allset2travel

I am thinking of taking this itinerary on a Sunday next summer. Itinerary listed below:

Eurostar #9016
10:01 London St. Pancras Int’l
13:17 Paris Nord
Transfer 1 hour 10 minutes
TGV #9249
14:27 Paris Lyon
21:50 Milano Porta Garibaldi

Here are my questions:
1. Where is the best online portal to buy tickets? (I saw this itin on LOCO2)
2. Eurostar Standard class luggage storage space, any issue with one 22” roll-on-board and a backpack?
3. I am concern about the transfer time (1 hour 10 minutes) between Paris Nord and Paris Lyon. What is the best (least time) mode of transportation, taxi, uber or metro?
4. What if my Eurostar train was late, and can’t make it to the TGV, what happens to my ticket and onward journey? (one time I experienced a 3 hour delay between London and Paris Nord)
5. Arrival late at night at Milano PG, any security and personal safety concern?

Thank you in advance for your advice and suggestions.

PS: I enjoy riding trains, hence ruled out flying.

stut

Loco2 is good. You can cross check with Eurostar.com and captaintrain.com

No space issue at all. There are some limits, but this is well within them. Note that you carry all baggage on board yourself, and will be expected to put all bags through x-ray machines yourself.

It's an easy transfer on RER line D (kind of an express metro) which is direct between the two stations. You only need a metro ticket for this journey, but do need to use it to open barriers at entry and exit. Only difficulty can be the slightly convoluted nature of the station layouts, but as long as you follow RER D (towards Melun) and then Grandes Lignes or TGV on arrival, you'll be fine.

If you are sold this as a through itinerary, then you are protected by international convention (CIV) in case of missed connections - however, this may not be very convenient, given the limited number of trains from Paris to Milan. In my experience, however, Eurostar is either punctual or disastrous...

If you do have a longer connection time, there are left luggage lockers in the Gare de Lyon, and you could then get to experience the wonderful Train Bleu brasserie. Your also near the Promenade Plantée, the inspiration for New York's High Line.

I've never felt unsafe in central Milan, personally, just use normal precautions and be aware of your surroundings.

allset2travel

stut,
Thanks for your detailed post. Appreciate it.

I will check them out.

Good to know. Any idea of frequency on Sunday?

Got it.

Read about Train Blue from Seat61. Wish I had time.
Was not aware of the Promenade Plantee. Do it if time permits. Love walking on the High Line, did that many times.

Agree, with respect to central Milan. Was curious about the environment at night near the Station. I recalled the south station in Brussels, and it was not pretty.

Thanks again!

stut

RER D has a weird weekend timetable, with some annoying gaps of up to 20 minutes in the central section (followed by a train 3 minutes later).

The good news is that, if this is the case, you can get RER B from the adjacent platform one stop to Chatelet Les Halles, from where it's a cross platform change to RER A one stop to Gare de Lyon. These lines are very frequent.

I count Pta Garibaldi as being in central Milan, I suppose it's a little on the periphery. Never felt unsafe there in my few out of hours visits v- it's certainly no Brussels-Midi, which has to be one of the least savoury major mainline stations I know!

allset2travel

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. ^

traveller42

I've walked back after dinner from a restaurent near Porta Garibaldi to a hotel nearer Milano Centrale and didn't feel unsafe. Certainly not like the area outside Brussels Midi (I live in Brussels).

JP

sachsemensch

You may want to consider
EST 9014 London 9:22 Paris 12:47
TGV 9249 Paris 14:27 Milano 21:50

Found here: http://hafas.bene-system.com/bin/que...459377513&OK#5

allset2travel

Appreciate your input. Thank you.

allset2travel

Thank you for the link. Unfortunately it did not work for me. Is the itinerary on that web site bookable online?

I had tried to get this very itinerary that gives me more connect time in Paris. So far, I used only LOCO2 site. When put in search terms FROM: London St. Pancras Int'l; and TO: Milano PG. web site did not offer Train #9014 (albeit it did show when the search is to Paris Nord only). So it appears that I have to buy two separate tickets.

What other web sites do people used?

allset2travel

Have any one used the following to book train tickets?

https://timetable.captaintrain.com/t...pancras/milano

It offers a later departure from Gare de Lyon to Milano PG. Would much prefer this.

stut

Captain Train is a good site.

Do bear in mind the later connection will mean a significant proportion of the journey will be in the dark, though.

sachsemensch

Here is a better link to the Rout Planner:
http://hafas.bene-system.com/bin/query.exe/en?L=profi&
But booking is not possible. Just for accurate planning. Been using this site for many years

allset2travel

Re: Captain Train. Read an OLD thread on FT about it. It was positive.Good to know that you think so too! Thanks.

Yes, indeed. Expecting some part of the journey will be in the dark. Hopefully not that much as it is summer.

allset2travel

Love this link. Always want to know where the intermediate stops are for the journey. Thank you so much.

allset2travel

I had purchased my tickets finally, from LOCO2.

Thanks everybody for your help.

Cheers.