My husband and I will be traveling by train from Venice to Paris in late October and want to make one overnight stop in a small interesting town to break up the trip rather than take the nonstop overnight train. Brig Switzerland has been suggeted. Can anyone suggest other stops on the train route? It could be in France as well as Switzerland. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Susie, if I have my geography correct, you won't need to bo anywhere near Switzerland to go from Venice to Paris. Most runs go through Milan and then west through Torino and into France. Brig would be way out of the way. I see an EuroNight (EN)(Train 220 Stendhal)leaving Venice at 10:07pm and going through to Paris without any train changes and arriving at Paris Bercy at 8:23am. This is a 12hr journey. Other trains have one stop at Milan and then go straight through to Paris. No other train changes. Also use caution in attempting to get off a train on which you have seat reservations unless your ticket is specifically to the place where you will get off and you have another ticket with seat reservations for the remaining part of the journey. If you're ticketed straight through to Paris, and you get off for a few hours, your seat reservations will no longer be valid when you get back on.
Posted by
OP
honolulu, hawaii, usa
13 posts
Hi Larry,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. We are not interested in a straight train trip through to Paris though. We would prefer to break up the trip by staying overnight in a small town and then resuming the journey the next day. A friend mentioned how gorgeous the Swiss Alps are and that the train ride through the mountains is beautiful. We will be leaving Venice in the morning and probably go to Milan to make some other connection. The choice is to go north through Switzerland, or through France with one overnight stay. Any thoughts??
Susie
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
If Switzerland is your choice, the alps are indeed very scenic. It's a 5.0-6.0hr. journey to Brig from Venice. Rick Steves describes Brig as "an ugly industrial town with good train connections to other lines". He does not cover Brig in his book. That being said, Brig has great connections to Paris via Geneva and/or Luszanne(about 8.0hrs). As for overnighting, you might look into Breiten which is about 8km from Brig
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Cassis.
Or, if you are flexible on the "small town," Arles. Or Aix.