Has anybody ever gone on the train from Paris to Rome during the daytime hours. I understand it takes 14 hours. Don't know where the train travels but Switzerland is sorta between Paris and Rome. I want to know if the scenery is worth sitting up for 14 hours. I have taken the train in the US from Chicago to Seattle and the ride was quite interesting. My husband and myself (we are retired) are planning to go to Paris and then on to
Rome. We plan to go before the high season. Would appreciate any info on this subject. Thanks!

the most direct route goes Rome to Milan then changing to the Artesia Day Trains to Paris - only a few a day one in morning that may be hard to catch and one in mid-afternoon - you could go via Switzerland but that is much longer and may involve several changes of train as well so not practical IMO unless you want to break your journey in say the fantastic Interlaken/Jungfrau region for a day or more - anyway check out these sites for more on these trains and routes - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. for fares check www.trenitalia.com and you can score advance online discounts if you act far enough in advance and can do with a hard to change and refund ticket otherwise you should just buy your tickets once in Italy. Is this your only train trip - if more investigate a railpass.

seat61.com can give you a good idea of routes

Nice to stop at Geneva or Interlaken

then stressa.org it is amazing on down

The Cisalpino trains are the nicest for me

Another nice stop Portofino www.metropole.it

Have fun,

Your previous post indicated you're on a tight budget. Flying one of Europe's low cost carriers might be less expensive.

It only takes 14 hours at night. The day trains take 11-1/2 to 12 hours. You change in either Basel or Geneva and then in Milan. Best fares are booking 90 days prior to the day you want to take the train trip. Do a search on this site about booking TGV trains.

Whatever you do, don't buy a ticket from RailEurope as that will be much more expensive.

If you have enough time then take the train since you already know that you like train rides. Bring food and water and wine with you and picnic on the train. Train food is expensive and not that great.

Airfare will likely be much cheaper and travel time is 2 hours. Easy Jet flies Paris Orly to Rome Ciampino. You can sometimes catch flights for under 50€.

http://www.easyjet.com/asp/en/book/index.asp?lang=en

I agree w/ the others that you appear to be on a budget -- and a train may not be the best option. Instead of spending a fair amount of €€€ and an entire day, spend less and get there faster flying. Use the savings to up your budget for accommodations a tad.

The Cisalpino trains are the nicest for me>

well Cisalpino trains stopped running a few years ago so ignore this info - there are NO cisalpino trains! Very dated info.

We have decided not to take the tour and instead make our own arrangements - then we can skip London and go to Paris and Rome spending more time in each of those cities. My main love is Italy and Rome. That is why we would like to take the train and see some of the countryside of France and Italy. We will have to up our budget but will still look for bargains on our trip. The trains are very confusing as we have never dealt with them. In the US we just go to AmTrak. What is the most popular and best deal in Europe and what is the best website to view it. We only want to take the train from Paris to Rome - no other rides. We will fly out of Rome at the end of our trip. (flying into Paris at the beginning) We are both retired and are very excited about this trip. It will be the first time for both of us to Europe and we want to make the most of it. Thanks!

>>>well Cisalpino trains stopped running a few years ago so ignore this info - there are NO cisalpino trains!>>>

There are Cisalpino trains which are the tilting trains. The company Cisalpino doesn't operate anymore, but the trains still exist and are leased to Trenitalia. I rode one last fall from Zurich to Milan. They aren't that nice of trains and they were having problems with the tilting on this particular train so our train was not on schedule.

Meant to add the Cisalpino trains are leased to Swiss train company too. On the Zurich-Milan route they are now called EuroCity.

sunburst - If you will only be taking the one train, you can probably book discount tickets on the French rail website. Each country has their own train system and website. You won't find discounted tickets on general rail websites such as RailEurope or budgeteuropetravel. On the French rail site, you can't select the US as your country if you want discount tickets as it will roll over to RailEurope.

If you want to select a route through certain areas AND get discounts, you might book a ticket from Paris to somewhere in Switzerland on the French website, then book a ticket from Switzerland on to Milan on the Swiss rail site. You would book the remainder of Milan/Rome on the Italian website. Most tickets can't be booked more than 4 months in advance.

But there are no trains labeled Cisalpino running any more, right? suppose i'try www.cisalpino.com to see if it is still around.

>>>But there are no trains labeled Cisalpino running any more, right?<<<

They are not labeled Cisalpino now, they are labeled EC, but they are still the old Cisalpino tilting trains (same train, different name). You can determine whether your train is one of these by whether it can accommodate bikes or not. You can read about it on wiki under the Euro City section.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisalpino

Rode one last fall and they announced we were going to be late because they were having problems with the tilting and couldn't use it.

In 2000 we rode the train from Paris to Milan and the scenery was beautiful.