Land Travel from Paris to Rome

We are arriving in Paris on the 12th of June and would like to snake our way
down to Rome with possible stops in Milan, Venice, and Florence. Can anyone
offer any suggestions on specific trains.

Thanks

"JMM" wrote in message
...
We are arriving in Paris on the 12th of June and would like to snake our
way down to Rome with possible stops in Milan, Venice, and Florence. Can
anyone offer any suggestions on specific trains.

So does that mean you want to go from Paris to Milan in one journey, then
make additional stops in Venice and Florence? If so, I'd consider flying
from Paris to Venice, then taking the train after that. There are some cheap
flights from Paris to Venice. And I'd probably skip Milan.

Marianne

On Sat, 6 May 2006 23:10:35 -0400, "JMM"
wrote:

We are arriving in Paris on the 12th of June and would like to snake our way
down to Rome with possible stops in Milan, Venice, and Florence. Can anyone
offer any suggestions on specific trains.

There are overnight trains (called Artesia trains) from Paris to
Milan, if you're not planning to make any stops on that stretch. The
cost of these trains is very reasonable and it includes a bunk in a
shared room. There are 4 bunks in 1st class compartments and 6 in 2nd
class compartments.Some trains also have private compartments. Some
people can't sleep on trains; if you are one of them, this might not
be a good idea. Here is the English language page of the French
railroad:

http://www.sncf.fr/indexe.htm

The web site is a little flakey. To see the Artesia trains, choose
Paris Bercy as your departure station, and Milan centrale as your
arrival station. Pick a departure time after 7 PM (19:00 according to
European railroad schedules).

If you can't get the French railroad site to work, here is another
site that explains these trains. However, the prices are higher than
what I paid. I think it's because the French rail site often has
specials and discounts that are not available on this private site.

http://tinyurl.com/q7frf

After Milan, the logical route would be Venice, Florence and Rome.
However, Venice is by no means along the way from Milan to Rome.

There are several types of train in Italy. On some lines, one or the
other type predominates. The types are, in roughly descending order of
price and comfort, Eurostar (ES), Intercity PLus (ICPlus), Intercity
(IC), and Interregional (IR). There are some other types, but these
are they major ones you will encounter.

I prefer the ES trains, which require a reservation (included in the
price). The ICPLus are theoretically upgraded IC trains, and they also
require a reservation. However, today I was on an ICPLus train that
was indistinguishable from any old IC train, and I'm beginning to
think that this category is just to force people to pay for
unnecessary reservations. I would go for the ES trains when possible.
2nd class is just fine. There is no reason to pay extra for 1st class.

You can find Italian train information in English at
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

Trains in Italy are very inexpensive. It would be a waste of money to
buy a rail pass for this trip.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On Mon, 08 May 2006 22:46:35 +0200, B
wrote:

On Sat, 6 May 2006 23:10:35 -0400, "JMM"
wrote:

We are arriving in Paris on the 12th of June and would like to snake our way
down to Rome with possible stops in Milan, Venice, and Florence. Can anyone
offer any suggestions on specific trains.

There are overnight trains (called Artesia trains) from Paris to
Milan, if you're not planning to make any stops on that stretch. The
cost of these trains is very reasonable and it includes a bunk in a
shared room. There are 4 bunks in 1st class compartments and 6 in 2nd
class compartments.Some trains also have private compartments. Some
people can't sleep on trains; if you are one of them, this might not
be a good idea. Here is the English language page of the French
railroad:


I am one of those who has trouble sleeping on trains, and if you
are one it can be a tiring experience (although the second night
seems to go better than the first). Because no one wants to
arrive at their destination too early in the morning, night
trains have a tendencey to travel slowly and may actually sit on
a siding for a while to let time pass. This can involve a lot of
jostling around and starting and stopping, which is enough to
keep me awake. The bunks aren't all that comfortable, either.

I notice that day traims make the Paris-Milan run in under seven
hours and the night trains take more than nine hours.

My wife, bless her, sleeps through almost anything.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Mon, 08 May 2006 15:08:01 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

I am one of those who has trouble sleeping on trains, and if you
are one it can be a tiring experience (although the second night
seems to go better than the first). Because no one wants to
arrive at their destination too early in the morning, night
trains have a tendencey to travel slowly and may actually sit on
a siding for a while to let time pass. This can involve a lot of
jostling around and starting and stopping, which is enough to
keep me awake. The bunks aren't all that comfortable, either.

[snip]

My wife, bless her, sleeps through almost anything.

I took the Artesia train in the other direction (Milan to Paris). I
was the only one in my compartment when we left Milan. By the time we
got to Turin, where we picked up more passengers, I was so sound
asleep that I barely was aware of a mother and her two children who
entered my compartment, got unpacked, dressed for bed, and tucked in.
I woke up in the morning when we were already near Paris, having slept
through the night without waking once.

Likewise on the way back to Italy. I realize that I'm very lucky to be
able to sleep so soundly. I also am usually able to sleep soundly in
steerage on a trans-Atlantic flight.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup