How you travel from Paris to Venezia / Venice by train depends on whether you set off from the French capital in the morning, or depart in the early afternoon.
Depart from Paris before 07:00 and the end-to-end journey involves taking the Italian Frecce train, which has been newly introduced to this route to Italy; and making a connection on to another Frecce train on to Venezia / Venice in Milano Centrale station.
Alternatively if you depart before 13:00 you will be taking a TGV train to Torino Porta Susa station and connecting there into a Frecce train on to Venezia / Venice; though that train from Torino arrives at Venezia Mestre and not at Venezia S. Lucia, which is the station on the Grand Canal.
So to reach the historical heart of Venezia, when departing Paris in the afternoon, a second connection into a local train from Mestre to S.Lucia is required.
Travelling overnight is no longer an option due to the termination of the sleeper train services between Paris and Venezia / Venice
The Frecce train, which is typically scheduled to depart from Paris at 06:35 has an easily timed 55min min connection in Milano Centrale station into another Frecce train on to Venezia /Venice.
1 x connection 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 | |
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Trenitalia | * | |
Trenitalia | * |
Final Destination: Milano Centrale
These Frecce trains take the same route as the TGV trains, except for;
Final Destination: Venezia S. Lucia
The train also calls at: Verona, Vicenza and Padova/Padua and Venezia Mestre
If you will be heading to the historic heart of Venice, take care not to leave the train at this station, remain on the train until its next station call, Venezia S.Lucia.
The high speed part of the journey is the first stage to Brescia, on which the train will travel at more than 250 km/h, but only for around 15 minutes
If you're on the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) keep a look out before Desenzano for a fleeting, but incredible view of Lake Garda - though you'll have to hope for good weather.
But this is a journey that saves the best to last as the train heads across the waters of the lagoon to reach the heart of historic Venice/Venezia.
If you set off from Paris on the train, typically scheduled to depart at around 12:47 you will connect into the train on to Venezia / Venice in Torino Porta Susa station (and not in Milano).
The train on to Veneziawill likely depart from the same binario (platform/track) that the train from Paris will arrive at, so it's a very straightforward transfer.
The connecting time between trains is scheduled to be 35mins, which allows for some contingency in the event of the train from Paris being delayed; though you will be connecting into the final direct train of the day from Torino to Venezia
Note that the train will depart from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.
On Mondays to Saturdays the 08:01 Eurostar from London typically provides a good connection into this departure, as it is usually due to arrive into the Gare Du Nord at 11:23.
1 x optimum connection
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date
When looking up this journey on the ticket agents you may see other journey options which involve travelling via Switzerland and making two connections; (1) in either Basel, Geneve or Zurich, and (2) a connection at Milano Centrale.
Though such options are only worth considering if they are considerably cheaper than this routing via Torino.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
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Trainline | * |
Final Destination: Milano P.Garibaldi
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 coach
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.
Final Destination: Trieste
The train also calls at: Verona and and it will arrive in Venezia Mestre and not at Venezia S. Lucia.
So you will be heading to the historic heart of Venice, you will need to take a Regionale (R/RV) on from Venezia Mestre; tickets will be valid on any train and the journey on to Venezia S. Lucia station takes around 10 mins.
Final Destination: Venezia S.L.
Train will also call at: Vicenza, Padua/Padova and Venezia Mestre*
*If you will be travelling to the historic heart of Venezia/Venice take care not to leave the train at Venezia Mestre.
Remain on the train until it arrives at Venezia Santa Lucia station.
The train will travel on high speed lines between Torino and Brescia.
The train will reverse direction on departure from Milano Centrale.
It's not a partciularly scenic journey, but there are two highlights to look out for.
If you're on the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) keep a look out between Desenzano and Peschiera for a fleeting, incredible view of Lake Garda - in good weather.
But this is a journey that saves the best to last as the train heads across the waters of the lagoon to reach the heart of historic Venice/Venezia.
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.