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5 comments to “I will be traveling in Europe by train. Does any one know anything about train travel in Europe?”

1. 
   outta here Says: November 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm

   Buy Rick Steve’s Europe book. He has a whole section on the how’s, the times, the cheapest, the quickest – all about train travel and how to do it.

2. 
   guaglione1972 Says: November 17th, 2009 at 1:23 pm

   I seem to remember Paris to Northern/ Central Italy taking 12 hours. It’s an overnight trip. The compartment seats fold out to beds so it’s not so uncomfortable.

3. 
   Jane w Says: November 17th, 2009 at 1:27 pm

   Paris – milan would i guess be around 8 hours, although I’ve not done that trip. By and large european train travel is very good. France has very fast reliable trains, and distances aren’t that great. If you are going from small town to small town you might need a bit of a circuitous route, but city to city are usually direct. You can often get better deals by booking ahead on the internet, particularly if you go to Britain, which has a fiendishly complex pricing mechanism, but I often turned up a day before at the station and booked that way. You can buy the ticket when you get to the station, but you run teh risk taht it is booked out, so it depends on your time available.

   BTW in Europe you don’t need to specify the country the way you would a US state – there is only one Paris, and one Milan.

4. 
   undicided Says: November 17th, 2009 at 1:43 pm

   Train travel is sometimes hard depending on how big your suitcase is and how many connections you have to catch…i enjoy the short scenic rides but otherwise i suggest small airlines ex; ryanair,easyjet…i flew from rome to venice last month for about 20 e…beware of the weight limits on hopper flights ahead of time…

5. 
   conley39 Says: November 17th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

   The day trains take around 7 hours and leave from the Gare du Lyon station (85 – 95 euro 2nd class). There are several options for times during the day.

   The night train from Paris Bercy station (a couple of blocks from Gare du Lyon) takes 9 hours 10 minutes. It leaves at 8:28 pm and arrives in Milan at 5:38 am the next morning. A berth in a 6 bed couchette is 95 to 105 euro.

   You can probably buy the tickets when you’re in France, but sometimes the train sells out. If you have a specific train that you want to take, book the tickets before you leave to be sure.

   You can use the Italian or French train sites to check the schedules and book tickets:

   http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

   Note that there are specials a few seats on the trains between Paris and Italy and if you’re lucky you can get a 2nd class seat during the day for 25 euro or the couchette mentioned above for 35 euro. This is another reason to book early, but there’s some luck involved since there’s limited availability:

   “Paris starting from 25 euro with the Artesia trains
   On the day trains from Milan and Turin for Paris, seats in 1nd class for 50 euros and seats in 2nd class for 25 euros .
   On the night trains leaving from Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice and Milan: 35 euros for a couchette in 6-place compartment; 60 euros for a couchette in 4-place compartment. “

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