direct sleeper train from Paris to Florence&#59; no longer available?

Might be worth looking into a no-frills flight from Paris to Florence. Good luck.

Thanks :) I've actually looked into flights but haven't been able to find one that makes sense. The bag fees also seem to hike prices way up. Also wanted to avoid the hassle of getting to and from the airports ... many are pretty out of the way. I've even heard that some flights drop you off in a field over an hour away from where you're going and then offer ground transportation for another fee. If I'm able to find a flight that works for less $$ than the train, we'll definitely consider flying instead. Of course we'll also have to consider that we'll need to pay for a hotel room as a result, since we won't be sleeping on the train.

We have run into the same situation. We need to get from Rome to Paris direct overnight (which stops in Florence, too) in July and did the research last October. Bought our plane tickets based on that plan and then discovered that the company that does that run ceased operating mid-December. A new company (Thello) is supposed to get it up and running in June. That won't work for you. You are correct that your only reasonable night train option is to get yourself to Milan (or Venice, I suppose) where the night train from Venice stops at around 10PM. That Venice-Paris run is operated by a different company and is still in operation. Like you, I want to avoid the hassle of getting to & from the airports, waiting around, etc and doing it all in the middle of the day. I would rather take the train. Good Luck!

Alicia, In order to use your holiday time most efficiently, you might have a look at EasyJet flights from Paris / ORY to Pisa / PSA. Using an arbitrary date of February 15, I found flights (1H:35M) listed for as low as €33.99. It's a very easy trip from Pisa Aeroporto to Firenze SMN by train. There are trains from the Airport direct to Florence, with departures about every two hours (time 0H:57M). Transportation from Paris to Orly is also fairly easy. Have a look at This Website for further details. If you decide to use EasyJet (or other budget airline), I'd suggest overestimating the weight of your checked luggage, and pay for that at the time of booking. That's usually MUCH cheaper than paying at the airport if they find your luggage is overweight. The final price of the ticket will be higher than the price I listed above, once the extra fees are added. However, this will probably still be cheaper than a night train with Couchette fees, etc. One other point to note regarding the budget airlines, is that many have a limit of ONE carry-on item. That doesn't mean one bag plus a "personal item" like a Purse or Laptop bag, it means ONE ONLY of the approved size! Good luck with your planning!

Thank you for all the tips. I really appreciate it. Will look into the EasyJet option as well.

Alicia, Ryan Air is the only major budget airline that drops you off in a smaller airfiled 60-90 minutes away from where you want to be. Ryan Air does not fly out of either Paris-Orly or Paris-CDG. They fly out of Paris-Beauvais which is 90 minutes away. Ryan Air doesn't fly into Florence either. I think the closest they fly to is Pisa. Next, you won't find too many direct budget flights into Florence from Paris. In fact, I doubt that you will find any. I see fares in the high 20Eu and low 30Eu for next March and beyond on EasyJet from Paris to either Pisa or Bologna that are direct but not to Florence. PIsa and Bologna are not far away from Florence if that is an option. We've flown into FLR and its a bit smaller than Milan or Pisa. We flew in on Lufthansa from Frankfurt.