Train from Paris to Florence: Where to stay on the way?

The trains in Europe are fairly easy, especially if you have insider information! An excellent resource is the Man in Seat 61.

http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Paris.htm#Paris-Italy

Take a look at Option 1. He lists hotels in Milan near the train station for you as well as the web sites to purchase tickets. If you book Milan to Florence on Treno Italo, the train will leave from Milan Porta Garibaldi station, saving you the trip to Milano Centrale. If you know your travel dates and want to find a cheap fare, you can book the Milan to Florence ticket up to 120 days in advance.

Is there a reason you are not flying? It's certainly faster and usually cheaper. Suggest looking at skyscanner.com.

If you decide to fly, buy your tickets asap. Prices go up over time.

You can take the TGV from Paris to Milano in about 7.5 hours. Firenze is only another 90 minutes from there. If you can make Italo work, great, but transferring to Milano Centrale is merely a Metro ride of a few minutes. The only worry I would have is if the TGV is late, you may not connect, no matter what your station of choice, so give yourself a layover in Milano of a couple of hours. I think you can also book straight through with SCNF, Paris to Firenze. They partner with Italo so that may be a good idea.But if you do not want to do all of that in one day, nothing wring with stopping in Torino or Milano. I happen to like Torino very much. There's a terrific automobile museum there, nice hotels, cheaper than Milano. If you stay ion Milano, I'd send you to Hotel Berna, a Metro stop (or two?) from Porta Garibaldi.

We are doing the trip Paris to Roma in a few weeks. We leave Paris at 10:28, arrive Milano at 17:53, transfer to Milano Centrale and take a 1`9:15 train to Roma arriving 22:35. Long day? Yes, but we are on our way home at that point so sleeping in our own bed seems like a good idea. You'd be in Firenze 90 minutes earlier if you did the same thing.

I am thinking you are taking the train for the scenery and to visit an interesting city on the way.

Instead of the direct TGV to Milan Porto Garibaldi, why not take the TGV to Geneva? Change there for the Swiss train to Montreux and overnight there. If you depart Paris at 9:11 you get to Montreux at 13:40 with plentyof time to explore and maybe visit Chateau de Chillon.

The next day, you have a scenic trip along the lake and Alps until the tunnel, then back to scenery until Milan. Your arrive at Milano Centrale 3 hours after leaving Montreux, and can transfer to the Frecciargento trainntomFlorence.

This breaks the trip up into two nearly equal segments, one 4.5 hours and the other 5+h, depending on the connection time in Milan. I would much prefer that over a 7.5 hour train ride and night in Milan ( with little time to see the sights).

I'm a believer that it's cheaper and faster to travel relatively long distances by budget European airlines. It's about 725 miles between the two cities--too far for me.

You can go Paris-Orly Airport to Florence cheap on Vueling Airlines. You could also fly into Pisa on EasyJet and take the 1 hr. train ride into Florence.

Thanks so much for the feedback and suggestions. I am now thinking that we will not stop in Milan but instead stop in Turin or Montreux as suggested. I know that flying would be more efficient, but we literally want to see the landscape of Europe a bit, since this is our first trip. And we are also very curious about the train system.

No one seems to think much of Turin,

Phil, I wonder where you have got this impression from? From people who have never visited?

Turin is a beautiful city with world class museums, elegant architecture and great food. It also has the benefit of not being overrun with tourists. The following article is a little old but will give you a feel for what the city has to offer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/8101908/Turin-Italy-a-cultural-guide.html

I agree with mph about Torino. I think a lot of it. Great restaurants, nice hotels, very good transportation hub.

Zoe and mph: thanks for your thoughts on Turin. We are leaning toward overnighting there now. Looks like a lively and beautiful town from our quick research. We will probably stay near the train station and spend the afternoon/morning wandering around. Montreux will have to wait for another trip. Any favorite places to stay in Turin?

You need not stop anywhere if you don't have the time or interest to make it a priority on your list. You won't see much with just an overnight stop; two nights and one full day would allow you to see some highlights at your midpoint.

Turin is not covered in Rick's book as one of his favorite sites for a first or second trip, but I did quite enjoy it, and it probably had some improvements during the winter Olympics. Egyptian and car museums were both excellent, among other attractions. On a clear day, you can get nice views of the surrounding mountains and the density of the city, from taller observation points. If choosing Milan, it can be fairly quick to see the Duomo, neighboring Galleria, and the Last Supper painting (reserve ahead).

From Porta Garibaldi to Milano Centrale is a 2 km walk, also connected by Metro, local train, and taxi. However, if connecting to Florence in one day, the train connection is designed to be at Torino Porta Susa. How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

Phil we rented an apartment last time we were there and are doing so again in March. The main station is near the city centre.