tickets on the 9291 train departing from Paris at 8:24 on the 15th of Sep and arriving in Zurich at 12:58. I cannot find any train records showing this train stops in Basel. I would love to jump off the train and do what you suggest but only if it makes a stop. I can't call the train co for help. when I go to RailEurope they never suggest this trin for Paris to Basel. What do you think? Betty P.S. Thanks for your help.

Sorry, I have forgotten to post. According to the website schedule for Swiss Rail, which I find eminently reliable, the train TGV 9291 which leaves Paris L’est station at 8:24 am on Saturday, September 15 stops in Basel at 11:50 am. This is a regular train which runs all year, and the Basel stop is a regularly scheduled stop, so I have no reason to believe that this schedule would change between now and September 15. There is also no reason why you cannot just get off the train at Basel even though your ticket says Zurich, no one will care or ask.

You can see the schedule by going to the Swiss Rail website at rail.ch, and putting in “Paris” as the start, and “Zurich HB” as the end, “15.9.07” as your departure date and “8:24” as the departure time. Hit “search connection”. A few train options will come up, including the TGV departing at 8:24. Scroll down to that train and click on “Show intermediate stops”. You will see that the train stops in Basel and departs again for Zurich at 12:07.

You can assure yourself that this train will stop by then doing a new search for a train from Paris just to Basel on Sept 15 and 8:24 and you will see the SAME train 9291 comes up, and that the train arrives in Basel at 11:50 am.

The particular link for that train on the rail.ch website is
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe...mp;OK#cis_C1-3

You can also confirm this yourself when you get to Paris by checking with a station agent yourself, or a hotel concierge who can call the Paris station. I have full confidence, however, that this TGV 9291 train stops in Basel, which is a major Swiss city (as they go).

FYI, I just went on the Rail Europe site and searched scheudules for trains from Paris to Basel on Sept 15 at 8 am, and the 9291 train came up. RailEurope does not seem to show intermediate stops on its schedules, which is a shame, because this would really help people with planning. The rail.ch site is just great generaly, you can use it for all Europe, not just Switzerland. You can't get fares for anything but in-Swizterland travel, but it is very helpful with planning for all other purposes, IMO.

Also, for your next European trip, don't buy through Rail Europe. You can really wait until you get to Europe to buy train tickets unless you are buying some sort of rail pass (and even many of those can be purchased in Europe. The tickets you have for one limited trip could have been purchased in Paris or on-line through Swiss Rail and most likely would have been cheaper and/or refundable.

>I have booked by train from Paris to Zurich. Doing it yourself, I never knew I had the option of going from Paris to Vaduz. I do when a car in Vaduz, though. Some of your other suggestions on taking a train from Vaduz or Basel back to Geneva

Guys, however you go from Basel to Liechtenstein, YOU GO THROUGH ZÜRICH!!!
On the other hand, Basel is NOT on the way from Zürich to Geneva.

Btw. i would recommend not to bother with car on the way from Zürich or Liechtenstein to Geneva. While it is useful when going around Liechtenstein, the stretch between Zürich and Geneva (including stop at Biel or Neuchatel) isn´t really nice to drive. You can take a train directly to geneva airport, get out and catch the rental car for France.

I like the idea of dropping the car off in Biel-Bienne and picking up a car on the French side of Geneva. It looks possible to take a train from Biel to the Geneva Airport. Question. Do we have to go thru immigration at the train depot in Geneva or at the Geneva Airport? Thanks again. Betty

Let me clarify the situation a bit. The OP’s original plan was to take a train from Paris to Zurich, rent a car in Zurich, drive it to Lichtenstein, then drive to Geneva airport, walk over to the French side of Geneva airport and pick up another car and then use that car for the remaining French portion of her trip.

My point was to try to save the OP some money, time and hassle by suggesting that she take the train from Paris to Basel and rent a car on the FRENCH side of Basel airport, and continue to keep it for both Lichtenstein and the French portion of her trip. This would save her drop off charges and renting a car twice. I have already noted to her that the drive from Lichtenstein to Geneva is quite dull and full of traffic, and that a train overall would be better. (Rail Europe apparently did not tell her she could take a train/bus directly to Vaduz in Lichtenstein, which is part of the initial problem.) However, she wants a car in Lichtenstein and a car in France, so to pay for two cars seemed to me to be more of a hassle and expense than the boring highway drive between Vaduz and Geneva. I also suggested picking up the car in Basel not only to save rental charges versus renting in Switzerland and then again in France, but because IMO it is much easier to find the rental car agency at Basel airport than it is to find one of the AutoEurope offices in downtown Zurich and to drive out of downtown Zurich.

The OP already has an apparently non refundable train ticket from Paris to Zurich purchased through RailEurope. I pointed out to her that the train she is on, the TGV 9291, stops in Basel, and that she could simply get off the train here and rent the car at Basel Airport (French side).

not to highjack the thread, but is the drive from Zurich to Murten to Montreaux then along the southern side of Lake Geneva on to Lyon France nice? I will deal with drop off charges but if the sites aren't worth it, perhaps a train to Lyon is better? Thanks you!