Help with Europe Transportation

Hi. To start, use web site bahn.de (English option at top). It will show all train routes / schedules in Europe so you can get an idea. For instance, from Paris to Lucerne (Luzern), there are trains taking 6 hours with 2 or 3 stops, but also some taking less than 5 hours with only one stop. This site will not show prices or allow you to purchase, but will give you a good start. Train trip from Luzern to Venice is 7 to 8 hours, but still maybe the best way to go vs. train to Zurich and then flying. To see fares or purchase, use sites of country where train trip starts (france / sncf; swiss / sbb; italy / trenitalia). You can often get big discounts for buying in advance, but usually those tix are non-changeable / non-refundable. Enjoy your trip!

At certain times of day, you can travel Paris-Lucerne and Lucerne- Venice each with only one train connection. How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. The Paris-Lucerne route connects at either Basel or Geneva and reserved tickets to either border city will be cheaper if you buy them now.

But just one night in Switzerland is not much. People can almost always use another day in Paris or Venice, and flying between them would give you that; see www.skyscanner.com.

Most people find the Swiss train site easier to use than The Italian one, especially for ticket purchase.

The main site is www.sbb.ch Use the "en" button at the top, in the center, to get English.

Paris to Luzern is an easy journey of under 5 hours and a single change at Basel if you choose the 10:23 am departure.

http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/dn?

I see there are still "Special Offer" tickets available for this journey on 26 June. Price is 96 CHF each instead of 173 CHF. These are print-at -home tickets.

You might want to compare with the prices offered on the French train site and also www.captaintrain.com which is an agency that does not mark up the prices.

The only flights I see from Paris to Luzern are actually Paris to Zürich. You'd still have to go by train (45m-1h) from Zürich to Luzern. That would probably take you longer than the train from Paris to Luzern.

Spending one day in Switzerland sandwiched between two very long travel days doesn't sound fun to me. Either spend more time in Switzerland or skip it altogether and fly from Paris to Venice or Rome.

I agree with Emily. There is no night train between Lucerne and Venice, so you would have to leave earlier, leaving you with very little time there.

"You might want to compare with the prices offered on the French train site and also [Captaintrain] which is an agency that does not mark up the prices."

Not sure about other countries, but in Germany, Captaintrain does not give accurate prices. For instance, it will not show Länder ticket prices, even for a route with only regional trains, and on routes or route segments with more expensive express trains, it often will not show any regional train connections. Example, in 2012, I went from Frasdorf, Germany, by bus to Rosenheim and from there by train via Munich to Zwiesel in the Bayerischer Wald, all with a 23€ Bayern-Ticket that I bought that morning on the bus. Captaintrain won't give me the Frasdorf to Rosenhiem leg, and for Rosenheim to Zwiesel, it only offers an advance purchase, non-refundable Sparpreis fare of 29€ or a fully flexible regional ticket for 44,90€.

Other than not showing buses nor all the trains or not giving you the lowest possible fares, Captaintrain is fine.

I was not aware Capitantrain handles tix for Germany. I would not suggest it for there.

But I have read that people like it for booking trains in France, as the TGV site can be tricky. I haven't used it myself, as we haven't taken trains in France. I would use SBB to book Paris to Luzern myself.