Night Train Paris to Venice

I've done it from Florence several years ago. I don't care to do that again. I have a hard time sleeping with that constant clang clang noise and it's way too many hours, I don't remember if 12 or 14 from Florence. Also no shower. Since it's a night train there wasnt much I could see either. In an era of low cost air travel, I'll take a plane any day over such a long night train journey. Just over one hour from Venice and you are done. And flying can be cheaper too. Of course it is my opinion, but anything over 5 or max 6 hours on a train is a distance to be covered by air. If you are absolutely sure you want to go that way, you can make reservations on line on trenitalia.com or also several other sites (eurail, interail etc.) http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=13faecb6bb9ca110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD

To get the cheapest discount fare, book well in advance (up to 120 days allowed) on either thello.com or trenitalia.com. There is an allotted number of discount fare tickets and they sell out quickly so book ASAP. If you're willing to share a couchette with strangers, book bunks in a 4-person couchette rather than a 6-person couchette. For just a little more money you'll have a lot more room for both people and luggage. If you want privacy, book beds in a sleeper. Discount fares aren't offered on any other sites. Use the search engine skyscanner.com to see which airlines (both budget carriers and national carriers) fly Paris-Venice.

EasyJet.com flies that route out of Charles De Galle Airport, and they're the cheapest way from Paris-Venice. Flying is the only easy way to make the trip. You won't be sorry to get one more night in Venezia--a fantastic place.

Easyjet flies from VCE to both CDG and ORY. AirFrance flies to CDG and so does XL Airways. RyanAir flies from nearby Treviso TSF to Paris Beauvais (BVA).
These are all the options available to fly from Venice to Paris.

Thank you all for this helpful information. We may go for the sleeper cars if we can fit that into our budget. We are all fans of train travel and have never done an overnight, so really want to include that experience. Jeane

If you do end up taking the night train, please do come back here to this posting and share how your experience was. This question comes up fairly often, and it's always great to hear from people who have actually done it. Happy travels.

I will come back and post how it went, Michael. Our trip isn't until April, so it will be late April or early May before I can make that report.

We did the night train and it was challenging. First of all, we decided to have dinner on board, only to be told that "the power was out in the dining car so they weren't serving dinner, but they could sell us some sandwiches." We opted for the sandwiches, which turned out to be partially, or in one case, completely frozen. We were hungry so ate the sandwiches, which made the cold temperature in our sleeper unit more unbearable, so we asked the porter to help, which he did - then it was unbearably hot for the rest of our journey and could not locate the porter to ask for further help. There were many stops, which made sleeping very difficult. We still love train travel, but would not do the night train again - unless we hear it has been vastly improved.

Jeane THANK YOU for coming back and posting.. ugh frozen sandwiches.. Well I kind of knew it wouldn't be the fun romantic Orient Express type voyage most of us dream about though. lol I also suggest anyone else who tries this at the very least bring their own food, I have lots of train in Europe under my belt now and I always pack our own food/picnic, train food has basically become like airline food.. I always suggest people try sleeping in their walk in closets with a few strangers or 3 or 4 other memebers of their family before they book a 4/6 couchette.. lol, its not as fun as it sounds.. I do think its a shame they couldn't at least provide non crappy sandwiches! And perhaps some salads etc.

We took an overnight from Paris to Rome and won't do it again. Get those romantic train travel images out of your head because they aren't in line with reality. We got a "private" sleeper car for myself, my husband, and our 8 year old son. Our experience with food was the same as the previous posts. There was not hot food and there was only a stand-up bar that served cold sandwiches. The AC was turned off at about 10PM so we sweltered through the night. To make matters worse, around 11PM a couple entered our sleeper and showed us their tickets - they had reservations in the car we had also reserved. Turns out they sell all the bunks in the car regardless of whether you pay for a private sleeper or not. The guy snored all night and had terrible breath that just filled the room - w/o AC is was completely unbearable and I went out into the hall at some godawful hour just to feel cooler, more breatheable air. When you cross the Italian border they wake you up to check your tickets and passports. I have NO idea what time that was...it's all a blur. We were exhausted when we arrived and just collapsed in bed in the apartment in Rome when we arrived.
Fly.

Oh that sounds horrible Anita but it is known that if you buy ticket for a couchette they are not "private" unless you purchase all the bunks. You must have been in a 6 bed couchette. And yes, they will mix ages and sexes etc.. so not fun for say a solo woman..

We did book private sleepers - paying extra for one with just two people (there were 5 in our party). We shared one with our adult daughter, who took the top bunk and suffered most from the heat. At least they didn't sell the 3rd bunk in the other compartment. I'm glad these stores are being shared - perhaps we will save others a miserable night. As my daughter says, we have a great story to share with others and no trouble voting the worst meal of our trip. The one good outcome was that our B&B was ready for us when we arrived in Venice and we were able to rest a bit before going out to enjoy the city.