Take the fabulous rail journey from Paris to beautiful Torino/Turin, which combines more than two hours of travelling in excess of 280 km/h and then a passage through the Alps.
However, some positive news for this route is that Italy's national rail company, Trenitalia has introduced its ultra smart Frecciarossa 1000 trains to this route.
As a result Paris and Torino are now connected by an unprecedented five trains per day.
Note that these trains depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.
They typically leave at
Final Destination: Milano P. Garibaldi
All trains also call at: Modane, Bardonecchia, Oulx-Cesana-Claviere-Sestriere
The 'Frecce' trains don't call at Bardonecchia and Oulx-Cesana-Claviere-Sestriere.
Connections in Torino:
The TGV which usually departs Paris at 12:39 offers connections at Torino Porta Susa into these departures by Frecce, Italian high-speed, trains:
3 x trains per day
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).
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.
There can be particularly big discrepancies per departure on this route.
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.
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; and also don't leave it until the last minute before arranging reservations on this route.
Or if you will be travelling this route at a weekend with a rail pass, money saving options are now available.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
Trainline | from €29 | |
SNCF Connect | from €29 | |
Save A Train | from €29 |
The TGV heading to Torino and on to Milano will often be joined to another TGV heading to a different destination on departure from Paris.
So don't be surprised, when looking at the departure displays at Paris Gare De Lyon, if you see a train departing at the same time and from the same voie (track/platform) as the train heading to Milano.
This other train will also have a different train number.
You won't have to worry about boarding the wrong part of the train - your seat will have been assigned in the train heading to Torino.
The TGVs making the journeys to Italy also spell out where they will be heading to on the exterior of the coaches.
This is, in our humble opinion, one of the most exciting journeys you can take on European express trains.
We love the mix of high speed travel and stunning Alpine scenery
Aside from the wow factor of the speed, most high speed train journeys aren't scenically interesting, when high speed lines pass through hills and mountains, they tend to dive into tunnels.
This journey picks up in terms of scenery once the train leaves the high speed line behind - and that's what makes this journey so exceptional, the alpine views from a TGV train don't get better than this!
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please go here to say thank you.
Two Frecciarossa 1000 trains per day in each direction have been added to the Paris ↔ Torino route via Lyon, Chambery and Modane.
Heading south they depart daily from the Gare de Lyon in Paris at:
2 x trains per day
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 Standard and 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.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
Trenitalia | from €25 |
These Frecce trains are slower than the TGV trains as they divert off the direct route in order to call at Lyon's city centre station, Part-Dieu.
This is, in our humble opinion, one of the most exciting journeys you can take on European express trains.
We love the mix of high speed travel and stunning Alpine scenery
Aside from the wow factor of the speed, most high speed train journeys aren't scenically interesting, when high speed lines pass through hills and mountains, they tend to dive into tunnels.
This journey picks up in terms of scenery once the train leaves the high speed line behind - and that's what makes this journey so exceptional, the alpine views from a TGV train don't get better than this!
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please go here to say thank you.
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please consider saying thank you.
This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.