Actual rail ticket prices online?

CLICK HERE to see what I see from Vicenza to Paris. When you purchase an international ticket in any of the countries, they will sell you a ticket to the destination. All of the countries seem to work this out.

Most runs from Vicenza will change trains in Milan except for a couple. The 220 Stendhal, the night train from Venice to Paris, is one that stops there but doesn't require a train change.

Thank you Larry. Do you have any pointers on how to get the Fare Information link to work? I'm guessing if I were to purchase these tickets they would be a nonrefundable type similar to airline tickets?

I just created a login for the site. I hope I didn't just commit to buying a bunch of tickets! ;-)

Trenitalia is an interesting website. I really enjoy playing around on it. However, it gives me fits now and then. One difficulty is the amount of terms that they use for their standard fare. Sometimes, I have to guess. I'll explain.

On the links above, click on the first one. Once the link comes up, select the first run by clicking on the circle on the right. Select continue. The fare page will come up. Click on the "Select Your Fare" window and several fare choices appear. The word "SWITCH" is new to me. I'm suspecting that this is the standard fare. Trenitalia will show you the SWITCH fare. For the sample that I sent you above, I used a date of April 27. Notice the two green dots on the lower right. These indicate that there are seats available on both trains that you will be on. If you post back with your travel date, I can link the schedule for that date.

Next, buying tickets on Trenitalia is really difficult. For the last 9 months, they weren't accepting American credit cards. Recently, they have become a Verified by Visa partner and you could make a purchase with a Visa card that you registered with Verified by Visa. I made two purchases last month. Then, they updated their website about April 1. I haven't been able to make it work since then. I'll try again shortly. It's difficult.

If you want the night train, you may have to purchase form www.raileurope.com as you really need to get the night train tickets in advance as these trains, unlike the day trains, do fill up.

Dawn, have you considered backtracking the Venice-Marco Polo airport and flying to Paris? It's a lot faster and often, less expensive. I can post instructions if you wish.

Hadn't really thought about that. I wanted to give my 20-something kids an experience they wouldn't have here at home. But thanks for the idea if this falls thru.

Well, it seems the "actual" prices are impossible to secure. I spent the entire day trying to purchase 5 couchettes on the website only to find at the final keystroke the credit card is once again declined even tho' it had been "Verified by Visa" each time! So now it appears there are no longer any couchettes available to book on the Milan-Paris route I had been trying to secure. Talk about frustrating! Any thoughts...advice? Thanks!

Dawn,

You can get on the night train in Vicenza and go straight through to Paris. The train stops in Milan, but you do not have to change trains.

The Trenitalia site lists these fares for a bunk in a 6-person couchette: Smart-€35, Moove-€55, Go-€75, Switch-€95, Flexi-€115. The cheapest fare on the Rail Europe site is $119 US.

Popular night trains can sell out weeks in advance so it's best to book ASAP. I suggest that you phone the US number for Euraide and have them book the tickets for you. You can buy as many tickets as you wish at in-Europe prices for one $50 fee.