Night trains

IT is not. These drains offer an astonishingly high risk of luggage theft, unless you are travelling in an (expensive) sleeper, and there are safety/privacy concerns regarding sharing a bunk bed with strangers. Would you take a Greyhound overnight bus from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City? If not, skip night trains in general.

debbie, That's not a method I'd ever use even with a night train, as it's a LONG trip. The shortest run on that route is a direct train with a travel time of 12H:22M. Some of the others are as long as ~17H, with 2-4 changes. If you have to change trains at 04:30 and again at 06:30, you WON'T be getting much sleep and will probably arrive "tired" in Paris. My preference for that particular route would be travel via budget airline. For example, EasyJet has flights from VCE to either CDG or ORY, with a flight time of about 1H:45M, and departures both morning and evening. IMO, that's MUCH preferable to sitting on a train for 12H+. Fares for March appear to be as low as €31.99 (but of course you'll have to book early to get the best rates - be sure to consider luggage weight prior to booking, as your cost will be higher if you have to pay for extra weight at the airport on the day of departure - read the "Terms & Conditions" CAREFULLY - also note that in many cases, only ONE carry-on item is allowed, so pack accordingly). Happy travels!

I love the typo/Freudian slip in Andre's posting. A night train is indeed a "drain". :-) They aren't at all like you've seen in old movies. Those days are gone unless you're willing to fork over big bucks.

Wow. I guess the person who told me this would be a good idea was wrong! Would've left Paris out altogether if I'd known this. Oh well...thanks for the info!

Which airline would be best to fly into if we're spending several days in Paris?

you can use www.whichbudget.com to figure out carriers. easyjet does appear to have the best deal. Make sure you fly into Venice Marco Polo (VCE) as that is the closest airport. Ryan air flies into Venice Treviso which over an hour away.

I'm with Ron on avoiding Ryanair for this route. Not only is Treviso an outlying airport, Beauvais is a 90-minute bus ride from Paris. While I agree that flying a budget airline (easyJet) from Venice to Paris makes a lot of sense, I want to put in a good word for night trains. You save the cost of a night in a hotel and have more daylight hours for sightseeing. No standing in line to go through security and no time and expense getting to and from airports. If you book well in advance (up to 90 days) on the Trenitalia site, you can get a Smart Price fare of €45 for a bunk in a four-person couchette. You can choose either a mixed gender or women-only couchette. Couchette doors lock from the inside. You're at a much higher risk of being kept awake by someone who snores than you are of having your luggage stolen. Keep your valuables in your bunk with you overnight. If you want a real bed rather than a couchette bunk, you can get one in a three-person sleeper (same sex only) for a Go fare of €125. The door locks from the inside. For a detailed description, including photos, of night trains between Italy and France, go here. In the interest of full disclosure, the author of the site admits that service on these trains has declined a bit in recent years.

I flew to Venice-Treviso from Paris-Beauvais via Ryanair a few years ago (2005, I believe). I left my hotel at 6 am and arrived at my hotel in Venice about 1:30 pm. Compared to a long train ride, it was still faster and cheaper. A day train trip Paris to Venice another year took nearly 12 hours, since my France train arrived late in Milan and I had to take a later train to Venice. If all connections work smoothly, the daytrip is about 8 am to late afternoon (8-9 hours). I realize this doesn't answer the OP question. I haven't taken a night train in over 40 years. The whole idea doesn't appeal to me on any level.

Don't let all the naysayers scare you off, unless you're traveling alone. We did the Milan to Paris night train (which was an extension of the one from Venice) and it proved to be somewhat entertaining, and certainly a learning experience. I took my wife and her 82 year old mother to Italy and the only thing I dd wrong was waited too late to book the compartment. I wanted the three berth compartment and end up in a six berth one, with a tired Frenchman who took the train to Milan that morning and just wanted to sleep, and a couple from San Francisco who arrived five minutes before departure, and after we had all stowed our luggage. As for theft, we had all "packed light" and Rick instructed and we had plenty of room for our bags, and we wrapped the luggage straps around the berth for security. Unfortunately to food and bar car closed as we left the station, but the night was restful. What made it all worthwhile was the small, fog shrouded towns we passed coming into Paris, and the extra day for sightseeing there. Be sure to book your berth 3-4 weeks in advance. If you're a woman traveling alone I'd suggest taking the train through the alps during the day, and maybe with a sightseeing stop along the way. Either way, it will give you a great story to share when you get back home.