Trains from Paris to Milan

The long-awaited Frecciarossa 1000 direct train between Paris and Milan was launched by Trenitalia in December 2021. As a train-lover, I couldn’t wait to take the historic first train from Paris on Saturday 18th December at 7:26 am. 

The tickets for this trip were on sale from €29 (around £25) for Standard Class and €35 (around £30) for Business Class – an amazing price given the duration of the journey (it’s a 6-and-a-half-hour trip!) and the quality of services offered on board the train. 

For my inaugural trip, I bought my ticket for Business Class around a week before departure – this type of ticket offers bigger seats than Standard Class and includes a hot drink and sweet or savoury snack. When I go to Italy, I usually travel in Standard Class but, given the tiny difference in price and the length of the train journey, I decided to treat myself. In hindsight, I definitely made the right choice – Business Class was really comfortable.  

Leaving Paris Gare de Lyon 

Paris Gare de Lyon is beautiful, but it’s also a little bit tricky to navigate: it’s one of the only train stations in Europe with multiple departure halls. There are three in total: Hall C, which is underground near the Métro, is used for commuter trains; Hall 2, at ground level, is for regional trains; Hall 1 is for high-speed trains (such as the Frecciarossa 1000 between France and Italy), and it’s also at ground level. In Hall 1, the platforms have letters assigned to them rather than numbers. My train was leaving from Hall 1, platform K. 

On board the Frecciarossa 1000 train 

We left Paris on time and headed towards our first stop: Lyon. It takes around 2 hours to get to Lyon. A little while after we left, a barista passed through the carriage with a trolley service, and to my delight I discovered that it had a proper coffee machine and Illy coffee. After Lyon, the train headed towards Chambéry, and the view out of the window began to change – from a plain engulfed in fog, we began to see the first mountains emerging. 

The next station after Chambéry was Modane, at the border between France and Italy – here, the landscape really looked like something on a postcard. The Frecciarossa train snaked through the mountains, and every time I looked out of the window it took my breath away. The train stopped for a few minutes at Modane for some quick border checks, and I took the opportunity to hop off the train and get some air on the platform. 

After leaving Modane, we entered Italy through the Susa Valley, with Bardonecchia in the background. We quickly headed down into the valley and arrived at Torino (Turin) Porta Susa station, where many Italian passengers got off the train. We then travelled onwards and arrived on time at our final destination, Milano Centrale station. 

The journey was very comfortable and the service was excellent. Apart from avoiding all the queues at the airport, the main advantages of travelling by train from Paris to Milan are: the ease of transporting pets (up to 50kg) and luggage (you’re allowed two large suitcases each, with no liquid limits), and being able to travel direct from city centre to city centre. 

Five stars – I highly recommend this trip! 

About Federica 

Federica, a Trainline employee, chose to share their experience of the journey between Paris and Milan.