Am just finishing up sketching out an itinerary for next summer. Venice to Paris is a long transfer, but we have decided to do it. I can find only one train - the Artesia night train. But for three of us the price is $817. Flying is only $300 for all three of us, but I was thinking it might be more pleasant to be on the train and arrive into Paris proper. We all love train rides and hate planes, so...is there any way to get a cheaper train? Thanks!!
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7580 posts
Maybe not much cheaper, but you could take regular day trains (starting early morning) staying overnight along the way, depending on schedule, or to avoid arriving in Paris late at night.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19117 posts
You didn't say what kind of night train accommodations you were looking for, so it's a little difficult for someone to come up with a comparison. However, for advance purchase, German Rail has some pretty heavily discounted (Saving's fares) night train fares from Venice to Munich and other discounted fares from Munich to Paris. These are available only online from the German Rail website.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
I know you said you hated planes, but for THAT great of a distance are you sure about not flying? EasJet flies from VCE to both CDG and Orly. AirBerlin also flies from VCE to Orly.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Valerie,
Did you get the $817 quote from Rail Europe? If so, you need to know that Rail Europe's fares are inflated and you can get discount fares by booking in advance on national rail sites. For example, it's possible to get a discount fare of 125 EUR/person for beds in a three-person sleeper on the Venice-Paris night train.
Posted by
OP
Pacific Northwest
2628 posts
Tim, I did use RailEurope. I have tried some of the other sites and they were hard to work with. DBBain would not price it out for me, although I just priced the Venice>Munich>Paris someone else suggested and it seems a bit long at 8 hours plus 8 hours. I would like to do a non-stop train, thus the Artesia. Can you give me a link to a website where I can price the route and buy the tickets from the US? Thanks!
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
As Steve said, to see all the fares that are possible go to tgv-europe.com and say you live in Great Britain. (If you say you live in the US, you will be bumped to the Rail Europe site.) Enter a date within the next 90 days. A 3-bed sleeper is considered to be 2nd class so do not choose 1st class.
When you say you are "sketching out an itinerary for next summer," am I right in presuming you mean the summer of 2011? If so, then perhaps a year from now Trenitalia (Italian National Rail) will have its act together and will accept US credit cards for online booking. If they don't, then you can book at tgv-europe.com, but you'll have to have the tickets mailed to an address in Italy (like your hotel in Venice) because they will not allow you to retrieve them at an Italian station. tgv-europe.com is a multi-language SNCF (French National Rail) site and SNCF does not mail tickets to the US. They want you to use Rail Europe of which they are the major owner. Again, perhaps a year from now things will be different. (They recently added Canada to the list of countries to which they will mail tickets.)
While you cannot book tickets online on the DB (German Rail) site for travel entirely outside Germany, DB will sell you tickets over the phone and mail them to you. However, I don't know if they will sell you discount fare tickets. You could send them an e-mail and ask.
Posted by
Freedonia
15251 posts
The Artesia route takes you from Venice to Milan and then through Switzerland and France. This area has spectacular scenery.
But you'll be doing it an night so you won't see anything.
I have two suggestions...
1) Since you're not going to be seeing scenery anyway, take a plane.
2)If you did want to see scenery, take an early morning train from Venice. You will have to change in Milan and Basel, but you will get into Paris less than 12 hours after you left. The entire journey is less time than the night train. And the scenery will be spectacular.
BTW--the Artesia is not a "non-stop" train. It stops. You just don't have to get off.
Posted by
San Diego, CA
28 posts
Fly.. night trains are exhausting and you don't get any sleep. The flight will be short and the price is right.
Posted by
Greenville, SC, USA
263 posts
I second the recommendation to fly. Through this website, I've learned about EasyJet and have priced two or three intra-European flights that range in prices from $30 to $75 per person. These are way easier than the very long day train or night train options for the longer distance routes, and much cheaper than the night trains.
Posted by
York, PA
300 posts
Comparing the price of flying to a night train isn't quite apples-apples. If you fly you'll also need a night's lodging at one end or the other, where the night train's cost includes a night's lodging on the rails.
I agree with the observation that you probably won't sleep well on the train, though.