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Paris to Venice, with three days and two nights in between, where should we go?

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My husband and I are going to London and Paris on an independent tour and then we have three days and two nights to get to Venice for a guided tour. This is our first trip to Europe. We think Switzerland might be a nice stop in between. Wondering if there is a place in southern France that might be better. We would love to see a quaint town with cobblestone streets and charm. We live in Southern California so we don't have to see the beach. We also enjoy train rides and believe it is part of the trip. I am concerned about the train transfers being direct and have thought of Paris to Luzerne. Luzerne for two nights, then Zurich to Venice. I realize that we would have to arrive in Zurich before going to Luzerne. How should we get to Luzerne from Zurich? Cab, Uber or another train. We might be exhausted from the train travel also on the last day.

We could also scratch Switzerland altogether and continue our stay in Paris and make day trips outside of the city. We are in Paris for four nights. We could take the night train from Paris to Venice or fly into Venice from Paris.

What are your ideas for us? I prefer the train over flying.

Posted by
2679 posts

How many nights do you get in Venice on your tour? If you really only have two free nights, I wouldn't try to add another city. It might be more rewarding to add a night to Paris and a night to Venice, especially if you only have a day or two in Venice. Paris is just fantastic and there's so much to do...you could fill a week, easily.

As for the train, I prefer train over flight too, but the Paris to Venice train is long long long. When I make that trek, I fly...it's just so much simpler.

Posted by
7175 posts

Choose Lausanne over Luzern for your Swiss lakeside experience and you won't need to worry about connecting trains.

Day #1 TGV 9269 Dep 11:57 PARIS GARE DE LYON (France) Arr 15:37 LAUSANNE (Switzerland)
Day#2 EC 39 Dep 14:18 LAUSANNE (Switzerland) Arr 17:37 MILANO CENTRALE (Italy)
Day#3 FB 9727 Dep 15:05 MILANO CENTRALE (Italy) Arr 17:28 VENEZIA MESTRE (Italy)

In Milan, book a ticket to see Leonardo's Last Supper, visit the roof top of the Duomo, and enjoy a Risotto Milanese for lunch.

Posted by
11746 posts

We like the trains too! Far better than flying and it is indeed part of the fun.

Quaint on a direct route to Venice from Paris might be a tall order. Lucerne is certainly beautiful and far different than So Cal. It is also on a good path from Paris to Venice. You can take the TGV at 10:23 to Lausanne, transfer to an Intercity in Basel and arrive 15:05. You can look at all options at SNCF.com. Bern is another thought and worth looking into, by the way.

On to Venice (Venezia), you can leave Lucerne (Luzern in German) at 08:46 on the EuroCity to Milan, where you transfer to Trenitalia and arrive at 15:40. There are other options with more changes of train and later arrivals. Research them here at SBB.ch.

I don't find train journeys tiring. I think they are much less tiring than flying. You can get up and walk around, read, sleep, chat, eat.

Posted by
44 posts

Thank you for all of the responses and tips. This really helped us. I love all of the ideas!

To answer one of the questions above, we are only in Venice for two nights and our guided tour begins at 3:00 on the first day so it will be a push to be traveling so much that day. We can handle it though. So many options and we enjoy planning this phase of our trip. We might save the Switzerland trip for our 25th anniversary in a few years and just travel to Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Decisions, decisions…

I do have one other question. Has anyone gone on the Night Train from Paris to Venice? It would be a complete adventure and a bit like camping. If we did this we would definitely get our own cabin for privacy. It could completely wipe us out but would be fun and add to the experience. Some people have said they have a difficult time sleeping on the night train.

If we decide to stay in Paris for one more day that would enable us to take possible day trips outside the city. Any recommendations? Versailles, Normandy, Giverney? Are these possible in a day?

Posted by
11294 posts

Personally with your schedule, I'd fly from Paris to Venice, have more time in each city, and leave Switzerland for another trip. Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer to this.

As for daytrips, Normandy is quite a long way from Paris; there are single day trips, but you spend most of the time in transit. Either Giverny or Versailles is a much more viable daytrip. If you really enjoy being rushed around, you can try to see them both on the same day (I'd choose a guided tour rather than trying to do it on your own if you want to do this). If you don't want to feel like a chicken without a head, pick one or the other, or stay in Paris your whole time.

Posted by
7175 posts

Another routing option would be direct TGV from Paris to Torino, then to Bologna and Venice.
However, from what you describe, it would appear of more benefit to extend Paris by a day, and travel to Venice a day earlier.

Posted by
1073 posts

I would fly to Venice and split the extra time between Paris and Venice. You can take a tour from Paris to Normandy, but it will take all day. I did that in 2008. I took a Paris Vision tour. It left Paris at 7:00 AM and didn't return until 9:00 PM. It was probably the most moving experience I have had in Europe.

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