PARIS to MILAN by train: Spectacular TGV through the Alps

[Music] hello and welcome to another trip report I am a Paris garde de Leon I'm gonna be taking a very special train I'm heading down to Milan on a TGV and first class it's gonna be an amazing journey with some great food and some wonderful views along the way please join me and we're gonna head to Milan enjoy the video guard de Leon is one of Paris's six principal railway stations it's the terminus for a number of TGV routes to the south of France Switzerland Italy and even to Spain today I am booked on the 1041 departure to Milan porta garibaldi seen here on the screens now this train does take seven hours to go between Paris and Milan so it won't be advocating it as the fastest way to get between the two cities the train is however perfectly timed if you're a travel enthusiast after breakfast in Paris you can take this train for the bulk of the day having lunch onboard and it'll drop you at just before 6 p.m. in Milan just in time for dinner if you have some time to kill here at God's early-on go and visit hall 1 it's not where the train departs from but it is the original train shed to guard early on before the station was subsequently extended in the 20th century seasoned travelers will know that one of the benefits of visiting Hall one is the opportunity to see one of the world's most glamorous stationed buffets Letran blur restaurant occupies much of the first floor here it's got a fantastic reputation and offers an exquisite dining experience although at these prices I don't think I'll be making a visit today one thing you need to be aware of when traveling in first-class on French trains it's not like it is back in the UK or some other countries there's no complimentary food or drink provided I recommend that you make a stop in relay which you can find at most major railway stations across Europe and particularly in France pick up something to eat and drink unless you want to pay extra on the train Gardo Lyon is steeped in history it isn't just Britain that has war memorials within its stations here at guards early on this memorial commemorates the sacrifice of employees of the PLM and SNCF railway companies adding to the sense of nostalgia around this station is the presence of the Orient Express a revival of the original Orient Express train this super luxury sleeper is now operated by luxury brand bellman the vintage carriages are catching everyone's eye here this queue of people are not even passengers on the train but have bought tickets simply to look inside a ticket for the overnight journey between Paris and Venice costs around 100 times what I paid for my tickets in Milan 3,500 pounds it's my lifetime ambition to travel on the Orient Express and I was really looking forward to the day's journey down to Milan and TGV on first-class but there's nothing quite like seeing our lifetimes ambition dangled in front of your face to put things in perspective bad is one seriously expensive train I managed to pick up my ticket for around 43 euros that's 37 pounds sterling this is around half the normal price you would expect to pay because I picked mine up during a sale ticket prices vary with demand you can buy them either directly from SNCF or from a retailer like try 9 Europe or low co2 while I'm here it's a good time to tell you about my other social media which you may like to follow me on I have an Instagram and Twitter profile and I update them regularly you can also follow my trips in real time on the Instagram stories function our train actually consists of two trains on the back is a budget TGV INRI service and this will be with us as far as sean barie on the front a dedicated Paris to Milan tgp set this is a single decker train and I'll be traveling in it all the way down to the lab as is common across Europe first class on TVs is in a two plus one formation one of the really interesting things about these modern TVs is the fact that when you select a forward-facing seat they have a dynamic seat numbering system so that whichever way around the Train is facing the direction you booked is a direction you get you can certainly fly between Paris and Milan but no airline flying between those two cities offers you anything like the comfort offered by these large TGV armchairs there's no need to check your luggage large pieces go in the racks at the end of the carriage and smaller pieces in the overhead racks like this we leave guards early on bang on time one of the things I really find interesting about this journey is it it's really two journeys in one over half of the distance down to Milan is between Paris and Lyon but it will take us just two hours to get to Leon and another five hours to reverse the rest of the journey this is because the first part of the journey is on the LGV so dest a high-speed line in a straight line straight across France the second portion of the journey winds its way through the Alps between France and Italy first class on this train has a dedicated host who hands out menus to all passengers at their seats as I mentioned earlier there are no complimentary food or drink options in TGV first-class and that is common across France however bearing in mind that the ticket was only around about a 15 euro upgrade from the standard class I think this is more than acceptable the onboard menu also contains a multitude of options and that is definitely not the case when getting a complimentary offer as you do on some UK train operating companies if like me you're getting lunch on board you'll probably want to look at the meal deal option which is shown here we'll look at the food very shortly but first let's take a look at what the seat offers here in first-class the seats here have literature pockets similar to what you'd find on an aircraft where you can store magazines and menus there's also one charging socket per seat and there's also a fold down footrest you'll probably only find this comfortable if you're on the shorter side air conditioning is provided through these window vents and there's also a reading light is stylishly built into the wing of the seat there are two things here that I'd really like to see more of in Britain first a dedicated cup holder and secondly a very large and very sturdy fold down tray table this is probably the largest fall down tray table I've seen on any train in Europe there's also a roll down window shade the scenery down to Leon is mostly flat farmland however you should be aware that on the LGB should s as there are on many high-speed lines your view will often be blocked by sound barriers like this nonetheless these engineering features are part of the payoff for building a long straight line across the country this was actually Frances first dedicated high speed rail line for an extra two euros on top of your meal deal you can upgrade from a soft drink to a bottle of wine you place your order with the host and he'll bring the food to you from the cafe bar at sixteen euro this meal deal is not particularly cheap however despite appearances the food was actually rather good having lunch on the train isn't just an efficient use of time I always find that having something to eat breaks up the journey somewhat this moose by the way comes with a meal deal and is absolutely delicious less than two hours after leaving Paris we're at Leon's son as you pari station this is the interchange station for the airport of the same name the train does stop here for a few minutes so I recommend if you have the chance to get out and stretch your legs [Music] [Music] after Leon we leave the high-speed line and turn east towards the Alps our average speed halves and the scenery more than doubles this second portion of a journey is the real reason you should take the TGV between Paris and Milan our next stop is Sean Barie just arrived at Sean Barie in the French Alps it's a beautiful afternoon I'm not sure if you can even make out the mountains behind me but it's a beautiful afternoon for a train ride that other trade on the back behind us is going to be detached here as Sean Barie that continues on to granola and uh nnessee so I'm just going to see what the uncoupling operation is like [Music] upon departure from sean barie we wind our way through the Alpine foothills the TGV is a relaxed and civilized way to travel there's an onboard cafe bar which you can see here and if you get bored of course you can circumvent the host and come here instead to order some drinks the onboard facility still compare very well to other European trains the toilets were very clean throughout the journey travelers from the UK will want to note the foot pump flush on the right hand side this should save you a bit of embarrassment when you're looking around for the handle this is what a standard class carriage looks like and it's arranged in a 2+2 configuration [Music] my favorite station on this trip is mode on this lies on the French and Italian border again this train stops here for several minutes so you can get out and take a few photos the Alpine breeze here is clean and fresh and there is wonderful scenery what a wonderful setting for a train station this is a few minutes after leaving modern we pass through the fréjus rail tunnel this is over 8 miles long it's a shame that tunnels are so boring to record because I didn't include any footage of it in the video upon exiting we enter os-- which is in the Piedmont region of Italy [Music] having climbed down the Alps to chew in our train rejoins a high-speed line between children and Milan it takes us just one hour to make the journey between Turin and Milan and very shortly we're on Milan's outskirts heading into porta garibaldi station [Music] and so here we are in Milan at porta garibaldi station this is not actually the main station here in the land that's Milano centrally which is about a 20 minute walk just over that way for me in a couple of hours time on connecting through to the Milan Palermo sleeper which includes a train ferry something which is almost unheard of in Europe these days they've all died out anyway I hope you really enjoy it coming with me on the TGV between Paris and Milan it's definitely not the quickest way to get between the two cities but I hope you'll agree it's the most fun so if you do get the opportunity in future definitely take this train I thoroughly recommend it make good use of your day please subscribe for more content just like this but until next time I'll see you around [Music]

Channel: Wingin’ It! Paul Lucas

Views: 1,356,134

Keywords: Paris to Milan train, train, sncf, tgv, Paris to milan scenic train, Paris milan tgv train, tgv first class, high speed train, alps, milano, paris, gare du lyon, porta garibaldi, tgv at full speed, tgv train, tgv review, train review, first class, business class, luxury train, orient express, Paul lucas, wingin it, Pauls trip reports, tgv record, lgv, trains in europe, interrail, europe, france, italy, piedmont, travel, budget, cheap train tickets

Id: z-5O5INe66k

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 28 2019