Outward clearly via Paris as you say you want that Paris stopover. Back you’d have more choice. Obvious routings are Roma-Milano-Paris-London or Roma-München-Köln-Bruxelles-London. In theory, the latter routing could be done (using the CNL overnight service from Rome to Munich, then onward by day train) for as little as €110 one-way, but you’d have to be mightily lucky to catch that bargain fare. Booking three months in advance, you’d probably be able to make this journey (by either route) for about €160 one-way.

The issue with rail passes is that you’ll pick up hefty supplements.

To give you an idea, just now (ie. mid-January 2014) there are seven daily connections from Colmar to Venezia – five by day and two overnight. By day the journey takes about 8hrs 50mins, by night about 16 hrs.

You mention a particular interest in overnight travel, so we’ll focus here on those options. They are:

1. From Colmar at 16.37 with a local train to Strasbourg, then a fast TGV to München to connect there onto the CNL overnight train to Venezia, arriving there at 08.34.

2. From Colmar at 17.31 with a fast TGV to Dijon, connecting there onto the Thello overnight service to Venezia. Arrival is at 09.35.

Option 1 has the better quality sleeping accommodation (including First Class sleepers for single occupancy) so that’s the one we would recommend. The only downside of the routing via München is that the actual time on the overnight train is less than on the Dijon route. The CNL train leaves München at 23.40 and the journey to Venezia is just under nine hours. Some travellers favour overnight options which allow more time on board.

Hope these comments assist you in your travel planning. When you come to book, there are very many companies which can sell tickets. One which might care to try is https://loco2.com

Nicky and Susanne
editors of hidden europe magazine
http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk