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Rome to Paris by train

Posted by on

I am trying to book a train from Rome to Paris first week of July. Do not want to take the night train or the plane. Want to do the TGV thing.

The ideal route seems to be Rome-Milan-Paris. There seem to be 3 direct Milan-Paris trains most days. The one that leaves Milan around 10 AM is perfect. However, for the first week of July, it seems there's only two direct trains: one which leaves Milan too early and the other which arrives in Paris close to midnight.

So for the train experts: is this train cancelled for that week or have the tickets just not been released yet. I can find tickets on the same train for the following week....so I am thinking it might be cancelled for that week for some reason.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Posted by
1868 posts

I am sure you have your reasons for not wanting to fly. I love the trains of Europe, but I would never take a train from Rome to Paris unless I broke it up over a few days. It is about 900 miles. That is like Chicago to the Florida state line. Good luck in your endeavor and please keep us posted on your success.

Posted by
8159 posts

You say the first week of July but someone could give you better opinion if you say the exact date

Posted by
5 posts

July 3rd or 4th. As for the train vs plane opinion posted earlier....I am sure it has been debated endlessly before. Let's just leave it at that.

Posted by
2487 posts

It could be that Trenitalia hasn't yet put all its connections in the system, but a combination of Italo (Rome to Milan) and TGV (Milan to Paris) is possible on the 3th July:
Dep Rome Termini 7:45 Arr Milan Central 11:45: tickets from EUR 34,90 (on Italotreno.it)
Dep Milan Central 12:23 Arr Paris Gare de Lyon 20:49: tickets from EUR 58 (on Oui.sncf).
Connections on the 4th had excessive prices; and an earlier train Milan to Paris seemed to be sold out.

Posted by
8159 posts

A 9:25 and a 11:25 are listed as full both days

July 2- 3 these are your options
12h23 MILAN CENTRAL STATION (IT)
20h49 GARE DE LYON (PARIS)
Journey details 1 change Train TGV Lyria Duration8h26

14h40 Milan Garibaldi (IT) , 22h31 Gare de Lyon (Paris)
14h40 MILAN GARIBALDI (IT)
22h31 GARE DE LYON (PARIS)
Journey details direct TGV Duration7h51

Posted by
150 posts

There's also a night train Venice-Milan-Paris operated by Thello (a subsidiary of Trenitalia), which could be an effective use of your time. On the Thello website, you can book a ticket from Rome to Paris, but tickets for Rome to Milan in July haven't been released yet. In terms of trains, you are still very early with your planning.

Posted by
11744 posts

We have done this trip a few times in both directions. As your scheduling options seem to have been well explained by others, I will merely add that doing the entire route (we went Paris to Rome in that instance, >11 hours) was a bit too much for one day. Going from Rome to Paris, wefrequently stopped in Milan for a night on our way to Paris to break it up. Torino is another great option for breaking up the trip. Just so you know. (And I agree, trains beat flying when you have the option!)

Posted by
5 posts

Just wanted to come back and update this. So this will be a month long trip for us and we will be doing plenty of Europe train rides...Eurostar, ICE, EuroCity, Italo. Think we would have had plenty of train experience.

The Rome-Paris leg is at the end of our trip, everyone would be tired. The bottom line: saner minds (i.e. the spouse) prevailed and we have booked a direct flight from Rome to Paris.

Thanks for the help guys.

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