Geneva airport onward train journey with a bike bag!

[xcnick]

Hi all

I'm heading to the alps this July to see the tour stages (woohoo! ) flying to Geneva and staying in Aix les Baines.

I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice about getting a train from Geneva airport. I can't seem to book a train directly from the airport to my destination,( http://www.sncf.co.uk/ ) it seems to be Geneva airport to Geneva, then Geneva onwards. I have called the helpline on the trainline websites only to speak to very unhelpful staff! What I'd really like to know is, is it best just to buy a ticket when we arrive for the train journey or should we book in advance, and can we just hop on with our bikes in bags?

Thank you

[smck]

There are a few choices but two main ones. A) is to get the coach from the airport straight to Annecy and either get a bus from there to Aix-les-Bains or a train. B) is to get the coach into the Geneva bus station and from there get another bus to Aix. I've never needed to book beforehand and the bikes shouldn't be a problem either.

http://212.203.98.98/WD160AWP/WD160AWP. ... NECT/GRweb is the gare routiere in Geneva.

To find the airport coach timetables, just go to the airport site www.gva.ch

[Privateer]

SMCK is right- you'll need to get a coach.

The swiss rail website is http://www.sbb.ch" (in English). You might find it easier than SNCF.

If you do need to get a coach from the Geneva coach station (Gare Routiere), or a train from Geneva main station (Conarvin), you can get a train directly to Conarvin from the train station at Geneva airport (Cointrin). It's one stop to the main Geneva station (about 8 mins), and all trains from the airport go to the main station. You can buy a ticket at the station and jump on any train (or jump straight on and buy a ticket from ticket checker on the train).

[xcnick]

Thank you both very much for the info, very useful. Do either of you have experience with the bikes on one of the coaches, or even the trains? Looking on rail europe, bikes are FOC in a bag up to 120cm x 90cm but obviously bike bags are bigger than that! There'll be 2 of us with a bike each.

[basilic]

It seems to me that a train will be faster, under 1.5 hrs, e.g.:

Gare/Arrêt Date Heure Voie
Genève-Aéroport Lu, 28.05.12 dép. 14:36 1 IC 731
Genève arr. 14:43 4

Genève dép. 14:59 RE 96642
Aix-les-Bains-le-Revard arr. 16:02

The coach connections are closer to 3 hrs (but I have not searched too thoroughly).
If the bikes are packed they'll likely travel as personal luggage for free, if unpacked you'll pay a small fee.

[xcnick]

Thanks basilic I figured the train might be a better option. The info on the sites provided is far better than I could find myself!

Thanks again all