Yes, I've read the train travel tips, but I'm still frustrated. HELP, PLEASE!
 

We have finally gotten most of our Paris/Italy trip buttoned down, but I can not, for the life of me, get night train prices for Paris to Venice. I've been to Seat61, I've been to Artesia, TGV, you name it. My french is not good enough to make it through the process.

Here's what I need:
Paris (preferably CDG) to Venice via overnight train on 10/28.

I would then need 2nd class train from Venice to Florence and from Florence to Rome (we will fly from Rome back to Paris).

I know it could be less expensive to fly into and out of Italy, but my husband has not experienced an overnight train and we'd like to do that.

Please break the procedure down into the simplest language so that my lame brain can handle this.

THANKS!

Mel, I just typed in Paris to Venice on the trenitalia.com site and got the routes there. You may not (or may; dunno) be able to put in dates that far ahead (I picked end of August dates for test purposes). But it'll show you what's available, which will most likely be the same or very similar schedule for October dates. The first screen that comes up with the routes, click on Details over on the right side for connection times.

Hi Mel,

> but my husband has not experienced an overnight train and we'd like to do that.

You can't take a train from CDG to Venice.

You can take a train from Paris to Venice San Lucia.

Go to www.voyages-sncf.com
They have a Depart discount fare of 135E pp in 1cl double cabin leaving Paris Bercy at 19:42 on 10/28.

Enter Paris and Venezia San Lucia.
click "continuer"
Your next screen will repeat the first with a littl symbol and "aide"
click on "aide". Click "Venice S Lucia".
You will go back to the same page.
Change the number of passengers to 2.
Leave the country "France"
click "continuer"
You will get a page with prices.
choose the green 1 cl seats
choose your placement in a dbl compartment.
You will get a new page
choose the 270E special
On the next page, review your choice.
click continuer
On the next page choose as the place to get your tickets
"Retirer votre billet aux guichets d'une gare ou boutique SNCF en vous munissant du numéro de dossier et de la carte bancaire utilisée pour le paiement".

You will get a confirmation email.
Take that and the same credit card to the ticket agent when you buy your tickets from CDG to Paris, or to the ticket counter at Paris Bercy station.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

You can buy your Venice/Florence/Rome tickets when you arrive in Venice.

Schedules and prices are at www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

((I))

Here's how to book the Paris-Venezia Santa Lucia night train in English. Go to www.voyages-sncf.com. Go to the top of the page and click on the "Train" tab (between "Accueil" and "Hotel"). After you get a new page, click anywhere in the long URL in the browser field at the very top of the page. Find LANG=FR and change it to LANG=UK. Hit the Enter key and you'll get a booking page in English.

TimS,

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That really helped!

Thanks, Ira, I was able to get through to prices and timetables (what a crazy way to go about this, how did you figure it out?) But everything is still in French. Anyway to get it into English?

Tim, that doesn't work for me. I made the change, but when I hit "refresh" it goes back to FR.

MelJ-

After you change the language in the URL from FR to UK, hit "GO" but NOT "Refresh". When you Refresh, it reloads the same screen w/the FR in the URL. You need to hit GO.

If all fails, try to use www.tgv-europe.com. It has the same interface as SNCF but is in English. You need to select your "country" as Great Britain to keep it in English.

Thanks! Got it all in English! If you can stand one more complaint, however, it's that it gives me the time and cost but, even though I asked for 1st class, it's only offering 2nd class.

Hi M,

> it gives me the time and cost but, even though I asked for 1st class, it's only offering 2nd class.<

That's because you are looking at a 2cl only train.

Did you follow my suggestion?

If you don;t read French, use http://www.freetranslation.com/

((I))