Hi!
This summer during the month of June, me and my sister (two females) will be taking an overnight train from Paris to Venice. Is it safe to do so? Any advice on how to make this experience the safest possible is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

It is wholly safe. Your fellow-travellers and you lock and chain or bolt your room door, and nobody can open it from outside.

The site http://www.seat61.com/, then click on Italy, describes the train.
The site http://www.seat61.com/Sleepers.htm has a masterly survey of sleeping berths on the trains of Europe, with photographs. My note on http://www.geocities.com/rexbickers/tipsnighttrains.htm says how to enjoy night travel. I have since then had much help on it from Fodors forum readers, so I am attaching the present version. Rex Bickers is kindly working on getting the note online and on improving it six-monthly.

When you step out of the station in Venice please do not hurry, but pause at the top of the steps to enjoy the view, one of the great arrival views of Europe.

Please write if I can help further. Welcome to Europe.

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

Hi L,

You might want to consider flying from Paris Orly to Venice Marco Polo on www.myair.com.

It's faster and cheaper.

Interestingly, the plane isn't actually faster at all...

There appear to be two flights daily, one around 19:00, the other around 0940.

If you take the morning one, you'd need to leave central Paris about 07:45, you'd reach central Venice around 12:00. That's half a day gone.

If you take the evening flight, you'd need to leave central Paris around 17:00. You'd reach Venice quite late, around 22:00, then a night in a hotel.

Leave central Paris at 20:28 by train (no check-in required, turn up, hop on), and you arrive in Santa Lucia station at 09:00 next morning right in central Venice on the shores of the Grand Canal. No hotel required. Great views of French countryside over dinner in the restaurant, anticipation building next morning as the train rumbles across the causeway to Venice. An expereience in itself.

Oh yes - and maybe 40 Kg of CO2 emitted per passenger by train, but maybe 300 Kg of CO2 per person per return journey by air - short haul flights are the fastest growing contributer to global warming. Only take them if you have to..!

Dear 61,

With all due respect to your knowledge of trains:

Until your last paragraph, I was willing to concede your point (despite the plane being much cheaper).

However, CO2 emissions of 300 kg/pp on an airplane is at least 3.5 x current emissions.

600 miles is a "short haul"?

We took the overnight train from Venice to Paris - 4 females in a T4. Perfectly safe as it was just us in our cabin and as Ben Haines indicated, the cabins lock from the inside.

If you are concerned with sharing a cabin with two other people, you can book a cabin for just the two of you - but it will be more expensive.

I wasn't expecting very much, but our cabin had more room and was a lot nicer than I expected.

We purchased some food and brought it on to the train with us and had a little "picnic". I believe there is a dining car somewhere on the train, if you prefer to eat there.

I liked the convenience of being able to combine travel and hotel into one package.