Cindy

I'm planning to be in Paris for a couple of days, and am wondering how long it would take to get to Italy or Portugal from there. Also, what other cities would people recommend that would be fairly close (realizing, of course, that Italy and Portugal are not close)?

Holly

By train, or car? If by train, you can go to raileurope.com and type in various destinations to see how long the ride is. I wouldn't necessarily buy the tickets there, but it'll give you an idea time-wise.

Rex

For all practical purposes, it will take you almost all of one (24-hour) day to get from Paris to any destination in Italy OR Portugal, unless you fly.<BR><BR>Traveling by train could be more economical (than flying), if you consider that you could forego a night's hotel costs since you will almost surely want to spend the night portion of your travel on/in a sleeper of some kind.<BR><BR>Only you know the true cost of "losing" an entire day of your trip to Europe, getting from point A to point B. For many people, one constraint of the total number of days they travel has to include the "cost" of being away from work or other obligations. Efficient travel (or simply traveling lesser distances) is a good way to get a "free" day (or more) to add to your trip.<BR><BR>So, I think that flying shouldn't be ruled out, just because Paris is not (readily) a good gateway city for most of the cheap airlines. You CAN fly cheaply from Paris to Catania (Sicily) - - on www.europebyair.com - - but you should consider these alternative ways to get from Paris to either country - - perhaps using train to get from Paris to these nearby cities:<BR><BR>from Cologne, to Porto or Lisbon on europebyair<BR><BR>from Basle or Mulhouse (France/Switzerland) to Porto on Lisbon, also on europebyair. <BR><BR>from Brussels to Milan on Europebyair - - or www.virgin-express.com - - which also flies to Rome or Nice (which is almost Italy) or Faro (Portugal)<BR><BR>from Dusseldorf to Rome, Brindisi, Sicily or Sardinia (all on europebyair).<BR><BR>from London to numerous destinations on www.ryanair.com or www.go-fly.co.uk (and others?)<BR><BR>also, for what it's worth, Lisbon connects non-stop, and cheaply to Milan, Turin, Bologna and Nice (France) on Europebyair.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Betsy

Hi Cindy<BR><BR>We took an early morning TGV from Paris to Milan and then on through Genoa to Santa Margherita Ligure and were there in time for dinner. The scenery was gorgeous in spots.<BR><BR>Bon voyage

Holly

Some people look at train travel as a waste of time. Others look at it as ... another way to see Europe.