nicolino

HI ALL, WE FINALLY GOT OUR DATES FLIGHTS AND TRIP BOOKED. WE ARE LEAVING FOR PARIS AND SPENDING 3 NIGHTS, THEN WE ARE TAKING THE TRAIN FROM PARIS TO NICE WHERE WE RENTED AN APARTMENT FOR A WEEK. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT TRAIN GOES FROM PARIS TO NICE AND HOW LONG IT TAKES? I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT FROM OUR APARTMENT IN CENTRAL NICE WE COULD DO DAY TRIPS TO ST TROPEZ, CANNES, MONACO, AND ALOT OF OTHER SMALL TOWNS ALONG THE COUNTRY SIDE. ARE THEY ALL REACHABLE BY TRAINS?
WAS TOLD TRAINS FROM THE CENTRAL STATION ACCESS ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS GRASSO AND ITALY. HAS ANYONE TRIED THIS ? WOULD APPRECIATE ANY AND ALL INFO AND OPINIONS. THE APARTMENT IS SITUATED IN CENTRAL NICE WALKABLE TO THE TRAINS THE BEACH AND OLD NICE. IN THE MUSICIANS QUARTER. IS THAT A NICE AREA?

kerouac

train schedules and rates from Paris to Nice on www.sncf.com

StuDudley

There is no train station in St Tropez - so you'll have a hard time getting there by train. I understand there is a ferry to St Tropez from Cannes, but I've never tried it.

If you mean inland countryside when you say countryside, most of the villages are not accessible by train - you'll need a bus to get you there. If this were my trip, I'de rent a car for a few days to explore the small villages and the beautiful Nice Hinterland.

I use this site to research train schedules.
http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

But purchase tickets on the sncf site.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Unless you are visually challenged, please don't use all caps when posting. It's considered "SHOUTING" on the internet and not well received by readers.

Trains from Paris to Nice originate at the Gare de Lyon. It takes about 3.5 hours. Schedules and prices are on www.sncf.fr. If you use the English part of that site, you'll be switched over to RailEurope, where you'll pay higher prices. Use the French site with the help of a friend or a dictionary if your French isn't up to it.

No, the small towns are generally not reachable by train. To do justice to the small towns you will need to rent a car.

Mimar

There's the narrow-gauge Train des Pignes, which leaves from Nice (from the small Gare de Provence 6 blocks north of the main train station)and travels into the hills north of Nice. It goes all the way to Digne, but most people stop off and turn around at Entrevaux. Here's a link: www.beyond.fr/travel/railpignes.html.

Another way to day-trip from Nice is by bus. From the central bus station in downtown Nice, buses go to Eze and Cap Ferrat, among many other places. Eze is a very scenic town set up high overlooking the Med. Cap Ferrat is a richy-rich peninsula; on it is the Villa Ephrussi-Rothschild, a over-the-top but pretty Belle Epoque palazzo with a beautiful garden, overlooking the Med on 2 sides. Read about it here: www.villa-ephrussi.com/en/ephrussi/

Another popular and very pretty town to visit is St Paul De Vence, also reachable by bus.

nicerue50

Mimar.That train sounds great Back from Paris only 5 weeks and already planning Nice first 2 weeks in June 2009. Do you know anything about ferry from Nice to San Remo? I see the ones to Corsica but can't find anything to San Remo. Any other day trip info from Nice would be great.
Thanks

Mimar

Nicerue, you might want to start another thread.

However, the only ferries from Nice that I know about are those to Corsica.

You can take the train to San Remo, in about an hour. In between are Monte Carlo and Menton.

In the other direction you can take the train to Antibes or Cannes.

So it depends on what you want to do: gamble, lay on the beach, watch beautiful people, see cute little villages, get a taste of Italy. Nice is a superb location for these transportation connections by train or bus.

TDudette

Hi nicolino,
Have mentioned this in another post, but hub and I took a guided bus tour one day as I was having breathing, i.e., walking up hills, problems and we enjoyed that very much. Our hotel had scads of info-since you will be in an apartment, check out tourist info?

Eze

Yes, this area is nice. Not to worry.

ParisAmsterdam

We took the TGV from Paris-Gare de Lyon to Nice-Ville last week.

It takes over 5 hours. It's
very fast to Aix-en-Provence
but after that slows down on old tracks and makes 3 or 4 stops.

I booked our tickets on the SNCF site... when asked which country you wish to have the tickets sent to or picked up use France... you then print them out yourself
anyway. If you choose Canada or US (I can't say how this works for other countries) you'll get shifted to the RailEurope website and likely pay considerably more.

Rob

nicolino

thanks to all those who helped with recommendations and information for this trip especially to studley who was very informative.

its alittle late but im giving a trip update with info to anyone looking to do paris and the french riviera. We stayed 3 days in paris at the duo hotel which was a perfect fair priced very clean small boutique hotel in the center of everything. the hotel also included breakfast daily. the duo is central to almost everything and if not the trains are only one block away which can take you anywhere you need to go.

from paris we took a flight to nice. the flight was short and in nice we rented a great apartment which was central to everything including the beach. the beach was a 10 minute walk from the apartment, the subway systems where 5 minutes and the bus depot was also a 10 minute walk. we stayed in the apartment for 10 days and did a day trip everyday to a different town or city. the apartment itself was in a perfect area and was clean with airconditioning, a full kitchen, bathroom living room etc. the building was very clean and very safe. if anyone is interested in the apartment it is a great place with a fantastic price. we paid 490 euro's for the 10 days which basically came out to $775.00.
the contact for this apartment is holiday-rentals.co.uk inquiry #79147
the owner is samar and she is wonderful to do business with. they also have someone 2 blocks away from the apartment to contact in case of any problems.
each morning we would have breakfast and set off for our day trip. day we visited cannes which is beautiful and basically less than an hour away. lots to do. day 2 and 3 we visited st rapheal which spent the whole day there and then took a bus from st rapheal to st tropez for dinner which was alittle more than an hour ride. we stayed in st tropez for the evening and half the following day and after lunch returned to nice. day 4 we visited antibes and the market place spent the complete day and had dinner. day 5 we visited monaco. we spent the day touring had dinner and of course visited the casino. day 6 we set off for a day in eze. wonderful little place. they also have the same perfume factory which is also in grasse way above on the top of a mountain with great restaurants and views. day 7 we stayed in nice, enjoyed the beach and then walked for hours in the central nice area visiting the shopping area's etc. day 8 we visited a small town called ville franche it was the most adorable romantic place filled with beautiful restaurants and beautiful sunsets. day 9 we stayed in nice and visited more of the city and the boardwalk area. day 10 we departed nice and flew back to paris for our last night in la depense which is the business district and a very modern area. in between our day trips to all the towns we visited there were also small towns and villages we stopped off in for lunch or appetizers or just drinks. once you buy your train ticket you can use it to get on and off the trains all day. the prices for the trains are reasonable and you can buy a weekly pass which saves you money.

we loved having the apartment in central nice close to the beach. it was just perfect. it had a full kitchen including a dish washer and washer/dryer. couldnt ask for more. 5 minute walk to the supermarkets etc. there was a tv, stereo, vcr, dvd, we were alittle worried about the air-conditioning since they are not equal to what we have here in the states but the air-condition unit was fantastic. we highly recommend this apartment and if anyone decided to rent it please tell samar that you were referred bu nicolino. if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask away. again thanks so much to all.

kerouac

I am extremely intrigued by the mention of the Nice subway system.

nytraveler

Perhaps the OP thinks that all trains are subways - and doesn't get the underground part?

scatcat

Probably the tram