Train from Paris-Venice? Best way to go?

Or if you decide to go back to your thought of traveling by train with a stop in the Alps, I have another suggestion, with a shorter travel time than Lauterbrunnen, and equally nice. You could stop in Kandersteg which is on the direct path between Paris and Milan, which is the normal "gateway for travel to Venice". Above Kandersteg (which is itself a charming little toen) you will find one of the most beautiful lakes in the Alps, surrounded by cliffs, peaks and waterfalls.

www.oeschinensee.ch

You take a chairlift to get there and you can stay overnight if you like (we do), or just ride up for a look and a walk. My whole family, including my 20-something kids and ourselves, love this place.

Travel timewould then be Paris to Kandersteg, about 6.5 hours, and Kandersteg to Venice, under 6 hours (actually 5:58 IF you catch the 8:42 am train. this one makes an easy trip to Venice, with only a single change at Brig. No change at Milan.

Lauterbrunnen is still a good choice too, or Luzern if you would like a charming small city on a lake (but not "in" the Alps).

The Paris-Venice night train versus a stop in Switzerland is a matter of personal taste and travel style. Both are reasonable options, which do think you and your wife would enjoy more? Some people look upon night trains as an adventure; for others (who cannot sleep well) it becomes an ordeal.

We've only done one (Florence to Munich) and we enjoyed it, traveling first class, but I'm not sure I'd do it again.

As for whether an overnight stop in the Alps would "do it justice", again that is up to you. The most direct route would take you "through" the Alps, but doesn't offer a good overnight stop "in" the Alps. Luzern is a posibility, but it's a lakeside city, not an alpine village. Travel time for that trip would be 4 hours 40 minutes from Paris to Luzern, and 6.5 hours from there to Venice.

A bit more train time could get you to Lauterbrunnen, in a mountain valley right in the heart of the Berner Oberland. Travel time for that would be 6 hours Paris to Lauterbrunnen and 7 from Lauterbrunnen to Venice IF you catch the 7:30 train from Lauterbrunnen. Leaving Paris at 8:24 am, you would arrive in lauterbrunnen at 2:225, which would give you a full afternoon and evening to explore and enjoy. You could even shoose to take the short train or cablecar hop up to one of the carfree villages above the valley (Wengen or Mürren) for the feel of being right in the Alps.

But then you would have a long (7-hour minimum) train ride the next day, and the route via Brig goes through 2 tunnels where you have no views of the scenery.

As Lola said, people either love night trains or they hate them. Since I sleep well on trains, the night train would work for me. Saves the cost of a night in a hotel and gives me more daylight hours for sightseeing.

However, if I were to fly Paris-Venice on a budget airline, it wouldn't be on Ryanair. Not only is Beauvais a long way from Paris, Treviso is well outside of Venice. I'd pick easyJet from either Orly or CDG to VCE (Marco Polo).

Thank you everyone for the quick and detailed responses. I think I would consider the over night train an adventure. Both my wife and I are in our late twenties (finally taking the Europe vacation that we've been talking about for the past 8 years) and I don't think sleeping on the train will be an issue.

My wife, who has a fear of flying, is causing me to lean more towards the train, than any flights. Plus, if I can avoid airports, I'll do it. I'd rather be relaxing on a train and enjoying the scenery. And I think since our trip is fairly packed with travel days, the more time for sight seeing in our destinations would be best. I might have to save the swiss alps for another adventure sometime in the hopefully near future.

And based on the rest of the travel plans, and assuming we go with the overnight train, does getting a pass help me with anything? Thanks again everybody for the input and quick replies. These forums are such great resources.

Cheers.

As much as I love Switzerland, I think you've made the right choice--it fits the context of your trip better, and gains you more time in the places you are coming to see---Paris and Italy.

As for a pass, I'm no authority, but I believe from reading many posts here that people who try to book the night trains from Paris into Italy have more trouble doing so with a pass than without one. And it may end up costing you more than just straight ticets.

You can read about the Artesia night trains, classes of service, layout of the cars, and berth options (2-person to 6-person) on the Artesia website:

http://www.artesia.eu/english/train-travel/night-train-and-tgv-cars-layout.php

And also on others if you Google "Artesia night train". But be careful about buying the tickets---most websites will kick you over to RailEurope, which is usually more expensive. Other people heer can explain how to buy the tickets on the French train website without getting transferred to RailEurope.

Since your wife doesn't like to fly, I assume you plan to take the Eurostar from London to Paris. If you haven't booked your tickets yet, do it NOW at www.eurostar.com. The longer you wait the higher the fare.

For your limited trips railpasses probably won't be cost effective. If you buy France-Italy passes, you'll still have to pay a supplement for sleeping accommodations on the night train and for seat reservations on high-speed trains in Italy.

What is your travel date for Paris-Venice? I just entered an arbitrary mid-June date on the tgv-europe site and found that the 2-person sleepers were sold out for that date. And they're likely to be sold out for other June dates, too. Bunks in 4-person couchettes were still available. Are you and your wife willing to share a couchette with two strangers? If so, just ask and I'll help you with booking on the tgv-europe site. There are some tricks to getting the best fare.

Tim and Lola, thank you again for the great replies. The travel date for the night train from Paris-Venice is June 18th. We we're hoping for the 2 person sleeper, as I'm pretty sure my wife wouldn't be to keen on sharing with strangers. Thanks again for the help.

As I suspected, the 2-person sleepers are sold out for 18 June. And the discount fare tickets are gone for couchettes. You would have to pay full fare for bunks in a 4-person couchette: 127 EUR/person.

I just checked the easyJet site. You can still get very good fares for either 18 or 19 June.