We have found a great place to stay in Tuscany but can't work out flights. We love train travel. Does anyone know if you can get a night train from Paris to Florence? Or can you do it in a day? Please help.

Try this site www.seat61.com for general info. Although his journeys are from/to London the night trains leave from Paris. Regards, Walter

I'll try it. Do you know anything about daytime trains to Florence?

From what I could see through the Trenitalia website, there are no daytime trains to Florence. Check the schedules at www.trenitalia.it, there is an english version too. But I guess it is better to travel during the night because it takes about 12 hours to go from Paris to Florence, so a night train allows you to arrive in Florence in the morning and have time to enjoy the city since then.

I'll try. I have checked the other suggested website, but didn't find anything. Also tried euraide, but it doesn't give the cost. If this doesn't work, we're heading to Belguim. Any ideas on cheap train travel to Brussels. All I've found is the expensive fast trains.

I'm checking both the GermanRail site AND my trusty Cook's...reply will be below shortly

You can do it during the day as follows:

Leave Paris (Lyon) at 0804 on TGV #9251 which arrives in Milan at 2:55 PM; Change for IC 593 which on certain days runs as #1593, leaving Milan at 3:20 Pm and arriving in Florence (Santa Maria Novello [the main station] at 6:35 PM.

OR you can leave Lyon at 11:04 AM on TGV#9255 which arrives Milan at 5:55 PM. Chaning to Eurostar #9451 which leaves Milan at 7:00 Pm and arrives Florence at 9:46 PM. I'd take the first connection above rather than this later one because #9451 does not run on certain days. If you want to do it at night on the SNCF-FdStato "Artesia" service you leave Paris (BERCY...just up the tracks from Lyon) at 6:00 PM on Euronight #225 and arrive in Florence (Rifredi station) the next morning at 6:24 PM. I've done the Artesia before from Paris to Rome and i would advise that if you do this option make your reservations well ahead if you want a First Class ("Excelsior&quot double which has an en suite shower. Daytime travel would be a lot cheaper but it is a rather long day (unless you're a rail buff like myself). Chaning at Milano Centrale is a breeze. I got all of this from my Cook's Timetable and will now check the GermanRail site and post again below.

Oops..the Euronight obviously arrives in Florence at 6:24 AM NOT PM..sorry

COPY THIS and then paste it into your browser's search address window...

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

This is the GermanRail site..you can see any and all connections and be sure to put in the date you want to travel and hit the "search connection" button.
I think, however, for the daytime the 8:04 AM departure is your best bet.

Looks great, but how do I find out what it costs? Thanks so much for all the help!!!

For trains within Italy, www.trenitalia.com will have the ticket prices. For the train from France to Italy, try www.sncf.com.

Hello Trav,

Try this site for cost. It has your Paris to Florence trip ($170 First Class, $120 Second) plus manny others,"http://www.bootsnall.com/eurail/passes/p2p.shtml".

As far as planning I like the Swiss timetable, it gives you all the option for planning your travel all over Europe. You can find them at "http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/misc/timetabl.html". Have fun.

Greg

FYI You could fly Ryanair from Paris to Milan for next to nothing (I saw fares as low as 8GBP) and train from Milan to Florence (or even someplace that might be closer to your villa in Tuscany)

Unfortunately, Ryanair flies from "Paris" Beauvais and lands in "Milano" Bergamo, both very inconvenient airports.

Much better alternative would be to fly EasyJet from Paris Orly to Milan Linate - service starts in July. From there, short bus ride to Centrale train station and train to Florence. Much easier than it sounds and quite a time saver.
www.easyjet.com

Price should be comparable to the all-train itinerary.

I should also mention that I wouldn't consider staying out in the tuscan countryside without renting a car!

Hope this helps,
Andre