We've been invited to a wedding in France this July. Apart from the wedding itself, which will be in a small village about an hour to the west of Paris, there will be other gatherings, all within the general area of Rambouillet.

We quite fancy taking the Eurostar from London to Paris (which we've never done before) and then taking a train to the local station, Le Perray. We need to think about where we will stay for that weekend, but that's not too difficult to work out.

My biggest problem is trying to work out the best way to carry on to Italy (I'm assuming we'd go by train back to Paris but maybe that's not necessary). We'd quite like to travel on by train to some point in Italy and pick up a hire car there but can't quite work out the best rail line to take. We are ultimately heading for Lungiana, but could drive from Turin, or Genoa, or Milan. The other alternative might be to go to somewhere like Nice or Montpelier and hire a car there. On the way back we would turn in the car and fly back to London from there. I'm trying to work out which will be the most efficient (i.e. time v cost) point to aim for. Any suggestions?

I should add that I've checked both Rail Europe and SNCF websites but they're useless for the local trains. I had to resort to the Germain rail site for any information of local trains.

I noticed that no one has responded on this post. Have you made any progress on your travel plans. Here is a link to a map of France rail lines. It is from Rick Steves but I find a map helpful for looking for options. I think the fastest train into Italy is to take the train from Paris Lyon to Torino. It is about 6 hours. The same train goes on to Milan which is about 1:30hrs longer. Nice is also about same time (5:30-6 hours). It looks like driving time is somewhat similar also from either Nice or Turin. Montpellier or Marseilles would be shorter train but longer drive. I think your best option is to return to Paris and either go south or east to Turin.

The question is what options do you would have for returning flying back to UK from Italy? Which ones are the cheapest? Also when do they leave (ie: can you drive there in a day?). Is flying back from France cheaper? You may want to try some of the websites like Kayak or wegolo for options before checking directly with the airlines.

Good luck,