Train Stations in Geneva: Which One You Actually Need

If your booking screen just says “Geneva” and you have not opened the train details, you might be about to buy a ticket to the wrong station. Geneva has one obvious main station, one airport station that is also a real long-distance terminus, and a small group of cross-border stops that share the city’s name but belong to a different network. This guide explains which Geneva station you actually need and how to use each one.

Which Geneva train station you actually need

For nearly every traveller, book Geneva, also written Genève, Gare de Genève, or Cornavin. They all mean the same station: the city’s main long-distance hub, in the centre of Geneva. Choose Geneva Airport (Genève-Aéroport, GVA) only if your train already starts or ends there, or your hotel is at the airport.

The choice matters because Geneva is unusual in two ways. Cornavin and the airport are both proper SBB long-distance stations, so it is easy to book a ticket to the airport when you wanted the city. And since 2019 the cross-border Léman Express network has put several smaller central stations onto booking screens with the word “Genève” in their names. If your booking just shows “Geneva”, open the train details and confirm the exact station before you pay.

Geneva’s train stations at a glance

Most travellers only need to recognise three station types: the main station, the airport station, and the Léman Express stops.

The rest of this guide focuses on Cornavin, Geneva Airport, and the Léman Express stops you are likeliest to book by mistake.

Geneva (Cornavin), the main station

Cornavin is the station nearly everyone wants. It handles every long-distance Swiss train, the TGV Lyria from Paris and Marseille, the TER from Lyon, and the Léman Express. It is in the heart of the city, about a twelve-minute walk from Lake Geneva, with trams running straight from the square outside.

Aim for the south entrance at Place de Cornavin by default; that is where the SBB travel centre, the main hall, and the tram and bus stops outside the door all sit. Trams 14, 15 and 18 are the most useful for visitors and leave from right outside. All eight platforms are on a viaduct above street level and are reached from the cross-passage under the tracks, so changing platforms is quick.

For luggage, choose the lockers if you only need a few hours and want to come and go on your own schedule, and the staffed consignment desk if you are storing a bag overnight or for several days, since the desk handles oversized items that will not fit a locker. Short stays start from around CHF 5; the exact prices and opening hours change over time, so check the SBB station page before you arrive if you are storing a large bag overnight.

One older name keeps coming up. Older guides, taxi drivers, and even some hotel websites still call this station “Cornavin”, while signage on the platforms simply says “Genève”. Local booking screens often write “Geneva”. They are the same place.

Platforms 6 and 7 at Cornavin: trains to and from France

Almost every train to or from France leaves from platform 6 or 7 at Cornavin, behind a Schengen passage. That includes the TGV Lyria from Paris and Marseille and the TER from Lyon. Allow a few extra minutes to walk down the slope and through the long arrivals or departures passage; it is further than the other platforms.

Until late 2024 these were platforms 7 and 8. The November 2024 trackwork at Cornavin renumbered them to 6 and 7, so any guide or booking confirmation that still says “platform 7 or 8 for France” is out of date. The platforms themselves did not move; only the numbers.

France and Switzerland are both in the Schengen area, so most of the time you just walk through. The X-ray machines, offices and passport kiosks you pass are usually unused. Spot checks happen, especially at busy times and on the return from Paris, so carry your ID.

Buy your French TER ticket in the right place. SBB ticket machines on the concourse cannot sell tickets for the regional French TER services to Lyon. Use the SBB travel centre instead, or the dedicated French self-service machines that sit just inside the platforms 6 and 7 passage. Léman Express trains, even those heading to France, leave from other platforms, so do not look for them on 6 or 7.

Geneva Airport (Genève-Aéroport): the airport station you can use as a real terminus

If your final destination is Lausanne, Bern, Zürich, Winterthur or St. Gallen and you are flying into Geneva, do not assume you need to take a local train into Cornavin and change there. Walk down from arrivals to the SBB station built into the level below the terminal and board your onward Swiss train directly. Hourly InterCity 1 services (IC1) start from Geneva Airport for St. Gallen via Lausanne, Fribourg, Bern, Zürich HB, Winterthur and other stops, and InterRegio (IR) and RegioExpress (RE) services add more options towards Lausanne, the Valais and Brig.

This works because the airport station is a full SBB long-distance terminus, not a small shuttle stop tacked onto the terminal. It opened in 1987 and is served by an average of four trains per hour. Check the train details on your onward reservation: if the origin reads “Genève-Aéroport”, board there and save yourself the transfer.

The airport station sits inside Geneva’s Unireso zone 10 fare zone, the same zone as Cornavin and the central Léman Express stops, so a local single ticket between the airport and the city is a short, cheap fare on the same local product. The trolleybus 10 and several local bus lines stop just outside the terminal if your route does not run by rail.

Geneva Airport to Geneva Cornavin by train

The train between Geneva Airport and Cornavin takes around six to seven minutes. Several trains run every hour throughout the day, and the fare on the local Unireso zone 10 single ticket is a few francs, which is far cheaper than a taxi for the same trip. For nearly everyone arriving by plane, the train is the right choice.

Look for the free arrivals ticket before you queue. Geneva Airport has long offered a complimentary short-validity transit ticket for arriving passengers, valid on local SBB trains and TPG trams and buses, so a fresh arrival can usually ride into the city without buying a separate ticket. The exact scheme and validity have changed over the years, so look for the machine near baggage reclaim on arrival and read the validity printed on your ticket; if you cannot find it, the TPG or GVA information desks can point you to it.

If you are flying out of Geneva, the same logic works in reverse. You can often join the IC1, IR or RE at Lausanne or another stop on the route and ride it straight to the airport station, without changing at Cornavin.

Léman Express stations: when Geneva is not Cornavin

If your booking shows Eaux-Vives, Champel-Hôpital, Lancy-Pont-Rouge or Chêne-Bourg, you are looking at a Léman Express stop on the CEVA line that opened on 15 December 2019. The Léman Express is the cross-border regional rail network around Geneva, with seven lines and 45 stations spread across Switzerland and Haute-Savoie in France. From Cornavin, direct Léman Express trains run to Annemasse, Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains.

The mistake to avoid is treating these as alternatives to the main station for a long-distance trip. They are not. Eaux-Vives lies east of the city centre, near the lake and the Old Town, and is the most useful Léman Express stop for visitors staying on that side. Champel-Hôpital sits below Champel, near the main public hospital and the university medical campus. Lancy-Pont-Rouge is south-west of Cornavin in the Lancy business district. Chêne-Bourg is the last stop in Switzerland before the line crosses into Annemasse. For SBB long-distance trains to Lausanne, Bern, Zürich or international TGV Lyria services, switch your booking to Geneva (Cornavin).

Genève-Sécheron is a different category. It is a small SBB regional stop a short tram ride north of Cornavin, near the UN and the international quarter, and only Geneva-Lausanne regional services stop there. Treat it the same way: useful if you work nearby and your train calls there, not the long-distance hub.

Rail passes and reservations at Geneva stations

Interrail, Eurail and Swiss Travel Pass holders can use almost everything that stops at Cornavin and Geneva Airport without buying an extra reservation. Swiss IC, IR, RegioExpress and Léman Express services are all walk-on with a valid pass; you can step off the IC1 at the airport, walk to a Léman Express train at Cornavin, and use both without booking a seat in advance.

The exception is the international service to France. TGV Lyria between Paris or Marseille and Geneva still requires a paid pass-holder seat reservation, with a limited quota on each train. The reservation is separate from your pass and from the standard TGV Lyria ticket; book it early on popular dates, because pass-holder places often go before the regular fares. The same logic applies to other international high-speed trains you might add to a Switzerland trip, such as TGV services to Paris from other Swiss cities. For day-to-day Swiss travel through Cornavin, the airport station, and any Léman Express stop, you can plan around your pass alone and decide your departure when you arrive at the station.

Getting from Cornavin into central Geneva

Walk by default. Lake Geneva is about a twelve-minute walk south from Cornavin, and the Old Town and Place du Bourg-de-Four are a similar walk south-east across the Rhône bridges. For most central hotels on a short stay, you will reach the door faster than you will figure out which tram you want.

Take a tram when your hotel is genuinely off the centre or you have heavy luggage. Tram 14 runs east-west across the city, tram 15 heads north towards Nations and the UN, and tram 18 follows a useful arc through the centre, all from outside the main entrance. Tickets work on a Unireso zone basis; if you arrived by plane, the same free arrivals ticket you can pick up at Geneva Airport is also valid on these trams for its printed validity period, so a fresh arrival can usually get from the airport to a Geneva hotel without buying anything extra.

If your hotel is on the international or UN side of the city, do not walk and do not change trams; stay on a Geneva-Lausanne regional train one stop past Cornavin to Sécheron, which puts you closer to the UN, the WTO and the Botanical Gardens. For everything else, the TPG ticket machines outside Cornavin sell single rides, short-stay tickets and day passes, and the buses fill in the gaps the trams do not reach.