Train travel from Florence to Lyon

One thought is the Thello night sleeper train. It departs at 21:34 from Florence Campo Marte station and arrives at Dijon Ville at 7:15. At Dijon Ville, you change trains and depart at 7:40 for Lyon-Part Dieu. You arrive in Lyon at 9:44. Not much scenery at night but you get a bit more of Florence. Secondly, if you take the day train, the fastest run in just under 9.0 hours. It does route through Milan and Geneva. If scenery is high on your list and you have a few more hours, you can go from Florence to Spiez and transfer to the Golden Pass scenic train going west. It goes to Montreau but you can then easily get to Geneva and then on to Lyon.

Thanks for the reply, Larry. How does the scenery on the Torino/Chambery route compare to the fast Milan/Geneva route?

Darren, I have taken trains from Italy into Switzerland over part of the Milan/Geneva route but I went east into Lauterbrunnen. A couple of long tunnels on that part of the route. I have not taken the route farther to Geneva nor have I taken the route via Torino into France. My journeys in France have been via Spain and Paris.

Gotcha. Thanks again, Larry.

Did the Lyon-Geneva-Milan in September. Here is a rundown on various sections. Lyon-Geneva: Some very dramatic views of Alpine foothills, narrow valleys and open vistas, but not the high snowcapped Alps. Geneva-Montreux: North shore of Lake Leman with nice views of the French Alps across the lake above Evian-les-Bains. If you know exactly where it is, you'll see the Chateau Chillon in Montreux if you don't blink. Montreux-Brig: These are the high Alps, but you cannot really see them because the train runs through the narrow Rhone valley and you are looking up out the trains windows to just the lower front flanks of the mountains. Brig-Domodossolo: Simplon Tunnel, very, very dark. Domodossolo-North Milan suburbs: open Alpine valley leading to the beautiful Italian lakes and the west shore of Lake Maggiore and cute town of Stresa. North Milan suburbs-Milan Central: Italy at work.
Hope you travel on a nice sunny day!

Thanks for the great info, Sam! I think we're going to take the Torino route. From your description, it sounds like the section through the high Alps is not as dramatic as I was expecting, and by taking the Torino route we have a little more time in Florence. Plus, I've read the Torino-Lyon route is also quite scenic.