Night train Paris to Florence

Deborah...after you click on the little radio button next to the fare you've chosen on the train you've selected, some small print comes up just underbneath (before the next train listed) that says "Your preferences for seating on the train." Below that should be "Choose your seating preference." That's where you select first class couchette. Then below that should be listed Passengers 1 thru 4, with a selection of upper or lower couchettes. However, you may not all get into the same cabin, depending on how booked up your train is. To see the seating numbers (to make sure you are getting all together), Click here to see a seating plan...look for the T4 couchettes

Thanks, Norm. So as long as the seats assigned on the train confirmation show us all in the same compartment, we should be good, right?

From my research, it appears we should reserve ahead of time--and that tickets open up 90 days in advance. I believe we can pick the tickets up in France at the station, using the same credit card we used to purchase the tickets. Is this accurate? Thanks so much for your help!
Deb

Don't mean to scare you but do go to the Graffitti
Wall/scams on this website as there is a story of a family being robbed in their couchette while they slept. I have also read of another instance of this in a London newspaper.

In fact, everyone should read the Graffitti Wall/scams as ther is lots of useful information.

Exactly right, Deborah...pickup should be no problem. Booking the Artesia train may actually be 120 days out (I don't recall exactly) but give it a try. As you notice on the seating diagram, there are numbers missing in the four-person couchettes. Those extra numbers are used in the six-person accommodation, so they just eliminate the middle set of numbers for the four-person units. So something with the same first number will keep you all in the same compartment, eg. 11, 12, 15, 16, or 21, 22, 25, 26. And don'tt worry about being robbed in your compartment....ordnary precautions like locking the cabin door will suffice.

Norm, thanks very much for the info. I took the night train years ago with 20 middle-school kids and swore I would never do it again! I wasn't in charge of getting the tickets that time and this task seems onerous. With your insight and a bottle of wine on the train, this portion of the trip might not be as bad as I remember.

Not sure when you are going, but we are doing the same thing next week. Son was in France and went to reserve sleeper at end 1st week in June. No 1st class sleepers or couchette were left, the only option available was 2nd class 6 person couchette. Book ASAP!

this will be my first night train experience florence-paris.
I have read about being safe and beign robbed. We are doing a private double. I figure just lock the door and then as a precaution lock my bags and then just lock them to the overhead bars....it would be hard for them to get in without waking us up.

I am actually looking forward to the adventure

Yep - night train safety - lock the doors with ALL the locks provided, and bring a small cable and padlock to lock your bags either to the overhead rack or the ladder.

I've never had a problem.

Orly is hardly a secondary airport....many internal European flights use it. It was actually the main airport for Paris until Charles de Gaulle opened in 1974. I personally rather take flights from Orly because it's closer to Paris, and its two large terminals, linked to each other and the RER by the OrlyVal train, make it much easier to get around than CDG. Have no fear flying out of Orly.

I was just researching this same Artesia Night train and read the most horrible stories on TripAdvisor about "sleeping robberies...." Now I'm concerned, but the Orly to Pisa EasyJet has a lot of moving parts and pieces in it, IMO, since these are secondary airports that involve a lot more connections than the city to city transfer that the train would offer.
Kindly post your experience after your trip!

We took the Pisa to Orly flight 16 June with no problems other than the flight was 15 minutes late so Orly was closed! Had to land at CDG. We found Easyjet much easier to deal with and the connections easier than flying Ryanair in 2005 from Treviso (Venice) to Beauvais (Paris).