Our family will be in Florence for three days at the end of April 2025. At the end of our trip in Florence, we plan on taking a train to Paris in one day to meet up with friends and continue to travel with them. Is it possible to travel to Paris by train from Florence in one day? Looks like it might be first a train to Torino then Paris? I'm having a hard time finding good information. Any advice would be welcome.
There are fast trains (although not that fast, since it takes 8 hours) from Milan to Paris Gare de Lyon. They are TGV run by the French train company (SNCF) and also Italian trains with Trenitalia. I'm not sure how many, but probably no more than 2 trains daily from each company. The trains stop in Torino as well, although coming from Florence Milan would be closer.
There are numerous fast trains from Florence to Milan and the journey is approx. 1h45m (although you might have to change station from Milano Centrale to Milano Porta Garibaldi).
https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/train/timetables/milan/paris
https://www.trenitalia.com/
Be aware that the line is currently interrupted by a landslide on the French side, therefore trains are not currently operating. The current route is via Switzerland. Hopefully things will be back to normal for the time you go.
Having said that, I think that for a trip of that length it is more convenient to fly, since the flight from Florence to Paris is only 1h30m. Air France and Vueling both have flights from Florence to Paris.
Easy Jet also has flights from Pisa (1h from Florence) to Paris.
How many of there are you? Taking a flight might be a better option. The train trip will be 12+ hours and will require changing trains, where you can get nonstop flights from Florence to Paris.
Depending on the cost, you may want to research flying from Florence to Paris. As noted, it is a very long train travel day by train.
There 2 adults and 3 children.
Currently with Trenitalia the INSIEME (together) offer, which is available for groups of 2 to 5 people, would be about 500€ for all 5 of you. Obviously it's too early to book April, but that is what you are looking at by train. By plane AirFrance generally charges at least $150 per person for standard economy from FLR to CDG in spring. So the train could be a bit cheaper, if one purchases the group INSIEME offer, but the travel time is much longer.
Unfortunately as Roberto said, currently (for a year now), due to the landslide, trains can't make their normal Turin-Chambery part of the route between Milan and Paris.
Local authorities announced a week or two ago that they would not be able to re-open that portion of the line this autumn as they had hoped, and that it would be sometime in 2025 before they can re-open the line. They mentioned a date of the first quarter of the year, which would mean it would work for your April trip, but I wouldn't at all count on that target date.
It sounds like flying might be the better option. I appreciate all the advice.