French riviera coastal train
Jan 14th, 2014, 02:17 PM
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This is an excellent site that can help with trains in Europe www.seat61.com
Jan 14th, 2014, 02:53 PM
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Well yes the rail goes all the way to all part of Italy but due to a snafu between the Italian and French railways all cross-border trains have been scrubbed so the most you can go into Italy on a direct train from Cannes, Nice, Monaco, etc is to Ventimiglia, Italy, the Italian border station where you board IC or regional trains to Genoa and Milan where you change to trains for Florence - via Milan is the quickest route.
This is a slow rail route to Milan so it will take you several hours to get to Florence from Cannes - maybe look into flying into either Florence's airport or Pisa's International airport - for lots of great info on European trains see not only the fab site jamikins mentions - www.seat61.com (though somewhat oriented to British folks going to the Continent by train) and www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.
The Cannes to Ventimiglia trains are commuter trains - just buy a ticket before boarding but from Ventimiglia the faster IC trains demand seat reservations before boarding (the French coastal line has no seat reservations possible at all) - go to www.trenitalia.com and book tickets there for Ventimiglia to Florence - there will be different fares for different type trains - you can get some nifty discounts if you book far in advance to get those limited in number seats but they are non-changeble non-refundable so be sure of your times and allow some time for the transfer in Ventimiglia.
This is a slow rail route to Milan so it will take you several hours to get to Florence from Cannes - maybe look into flying into either Florence's airport or Pisa's International airport - for lots of great info on European trains see not only the fab site jamikins mentions - www.seat61.com (though somewhat oriented to British folks going to the Continent by train) and www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.
The Cannes to Ventimiglia trains are commuter trains - just buy a ticket before boarding but from Ventimiglia the faster IC trains demand seat reservations before boarding (the French coastal line has no seat reservations possible at all) - go to www.trenitalia.com and book tickets there for Ventimiglia to Florence - there will be different fares for different type trains - you can get some nifty discounts if you book far in advance to get those limited in number seats but they are non-changeble non-refundable so be sure of your times and allow some time for the transfer in Ventimiglia.
Jan 15th, 2014, 09:56 AM
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There are regional trains from Ventimgilia to Genoa and then Genoa to Pisa and Pisa to Florence and for these trains you can just buy a ticket upon arrival in Ventimgilia but they will take much longer than taking an IC train to Milan then a high-speed train to Florence I suspect - have not checked but think much longer - but it simplifies the ticketing - regional trains in Italy do not require or even accept reservations so you just hop on with a ticket.
And the coastal route via Pisa is a lot more scenic than the high-speed inland route - you will even get a glance of the famous Cinque Terre when the train pops out of tunnels for a few seconds in each town!
And the coastal route via Pisa is a lot more scenic than the high-speed inland route - you will even get a glance of the famous Cinque Terre when the train pops out of tunnels for a few seconds in each town!
