Need advice on taking an overnite train from Venice to Paris
 

Hi All,

We are traveling to Italy and France in late July/early August. We are planning on buying our "point-to-point" tickets once we arrive in Rome for our Italy travel (Rome-Florence, Florence-Venice). We are planning on traveling to Paris from Venice on an overnight train so we don't miss a day.

I have looked at raileurope.com and also spoken with a local travel agency (STA Travel) and they both seem to be about $180 per person for an overnight trip from venice to Paris in a private cabin. Does this seem like a good deal? Does anyone have any other suggestion? I looked into plane trips and it doesn't look like it makes sense to take a plane.

Thank you!

We looked into taking an overnight train from Paris to Venice and found that the airfare was cheaper. We bought round trip from Paris to Venice (on Air France) and just didn't use the return portion. I don't think it wasted a day on travel either, can't remember the exact times, but I think we were in Venice (after the boat ride from the airport, too) for an early lunch.

Hi Davidg,
I think that's the "Rialto" leaving Venice at 7:45 p.m. and arriving in Paris at about 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. the following morning. It's a nice trip. As for the price, it's always a bit steeper purchasing tickets from the U.S. using Raileurope.com, but they've taken over DER here, so you're kind of stuck if you want to make sure you get a compartment, which books quickly at the time you plan to go. You might check with Euraide to see if they can give you a lower price (I think they're based in Germany), if you factor in the handling fee (which last year was $35). I assume the compartment is a first class compartment, right? If not, that seems awfully high.

We took the train from Paris to Venice. (May 1999) The train workers were on strike, management put together a train full of 2nd class couchettes. Fortunately, that's all we paid for, but the people who had reservations for First calss or cabins were ticked. They finally got the pickets off the tracks and we left 2 hrs late. With little staff, there wasn't much for on-train service. But, we got there... be prepared for inconveniences.

I would pick overnight train because - you have all day in each city. An air flight involves hours of travel to airports, waiting for flights... heck, you leave the hotel 3 hours before the flight. You waste the whole day flying. And, you pay a fortune to and from the airports what, $100 total?... To top it all off, you pay Euro prices for a hotel for that night ($150?); and a wasted day on your European trip is time wasted, which is more precious that just $250 dollars plus airfare. For time, convenience, and dollars, an overnight train makes more sense between big cities.

I believe the airfare is sometimes cheaper than train fares. I'm thinking of visiting Italy after Paris (well, just beginning to plan for next year) and currently Easyjet offers a one-way fare of approximately 39 euro per person. Plus I would think taking the airplane is alot faster-hopefully. I know that it's 7 hours from Paris to Milan via the train.

MD makes a good point. Though airfare can be cheaper, the transportation costs to and from the airports will very likely wipe out any savings.

If cost is the deciding factor, you may want to check out VolareWeb, (www.volareweb.com) a low-cost Italian airline that flies from Beauvais airport (about 1 and a half hours outside Paris) to Venice. I just had a look at their site and one-way tickets were around 30-40 euros.

If cost isn't your main concern, then get the train. It's a fantastic way to arrive in Venice, the private compartments are comfy and, as mentioned above, the advantage is that you are effectively getting an extra night's accommodation, which means you'll save on hotel costs.

Approximately how much is the cost from Paris to Beauvais by taxi and also the cost from Milan's Linate airport to the city center?

Transportation to and from the airport is not being considered so will the whole trip by air end up costing as much as the taking a train?

The overnight train will normally be quicker than flying. If you fly, consider the time getting to and from airports and the check-in times, and the journey will take half a day. By train, you have a whole day in Venezia, then a whole day in Paris.
The fare of $180 sounds about right for a berth in a two-berth compartment; 'Excelsior' compartments which have bathrooms are more, while couchettes are cheaper. This train doesn't have ordinary seats, but does have a restaurant car which does dinner and breakfast.

In response to Francophile, for each flight from Beauvais airport there's a special coach that leaves from Porte Maillot, costing 10 euros each way.

I have no idea how much a taxi costs from Marco Polo airport to Venice proper, but I imagine the total will not add up to 180 euros per person.

However, as I pointed out, you can make up for travel costs by saving on accommodation if taking the overnight train, so it all boils down to personal preference.

Does Euraid have a website or do we need to call Germany for fare information?

In another post, Ben Haines, our inveterate train traveler on this board provided this information:

Euraide, who have offices in Florida and Germany: http://www.euraide.de/. Telephone in USA 1 941-480-1555. Fax 1 941-480-1522. E-mail [email protected]

Ok, thanks for all the advice folks. I am booking the overnite through raileurope.com (they are pretty much the same price as Euraid). Could someone tell me their opinion on getting reservations on the point to point portion? From Rome to Florence and FLorence to Venice? We are going in early August. I heard that some people say to just get them there when we arrive in Rome. The companies themsevles say to get them beforhand with reservations.

Thanks

Euraide charges one basic fee, so if you get the Sleeper from them, the additional point-to-point reservations would be "free".

Hi David,

I just finished planning a similar trip. However, I don't know how you got a rate of $180 for the complete overnight ticket. I also priced out point to point tickets, and the price of the overnight train to Paris ruled out the Point to Point idea for us.

A 1st class overnight ticket from Venice to Paris is $170 and $102 for 2nd class. However, if you want a private cabin to yourselves, you must buy the 1st class ticket. Further, that ticket doesn't include the Sleeper supplement which as I understood it.. is around $95 PP at the high end for a private cabin. So that puts you at $265.

Another thing that we considered was Point to Point for the rest of our trip through Italy. We are flying into Venice, and then traveling from Venice-Rome, Rome-Florence, and finally Florence-Paris (the overnight leg.) When we took into consideration the base $170 ticket from Florence-Paris and added the 2nd class P-to-P tickets on the other two legs, it was cheaper to buy a France/Italy Railpass for 4 days for $239 (1st class saverpass.)

If I'm wrong, please correct me because I'd like to know for next time. The whole issue of point-to-point + additional supplements is confusing so maybe I misunderstood, and I would like to know the real deal next time round.

Thanks!

By the way, I checked a few places to get this info... but here's one website (not very pretty, but it has the info) link that says that from Venice - Paris you need a 1st class ticket + 98 Euros PP for a double sleeper. Seems that price is $170 + 98 Euros for the sleeper.. once again, if there is a better place to look up prices on tickets, please point me in the right direction :)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/t0222ven.htm

Here's the link all overnight train prices:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/pricestr.htm

If you go on raileurope.com it says 180 for venice to paris. I am sorry but I forgot to mention we are under 26 so we are getting a "double youth cabin in first class" for 180 on raileurope. I am almost certain that the 180 includes everything (reservations, seat, sleeping)

Sorry, I'm not sure if I made clear what my question is..as a youth, is 180 a piece a good price for an overnite trip from venice to paris for a sleeper double? And, do you think that if I buy my "point-to-point" tickets when I arrive in rome (about 3 days before my first point to point travel) that I will be able to get resrved seats? Or, since its August, will they all be sold out?

According to www.sncf.com, a "Cabine T2 Jeune" from Venice to Paris is 144 Euros. Given the current exchange rate, $180 from RailEurope doesn't seem that bad, but I don't suppose that includes their shipping and handling charges.

There are plenty of trains from Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice; I think you'll be fine getting those tickets in Italy.

Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions.