thursdaysd

No. It is 850 metres (930 yards), and once you are out of the station it is all downhill and on the flat (of course, the reverse if leaving from Como).

Don't know the Paris to Lyon leg, but Lyon to Milan will certainly be scenic, especially on a good day

Loved, loved, the train trip from Zurich to Como. Also, if you book ahead it can be very cheap - I paid 10 CHF a couple of years back.

neckervd

" Don't know the Paris to Lyon leg, but Lyon to Milan will certainly be scenic, especially on a good day. Loved, loved, the train trip from Zurich to Como."
IMO Paris - Lyon, Paris - Geneva, Paris - Besancon - Basel, Paris - Strasbourg - Basel are all rather boring itineraries.
Lyon - Chambery - Maurienne - Bussoleno - Turin - Milan is a bit better, but not really scenic. If the sky is clear, you can get nice views from Vercelli/Novara to the Alps, however.
(Paris -) Aisy - Dijon - Andelot - Frasne - Lausanne - Lake Geneva - Montreux/Chillon - Brig - Lake Mergozzo - Lake Maggiore (views to Isole Madre, Pescatori, Bella and the Alps) - Arona - Milan is much better, although nothing to write home about.
But if you really want to enjoy the alpine area, you must leave the train, take may be a rope railway to Montana and a gondola to Plaine Morte Glacier, a train from Visp to Gornergrat and back, a train and a gondola from Brig to Eggishorn/Aletsch Glacier or a PostBus from Brig over the Simplon Pass to Domodossola.

thursdaysd

True, but the OP's expressed interest is just getting to Lake Como.

nochblad

neckervd - With all other solutions, you waste a whole day.

Except the first in your list.

The OP does not state his/her sex - is "thefrenchtart" a clue? Avoiding issues of PC etc etc - if the OP is female I would certainly NOT recommend seat61's suggestion due to the late hour.

If not Thello as suggested by PalenQ I would choose air.

PalenQ

Zurich to Como was much more scenic before the opening of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel which now burrows under most of the awesome Alpine scenery - still a nice ride however.

thursdaysd

" With all other solutions, you waste a whole day. "

I have rarely found a train ride to be a "waste". The journey is as much part of the trip as the destination. But of course, YMMV.

PalenQ

Agree with hursdayds on train rides interesting - see the Europe in between big cities - problem with night trains can't see much but utiliarian for sure.

neckervd

1. PO hasn't come back for almost 1 week
2. There are sooo many different things to see in Paris whereas the train ride from Paris to the Alps is more or less alway the same: some grassland, some forest, some farmhouses, some steeples far away......
3. TGV Paris dp 14.41: in summer, the arrival at Como at 11pm isn't really late, but if the OP wants to go to another place than Como itself, it/she will have to sleep at Milan (ar 10pm) anyway and to go on the followoing morning.
4. Zurich - Como: it's possible to go from Zurich via the OLD Gotthard line to Milan with only 1 train change. But the itineray via the OLD Loetschberg line and along Lago Maggiore or via Bernina and Lake Como (both with 2 train changes) might be even more scenic.