How to take a train journey from Paris to Milano/Milan

The route taken by the Paris to Milano trains has been closed until summer 2024, due to damage caused by a landslide.
Replacement bus services have not been made available for international journeys along the closed section of the route.
The alternative route, which is currently the only option, involves travelling via Switzerland and journey time of more than 8 hours!

Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.
They typically leave at

• 06:39 daily
• 09:43 on Sat/Sun
• 12:39 on Mon to Fri
• 14:45 daily

Final Destination: Milano P. Garibaldi (the 'Frecce; trains arrive at a different station in Milan)

All trains also call at: Modane, Bardonecchia, Oulx-Cesana-Claviere-Sestriere, Torino Porta Susa and Novara
The 'Frecce' trains don't call at Bardonecchia, Oulx-Cesana-Claviere-Sestriere and Novara.

Arriving in Milano:

Milano Centrale is the main station in Milano used by long distance trains, but the TGVs from Paris arrive at the city's main rail commuter hub, Milano Porta Garibaldi.

This station has rail links across the greater Milano area, as well as Metro links to the city centre and Milano Centrale station.

Connections in Torino:

Though the TGV which usually departs Paris at 12:39 offers connections at Torino Porta Susa into these Frecce departures:

• 18:50 to Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Padova, Venezia Mestre and Trieste
• 19:10 to Bologna, Firenze and Roma.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date; usually (the booking window can be shorter in Oct-Nov).

If tickets aren't on sale yet for your travel date, then this is a journey for which it's worth signing up to the ticket availability notification service on Oui.SNCF.
Do that and you'll receive an email within moments of the tickets being released for sale.
It's worth making an effort as this is a journey on which the very cheapest tickets tend to sell out particularly fast.

When looking for tickets on Oui.SNCF tick the 'direct trains' box; on Trainline tick the 'fastest journeys' box.

The price is dictated by demand per departure, so book ahead and try and be flexible re: your departure and arrival times.

The Oui.SNCF (French national railways website) will indicate the cheapest price per day, click on this and you will be shown the departures on which this price is available.
There can be particularly big discrepancies per departure on this route.

Rail Pass Users:

If you have an InterRail or Eurail pass, these TGV France-Italy trains are at the top of the most expensive rail pass reservation fees charts.

As the rail pass reservation fees are more expensive than the discounted tickets, which will be available for this journey, you can save money by not using your rail pass on this trains and by booking tickets instead.

Definitely don't pay the reservation fee until you have checked the ticket prices on these TGVs and on the new Frecce services; and also don't leave it until the last minute before arranging reservations on this route.

Two Frecciarossa 1000 trains per day in each direction have been added to the Paris ↔ Milano route via Lyon, Chambery, Modane and Torino/Turin.

Heading south they depart daily from the Gare de Lyon in Paris at:

• 07:25 - arrives Torino Porta Susa at 13:18 and Milano Centrale at 14:07.
• 15:12 - arrives Torino Porta Susa at 21:20 and Milano Centrale at 22:07.

Connections in Milano

The 07:25 from Paris connects with these other Frecce services on from Milano:

• 14:30 to Bologna, Roma, Salerno, Lamezia Terme, Villa S. Giovanni and Reggio di Calabria
• 14:45 to Verona, Vicenza, Padova and Venezia/Venice.
• 15:00 to Bologna and Roma
• 15:10 to Genova, Savona, Albenga and San Remo

Milano Centrale also has Regionale services to Brescia, Bergamo, Parma and Modena.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months* ahead of the travel date

Frecciarossa 1000 trains on the domestic routes within Italy convey 4 classes of accommodation, but the Standard Premier service is not available on this international route.
Also 'Allegro' has been introduced as the branding for the Business Class, SMTJ isn't certain as to the reason for this, other than to make a distinction with the tickets on the domestic routes.

Until the direct trains once again become available - when looking up the Paris to Milano journey there will be multiple combinations of trains available daily.
Some of which will have two connections, but there is no need to make more than one transfer between trains when travelling via Switzerland from Paris to Milan by train.
There are Lyria services from Paris to Basel, Geneve and Zurich - and all three of these Swiss stations have EC trains to Milano, but the timetable isn't set up to make the connections between the two trains as simple as possible, so the combination of trains to be taken can seem random.
Something to watch out for is that the ticket agents can offer a journey option that involves departing Paris at around 12:20, and arriving in Milano aound 18:50, but it has a non-guaranteed 7min connection in Zurich, so it's best avoided.

The optimum journey when travelling from Paris to Milano through Switzerland by train, with an end to end time of around 8hr 20mins, typically involves departing from the Gare De Lyon at around 14:15 - as the connection in Geneve, when taking this train, is ideally timed at a little over an hour.
There is also a journey with an end-to-end time of around 9hr 20 mins*, which usually involves departing Paris before 08:20 and a close to guaranteed two hour connection in Geneve,
*= The option 4 journeys via Basel also have an and-to-end journey time of around 9hr 20 mins.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: around 6 months ahead of the travel date

Seat Reservations:

There are mandatory on all trains along this route, so are automatically included when booking tickets, but users of rail passes, will need to pay rail pass reservation fees per train

What if the connections is missed

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, and it applies to 'through tickets' - so the advice is to check the T&Cs pre-booking.

In effect 'the terms' for 'through tickets' now protect travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, in non-exceptional circumstances, and this includes expenditure on hotel fees (up to a limit) if an overnight stay is required in Switzerland,
Though these new E.U. 'rules' protecting against financial loss don't apply in the exceptional circumstances causing a delay to the trains from Paris or the train from Geneve - and these include; extreme weather conditions, damage to the track by a naturally occurring event such as a flood, the behaviour of a third party such as persons on the track; and on-board emergencies.

Though there is also an Agreement of Journey Continuation Policy, the AJC, which SNCF and SBB have signed up to
Under the terms of the AJC the ticket holder can take the next train on to Milano, with no need to book new tickets and the exceptional circumstances don't apply - but the AJC doesn't cover the costs of overnight accommodation if the arrival from Paris to Geneve is after the final train of the day on to Milano has departed.

Much more info is available on this ticketing guide.

.

Until the direct trains once again become available, when looking up the Paris to Milano journey there will be multiple combinations of trains available daily - some of which will have two connections, but there is no need to make more than one transfer between trains. when travelling via Switzerland.
There are Lyria services from Paris to Basel, Geneve and Zurich and all three of these Swiss stations have EC trains to Milano, but the timetable isn't set up to make the connections between the two trains as simple as possible, so the combination of trains to be taken can seem random.

Though when departing Paris at

• around 07:20, for an arrival into Milano before 17:00
• or at around 12:20
  the connecting time between arrival and departure in Basel is around two hours, which should ensure a stress-free journey.

wBook early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: around 6 months ahead of the travel date

Seat Reservations:

There are mandatory on all trains along this route, so are automatically included when booking tickets, but users of rail passes, will need to pay rail pass reservation fees per train

What if the connections is missed

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, and it applies to 'through tickets' - so the advice is to check the T&Cs pre-booking.

In effect 'the terms' for 'through tickets' now protect travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, in non-exceptional circumstances, and this includes expenditure on hotel fees (up to a limit) if an overnight stay is required in Switzerland.
Though these new E.U. 'rules' protecting against financial loss don't apply in the exceptional circumstances causing a delay to the trains from Paris or the train from Geneve - and these include; extreme weather conditions, damage to the track by a naturally occurring event such as a flood, the behaviour of a third party such as persons on the track; and on-board emergencies.

Though there is also an Agreement of Journey Continuation Policy, the AJC, which SNCF and SBB have signed up to
Under the terms of the AJC the ticket holder can take the next train on to Milano, with no need to book new tickets and the exceptional circumstances don't apply - but the AJC doesn't cover the costs of overnight accommodation if the arrival from Paris to Geneve is after the final train of the day on to Milano has departed.

Much more info is available on this ticketing guide.