Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Travel Forum

I have been looking into travel from Geneva to Chamonix via Martigny. I read that the train trip is very scenic but I am having trouble getting a costing on the sbb site.
I have visitors coming from Australia in December and this sounded like a good idea. Does anyone know the price please? Thank you

the two journeys are run by two different companies if i remember right and that is probaply why you have trouble finding out the price.
if i remember right then i think i paid around 50 swiss franc for the journey last year and yes, it´s a very scenic ride and worth all the money.

I didn't get other details like when you want to go. This is important as some sites can accept bookings only from 3-6 months in advance but there is a general site I think- I saw it while googling muyself as we plan are going on 2 cruises to Europe next yr in April & Mays this site is raileurope.com or something like that, just google train travel in europe & go from there, cheers!

A train ride from Geneva to Chamonix via Martigny involves three railway companies. From Geneva to Martigny you travel on an SBB train. From Martigny to Vallorcine you take a train run by the "Martigny Chatelard, now incorporated in the "Transport Martigny er Region" (TMR) . From Vallorcine to Chamonix it's the SNCF that runs the trains.
Normally the SBB site has no problem pricing trips that involve several companies. Otherwhise their site wouldn't be that usefull, as there are over 50 railway companies and a few hundred other public transport agencies in Switzerland. The SBB site can give your prices to stations on the TMR network, ans quotes 38,- for Geneve - Vallorcine in second class. But the prices for the SNCF part of this network are not in the SBB's database.
You can look them up on the SNCF site however, and they quote euro 7,90 for second class. So it appears that the 50, CHF someone else quoted would be correct. The ticket agent at the SBB station in Geneva will be able to sell you a ticket for the whole trip.

May I add that the train times betweeen Martigny and Chamonix can be be found in downloadable and printable form here

http://www.ter-sncf.com/rhone_alpes/carte_horaires/index.asp - use the interactive map or the drop down Lsite des Fiches Horaires (it's near the bottom) to find the right page.

The winter timetable will be published in Mid-September.

The Swiss and French trains do actually connect with each other at the border in Vallorcine, so no long waits.

I would just like to add to the suggestions here that you can write to the SBB on their 'contact us' to get the pricing sent to you on e-mail. The SNCF will definitely not have their December fares up yet. It is easy to just buy the ticket at the train station as no reserved seating is on these trains and they are not known for being crowded. I personally don't use 3rd party sites to buy train tickets because normally they add on some type of service fee to make their money ...