Venice and London via Paris - best transportation and order of route

If these are the only 3 places you're planning to visit, then yes you should fly into Venice, fly from Venice to Paris, Eurostar train from Paris to London and fly home from London. Or you could do it the other way. I wouldn't train between Paris and Venice unless I was going to take a day or two to do it and enjoy the scenic trains through Switzerland. There are budget flights from Venice to Paris that fly into either CDG or Orly (not little out of the way airports).

If you're not in a hurry, you can have a nice train trip from Venice to Paris with a stop in Turin (Torino). It takes 3,5 to 4 hrs, giving you an afternoon to enjoy this elegant city. Turin to Paris is with the high-speed TGV, only taking 6 hrs. I did it last September, and found it a most agreeable trip.

Your best bet flying out of the Tri-Cities Airport (TN) would be to take American Airlines' commuter flight over to Charlotte and connect to a flight straight into London.
Do your touring there and then take the Eurostar fast train down to Paris.
Then pickup a cheap flight on EasyJet.com out of either Paris de Gaulle or Orly airports into Venice. Just be aware of their terms and when they say one carry on item, they mean one carry on item. Travel light.

When we flew out of Venice 9 months ago, we flew British Airways one way into London. You can fly home from there after transferring to an American Airlines flight.

Probably a dumb question but does "Paris as the connector" mean that you're going to be spending time there or are you just looking at transiting through there for some unknown reason?

Looking back on your previous posts, it looks like you've been to both London (2010 and 2012) and Paris (2012) before? No matter as many of us make return trips to favorite cities but that you're familiar with both cities could be good background to know. :O)

Thank you, all! (PS we really go want to finish - not begin - our trip in London). What I meant about Paris is that it's where we catch the E'Star to London.
So, despite the inconvenient little airports and possible baggage fees, flying is preferable? Altho it would be awesome to train thru Switzerland or the like, I just hate to lose the ground time. Thank you!

Many of the flight options for flying back to the US from Venice involve a early morning flight to a European gateway such as Frankfurt or Amsterdam etc . Therefore many people suggest flying into Venice as getting to the airport early in the morning can be difficult, time consuming and or costly.

Annabeth, so you don't want to spend time in Paris, but you fancy an eyeful of Switzerland. How about this for a plan (no times given, because you haven't said how much time you have).

• Fly into Venice, time in Venice.
• Train to Luzern. Try and get a train over the historic Gotthard route, not the newly opened high speed tunnel. It will involve more changes and take 1-2 hours longer, but worth it for the views.
• 2 nights in Luzern, trip on the lake or up a local mountain.
• Train to Zürich airport (~70 minutes). Cheap flight to London (EasyJet, or Swiss can also be cheap as they compete with EasyJet).

If you do want to spend time in Paris, take a TGV High Speed train Luzern to Paris, and a few days later the Eurostar to London.
Long-distance trains can be very social places, if you go out of your way to be friendly. Bring your own food and drink.

If you fly EasyJet, you can pay just a little more and take a carry on and a personal bag. And you get early boarding. Just be sure your carry on and personal bags are small.