Rome to Paris - train or plane?

Plane of course is the quickest and cheapest option. Only consider rail if you have several days and a desire to stop (possibly Switzerland) and see a few places on the journey.
2 hr 55 min Rome - Milan
3 hr 19 min Milan - Lausanne
3 hr 39 min Lausanne - Paris

I'd fly it. It's roughly 11 hours by high-speed train: too long for me, personally.

There are overnight trains but again, I'd fly it.

I would( and did) fly.
We used Vueling but here are a few cheap airlines that are fine.

Took 1.5 hrs, and even with committing to and from airports, and being at airport 1.5 hrs ahead of flight, its still faster then train.
I like trains, but my experience has been that after about 5-6 hours I am done with being on train and want off!

Also at time I went there was a night train , bit to go in comfort ( ie private cabin) price was twice of flight!

kr,

A couple of choices to consider......

• Travel by train but break the journey up by stopping in an intermediate location for a night or two on the way. Switzerland is one possibility. If you travel by train, you won't have any choice in which station you use, as trains to various parts of Europe each use a specific station in Paris. For example, trains to Normandy usually depart from Gare St. Lazare.
• Use a budget flight. My preference would be an easyJet flight from Rome / FCO to Paris / ORY. Flights are often about €40 PP (plus a few fees of course), but the price will depend to some extent on how early you book. Note that the cheapest tickets are usually non-refundable and non-changeable ("flex" tickets will probably also be available at higher cost). As with trains, you won't have a choice in which airports are used. A flight will be both the quickest and cheapest option and will avoid wasting a lot of time in transit. With budget airlines, I'd suggest reading the Terms & Conditions carefully, especially related to luggage.

If you decide to use a flight to ORY, there are a couple of ways to get to central Paris from the airport. I'd probably take the OrlyVal people mover from the airport to Antony station and then RER into Paris. Check the Orly website for other options. If you're planning to buy a Paris Museum Pass, buy it at the airport.

Plane.

I did the overnight train a few years ago and was shocked -- felt like I was back in the Soviet bloc in the 1970s. The train was icky, hot, and crowded with one person in our couchette who was I guess moving to Italy and had all sorts of trunks and things that made it hard for the rest of us to find somewhere to put our luggage.

IF you have tons of time and hate to fly (which describes my husband and me) take the train. Be aware it is a long trip, but you can get up and move around, bring your own food or buy from the limited selection on the train. It is not luxurious, but it is not bad (I refer to the day train) and IMO beats flying. As others have suggested, mixing it up with a couple of strategic stops (again if you have that precious commodity of time available), is an excellent option, too.

Yes, you will see the countryside. If you leave Paris at 6:28 AM you are in Roma shortly after 5:00 PM.

After Friday's aborted terrorist incident aboard aboard a Thalys train, I would fly. Despite its flaws, air travel offers better security.

thank you all for your help - good advice

After Friday's aborted terrorist incident aboard aboard a Thalys
train, I would fly. Despite its flaws, air travel offers better
security.

And yet, of the thousands of train journeys every day all across Europe, the odds are statistically tiny that such an incident will occur. I've done the Thalys run between Amsterdam and Paris: very nice train.

I have taken this journey by train overnight and it was not a pleasant experience. I recommend you fly and save your time to see sights rather than spending a restless, noisy night on a stuffy train. If you take the train during the day there are several nice stretches of countryside but really it's not that great. Chances are it will be significantly cheaper to fly as well.

I wouldn't let Friday's incident affect your decision. There have been airplane incidents, and both are highly unlikely but always a (very, very small) possibility. In this case, I would do train because I find the airport hassles more trouble than staying on a train for a very long time. I don't actually mind flying - it's the getting to the airport, worrying about luggage size for inter-Europe airlines, going through security, waiting, possible delays, getting from the airport to the hotel and on and on that bothers me. So I'd take 10 hours or whatever it is on a train. You can walk around, see some scenery as you zip by, bring your carry-on size bag and purse on board without weird limits (hello RyanAir!), not climb over strangers to get to the restroom, and arrive in Rome a short ways from your hotel instead of dealing with FCO (Rome's airport, like most airports a long way out of the city center and very hectic).

But I concede that flying is faster and, if you book ahead, cheaper. So I know I'm a bit unusual.

Thwarted, not aborted !!

You can walk around, see some scenery as you zip by, bring your
carry-on size bag and purse on board without weird limits (hello
RyanAir!), not climb over strangers to get to the restroom, and arrive
in Rome a short ways from your hotel instead of dealing with FCO
(Rome's airport, like most airports a long way out of the city center
and very hectic).

Mira, they're going from Rome to Paris: not the other way around. And it's such a short flight compared to a train journey that walk-around/climb-over stuff isn't the issue it would be on a transatlantic flight. The one caveat might be luggage fees.

My rule of thumb is anything that's more than four hours on a train is probably better served by flying (both from a time and money perspective). There are plenty of cheap flights in Europe.

The exception is when I have an itinerary between the two, so the travel is broken down into lots of small travel legs between stays along the way.