Venice by train: Part 1. Itinerary

Some euro tickets, the main ones were print-yourself e-tickets

Yes, it is possible, and not necessarily by the Orient Express either (though when I was leaving Venice, it was moored alongside, with boring loco at the front). I am indebted to The Man in Seat 61 for help with the planning and, with only a couple of minor glitches, it all went like clockwork. Also to my Number One Son and Heir Sam and his partner Teege for treating me to the Venice experience. They travelled to Milan by aeroplane, and back from Rome. Finally I should like to thank the humble tomato, without which a vegetarian in Europe might starve!

I also recommend buying tickets from Loco2 - simple, straightforward website, all in English, pay in British pounds!

Here follows the itinerary, with prices to demonstrate how cheap rail travel is on the Continent, and I'm aiming to flesh the blog out over the next few days:

Paris Gare du Nord

Saturday 24 October
6.24 London Road > 6.27 Brighton

7.08 Brighton > 8.33 St Pancras  £10.40
(in fact, I caught the Thameslink train half an hour earlier!)

9.17 St Pancras > 12.47 Paris Gare du Nord £74.50
Gare du Nord > Gare de Lyon - RER line D south €2
14.41 Gare de Lyon > 21.51 Milan Garibaldi €29
Vietnamonamour L'isola B&B Milan

Venice Santa Lucia station

Sunday 25 October
Milan Centrale 12.35 > Venice Santa Lucia 15.10
L'Orologio Venice

Monday 26 October
L'Orologio Venice

Tuesday 27  October
L'Orologio Venice

Milano Centrale

Wednesday 28  October
L'Orologio Venice check out
10.50 Venice > 13.25 Milan Centrale £6.87

Hotel LaFavia, Milan

Thursday 29 October
10.20 Milan Centrale > 12.52 Tirano Trenord €11.50
15.00 Tirano RhB > 19.03 Chur (Bernina Express) 72 swiss francs
19.09 Chur > 20.23 Zurich £29
Hotel de Theatre, Zurich

Friday 30 October
07:34 Zurich > 11:37 Paris Gare de Lyon €69

Gare de Lyon > Gare du Nord €2 (should have been €1.80 but machine did not give change)
13:13 Paris Gare du Nord > 14:39 (delayed to 15.57) London St Pancras £67.50 (-£34 delay compo)

St Pancras > Brighton £11.30

Brighton > London Road

More photos on Flickr.

Chur to Zurich train and a TGV like the one that carried me to Paris