We took the overnight train from Paris to Milan in October 2008. My husband and I both love traveling by train in Europe. We had taken overnight trains before when we were younger. I HATED the trip this time. We had reserved what we thought was "1st class" -- but it turned out that there's another level above 1st class (I cannot remember the details now.) So we had to share a couchette with a couple of young girls, when we had planned on being alone. The girls were very sweet and polite and considerate, but they each had a suitcase the size of a trunk -- and there was no place to store them, other than in our compartment.

Next time (if we ever dare do it again!), I will be sure to get the uber-first class, which is totally private & also includes a private bathroom (which was another rather unpleasant part of our trip this time -- I'm accustomed to train loos, but this was a particularly yucky one!)

Oh, and no: I did not sleep well. We had upper bunks, so could feel every single Alpine turn & twist...

There was a pretty recent thread on this topic, so you can look for that to find out more info, too.

My family of four took this train last fall. I would say it was a fun adventure in some ways, but no one slept too well. We had the same accommodation LucieV describes, a 2d class couchette compartment, but all to ourselves. Normally, there are six berths in 2d class; they only sell four in this case, and call it first class. But I knew what I was getting, so no surprises or disappointments there.

The train leaves from Paris Bercy and arrives at Florence's Campo di Somethingorother -- not the main Santa Maria Novella station. There is a quick little train, whose fare is included in the overnight fare, that would take you to the main station pretty quickly.

In our case, we had scheduling issues that prevented us from flying, so the train was actually cheaper, and we thought it would be a neat thing to do, especially for our little boy.

And yeah, the bathrooms were yucky.

If you had your own true first class compartment --they only sleep up to three people -- you would be more comfortable in every way, I'm sure.

There's a really helpful website I used; let me look for it, and I'll add a post tomorrow.

For train travel , you might like to check: www.seat61.com.

If you're going to Avignon anyway, have you thought about going on from Avignon to Nice for a day or two and then riding a day train to Firenze? It's about 7 hours Nice to Firenze.

We did pretty much this in reverse (Rome through Florence to Paris Bercy) in 2004. We had a six couchette car, with three noisy natives. Just unlucky- the ride was fine and we would have slept well if our cabin-mates had chilled. So , if you get one of these it just depends....

Sleeper trains here in France have 2nd class compartments, where you share with up to five others, and 1st class where you share with up to three others. Note that they are **NOT** single sex. They are not too bad, comfort-wise, but unless your group has the entire compartment, you will NOT get a "good" night's sleep.

Roger

http://www.fermedecandeloup.fr

We took the overnight train from Paris to Florence a few years ago and last summer we took overnight trains from Nice to Venice and Rome to Zurich. I have yet to have a comfortable night's sleep in an overnight train. It was hot, loud and you can feel every "Alpine twist and turn" as Lucie said. When I was a college student it didn't bother me at all. As an adult who likes a comfortable bed, I didn't care for it!

If you do decide to take the train, be sure to bring some food and drinks on board with you. None of our overnight trains had a dining car - we actually bought a bottle of wine from the people in the compartment next to us!

I can never sleep on a train or airplane. I'd look for an inexpensive flight between Paris and Florence.

I have taken the overnight train 2 times.
Amsterdam to Venice, via Frankfurt and
Amsterdam to Venice, via Paris.

The first time,(2003) I was solo and bunked in a car with 2 other women. No problems whatsoever.

The second time, (2007), my sister and I shared a car with 2 younger guys, that came into the car late and were kinda loud.
We knew we would be sharing so it wasnt that big of a deal.
The adventure was fun and you wake up in another country.

I would do it again for sure.

JudyC has beaten me to it: the website I found helpful was indeed www.seat61.com.

There is a desciption of Paris to Italy overnight trains here:

http://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm#The%20night%20trains%20from%20Paris%20to%20Italy%20...

Good luck with your plans.

There is a quick little train, whose fare is included in the overnight fare, that would take you to the main station pretty quickly.>

however the Campo di Marte Florence station is in some ways more convenient than arriving at the much much more hectic main Santa Maria Novella station

and Campo di Marte is no more than a mile from the town center - if taking a taxi it makes sense to do it from here rather than taking a shuttle train to the often mobbed SMN main station.

People are often confused by the difference between couchettes and sleeping compartments.
Couchettes are basic bunks, with six-berth compartments (second class) or four-berth compartments (first class).
Sleepers, in the case of the Paris-Italy trains, have more comfortable compartments which can be configured to have one, two or three bunks. There is a wash basin, but toilets are shared, along the corridor. These are neither first nor second class: the fare depends on the number of people sharing the compartment. If you share with strangers, you share with people of the same sex.
The night trains from Paris to Italy have dining cars, open for dinner and breakfast.

These are neither first nor second class: the fare depends on the number of people sharing the compartment.>

unless you have a railpass then the passholder fare for any sleeping car accommodation requires a first class pass.

I'm sorry, but that is definitely wrong. I have used sleeping cars several times with a second-class rail pass.
The commonest sort of sleeping compartment is the T3 with three berths. In most countries, if it is booked for exclusive use by one or two people, a first-class ticket is required; if the compartment is occupied by three people, you only require a second-class ticket.

I was told that the first-class pass only option for any sleeping car option is fairly new - i was under that impression then corrected by someone and i believe if you go to RailEurope.com and try to book a sleeper with a 2nd class pass it will indicate that. That said i have not done that myself so i cannot say for sure.