Paris to Rome on the Artesia Night Train
When we decided to go from Paris to Rome, we looked into a number of options, flying, driving or by train. We choose to take the Artesia night train leaving from Bercy Train Station in Paris. The Artesia train trip is 14 hrs and 30 mins long and leaves in the evening and arrives in Rome in the morning. It was a great way to get to Italy. It cost us $260 per person for a 1st class sleeper compartment of our own.
The room consisted of a sink, pull out beds, and plenty of space to store our luggage. The room had electric outlets, which allows you to use a laptop or watch a portable DVD player or anything else you may have with you that requires electricity. The plus with Italian style, so make sure you bring a plug adapter. There was an attendant that looked over the travellers on the train car. At bedtime, he would come and put the beds down and make the room ready to sleep and make the room back up in the morning. The train had a dining car that offered a sit down dinner or breakfast for an additional cost. There was also a snack counter that provided drinks, croissants, snacks and numerous other things to eat. Sleeping on the train was fairly comfortable, considering the small size of the compartments. The train moved fair smooth along the tracks, with minimal shaking or jogging.
One drawback to the trip is that most of the ride is during the night which doesn’t allow alot of time to see the countryside. But during daylight hours, it is nice to watch the views as the train travels along. One thing that there is alot of on the trip are tunnels. There must be alot of hills and mountains that the train needs to navigate on its way to Rome. If you plan on getting to Rome at a specific time, you may want to try alternate routes. Our train arrived at Rome 2 hours later then it was scheduled to and from what I can tell it is normal for the train to not arrive on time., but if you are not in a hurry to get to Rome, it is a great way to travel from Paris.
