France To Rome! (Train from Paris Vs Nice to ROME)
 

Clueless Young American Couple On Honeymoon need some travel advice!

Our Honeymoon Plans: August 30th-Mid September 2011
Fly to Paris (5 days), Provence (3days), Amalfi Coast (4 days), Rome (4 days), Fly back to USA from Rome.

Question is... how do we get from FRANCE to ROME/ITALY?
We will be staying for 3 days in Provence (St Remy w/ car) and from Provence we'd like to get to ROME. Our plan is to take the train in Rome to Serrano (Amalfi Coast).

I looked up flights via EasyJet and BlueExpress but I am not sure how much I trust them after a friend of mine lost her luggage and had a 4 hour flight delay with them in the past.

We LOVE the idea of a TRAIN ride from France to Italy and we are willing to even give up a day to sleep on the train. What are your opinions or suggestions on trains from France to Italy?!

What would be easier or more enjoyable? Paris to Rome (Overnight) or Provence to Rome (during the day)?

We also don't mind paying a little extra to have a private cabin or 1st class seating since it's our honeymoon. We are clueless and would love some helpful advice from other travelers!!! Thanks! :)

I guess what I'm really trying to figure out is... is it worth traveling BACK to Paris from Provence just to get to ROME? Or, should we travel to ROME from Provence?

Me personally - I'd fly. Just because someone was delayed a few hours doesn't mean anything really. There isn't an airline anywhere on Earth that doesn't have delays -- my guess is easyJet has a better on time performance than many 'legacy' airlines.

And lost luggage is definitely not the norms on easyJet or any of the budget carriers since they don't check bags through/interline.

You can take trains from point-point in Italy if you just want a train ride.

But if you REALLY want to take the train instead of flying - I'd take a day train. Even though it eats up a whole day --at least you won't risk a sleepless night on a rolling train.

That is really comforting to know that there have been better experiences on EasyJet. The delay thing is not as much as a problem for I understand completely that there will always be delays, it was more "the lost luggage" story that scared me. We will have 1 very large bag and 2 small ones.

We are very interested in taking the train though. If there are any suggestions or tips on which trains to take out of Provence or Paris to Rome that would be very helpful!

Train rides always sound fun to me, we are an adventurous couple. I don't mind the night trains, I usually take a sleeping pill that KNOCKS me out COLD. ;) haha

Anyone have experiences or suggest taking the Artesia train from PARIS TO ROME? Or does it make no sense that we travel back to Paris from Provence just to get to Rome. I'm not sure if that is a silly idea or not? =/

Hi AFB,

>Our plan is to take the train in Rome to Serrano (Amalfi Coast).<

Do you mean Salerno?

You can quickly look up the train schedules at www.bahn.de.

It takes about 20 - 25 hrs to go by train.

Check flights out of Nice at www.whichbudget.com

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Oh, My mistake! I did mean Salerno! Thank you for the correction!

Why would you go to Salerno and not Napoli on the train???

Best train would probably be:

Lv Avignon TGV station at 6:30 am or Valence TGV station at 8:19

Ar Napoli at 20:10.... a 13:41 hr trip and 2 train changes if you depart from Valence & 3 changes from Avignon.

Then you would need to get to wherever you are staying on the Amalfi coast - and do so at night.

I would find a flight from Marseille or Nice to Napoli or Rome. 14 hours on the train & arriving at night does not seem like a fun honeymoon.

I use
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
To determine train schedules. Note that dates are in DD/MM/YYYY format and Avignon is "Avignon TGV" and Valence is "Valence TGV"

Stu Dudley

Taking the train from Paris to Rome is great. We took it from Paris to Milan to Florence and finally to Rome. (staying one night in Milan and Florence) It was a beautiful trip taken during the day. If you have the time - it gives you a sense of both countries.

Stu Dudley, thank you for that info!

We were planning on take the train from Rome to Salerno because we heard it was a more direct train and we can grab the ferry there to Amalfi where our Hotel is.

It's nice to know there is a train from Avignon to Naples though.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the Train from Paris to Rome! I have read both good bad experiences about that night train. The only thing that appeals to me is that I can avoid booking a hotel if I'm only arriving at my destination at night anyway.

If anyone has any more info I'd love to hear! I'm torn between the train and flying....but after much research tonight I think flying might be a better option.

Any airlines you suggest and trust more? Nice to Rome or Paris to Rome? :)

How big and heavy will your bags be? Easyjet has very tight luggage restrictions and it may cost you a small fortune if you are over weight (and they do weigh your bags and take it VERY seriously). If you take a look at what is allowed that may decide it for you - be sure you weight your bags in advance to ensure you are in limits if you do decide to fly.

I have used easyjet MANY MANY times and have rarely if ever been delayed and never had my luggage lost. These low cost airlines are no different than any other airline when it comes to timeliness...in fact I have found them to be better in many cases as they count on turning the aircraft around quickly...

Jamikins, thank you so much! Thanks to your suggestion and personal review and after reading tons and tons of forums/blogs on Trains vs Flying I decided to go ahead and book the flight from Nice to Rome on Easyjet.com!

I also paid extra online earlier for 43kg in case our 2 checked bags do end up being over weight. I will be sure to weigh our bags before leaving on our trip. Thanks so much everyone for your help!