We have an early morning train from Paris to Venice. How long before the train leaves should we be at the station? Is there security now or do we just walk onto the platform? Gare de Lyon, specifically.
Thanks?
Posted by
Green Bay
20090 posts
You might want to get there 30 minutes early to get your bearings. There are two separate sets of tracks, Hall 1 and Hall 2 and you really won't know which one your train is leaving from until you check the big train board inside the main entrance.
What time is your train? I see the one at 6:29 requires you to transfer stations in Milan from Porta Garibaldi to Centrale and only 35 minutes to do this.
http://www.garedelyon.fr/tourists/
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
There are no security procedures to get onto trains at Paris except for Eurostar and possibly Thalys trains at Gare du Nord. As Sam said, though, Gare de Lyon is quite a complicated station and arriving half an hour before departure is a good idea. The train may not be signalled that early, though, but it will give you time to get your bearings.
Posted by
OP
34 posts
Yes, we are taking the 6:29 but there is a 55 minute stopover. The train from Paris arrives at 13:50 and the Venice train leaves at 14:45. I'm thinking that is a reasonable amount of time. We can take the metro or a 5 minute taxi ride between stations if necessary.
Okay, it sounds like 30 minutes early is plenty of time. Thanks for the input!
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
Not liking uncertainty, I try to check out an unfamiliar train station the day before, but you may not have the time for that.
Posted by
Green Bay
20090 posts
Aw yes, I just looked at the "transfer 35 minutes" but that is just the estimated time to make it between stations, the actual gap between arrival and departure is 55 minutes.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4044 posts
A web search will turn up maps of the Paris train stations and probably Venice.
As a rule of thumb, train departures are posted on the main information notice boards about 20 minutes in advance.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
3 posts
There are no security procedures to get onto trains at Paris except for Eurostar and possibly Thalys trains at Gare du Nord.
I recently took a Thaly's train from Gare du Nord and had to go through security before going onto the platform and boarding the train. It didn't take long but there was a check.
I got there about an hour early but that was only because I hadn't been to Gare du Nord before and I'm very new to train travel... I wanted to give myself ample time to make sure I knew where I was going. Perhaps I got there a bit too early but it was what I felt comfortable with.
Enjoy your trip!