Defago

I'm wondering to travel from Marseille to Florence by car, though, taking the car in France and dfrop it in Italy is 300 dollares more than leaving it in Nice, take the train to San Remo or Genoa, and that another car in Genoa to Florence/Rome.

Is the scenery really worthy not to take the train in that part of the trip and avoid the extra 300 dollars ? or is it really nice and it's worhty to do all the way by car ?

Thanks in advance

Michael

Nice to San Remo is 54 km. Do you think that you will be missing such spectacular scenery that it is worth $300?

Defago

Don't have the least idea on how is he scenery there... guess not worthy

bobthenavigator

It is mostly tunnels---you can miss it.

goldenautumn

The issue isn't really the scenery -- it's how long and boring the trip is by train from the French-Italian border to Genova. It's about a 2.5 hour drive and 5 hour train trip (and that is not counting the time it takes to drop off the car).

It's not too bad to go from Nice to the border by train and then pick up a car as soon as you can on the Italian side. (Ventimiglia?)

But will you need a car in Florence? If not, consider flying from Nice to Rome and taking the train from there to Florence. It could be the same money and shorter travel time.

The drive between Nice and Florence goes mainly through tunnels, not along the scenic coast. If you want to see the scenery, it is better to take the train, but you will be on the train a very, very long time.

goldenautumn

PS: If you are going to Venice as part of this trip, consider flying from Nice to Venice, and going to Florence after that.

isabel

According to raileurope, Sncf and trenitalia it is less than a three hour train trip. Just under an hour Nice to Ventimiglia, and just over two hours Ventimiglia to Genoa. Most of the connections are about a half hour. So total time of about three and a half hours with one change. That does not seem like a very long trip. Am I missing something?

immimi

We've driven Nice to Genoa and back again many times and it's
not scenic at all - hillside nurseries covered in black
plastic. And, if you are at all nervous about driving, this
route may be a little too intense for you. lol. The calmest
time to drive it is on the weekend when the huge transport
trucks are idle instead of roaring through the many tunnels
intimidating naive tourists driving little cars...

goldenautumn

yes, sorry for my confused post.

The traveler is going to Florence. That is what takes so long. Seven to nine hours, depending on which train you take.

There is really is no point in taking the 3 hour train ride to Genova to pick up a car there. It is a complicated place to pick up car, and under best circumstances, it is still more than a 2 hour drive from there to Florence. If one wants an Italian car rental, might as well pick it up as quickly as possible in Italy. It's about a 4 hour drive from San Remo to Florence.

Depending on how many people are traveling and how much luggage they've got, it can be worth the $300 drop off fee in Italy to drive instead of people getting on planes and trains. I wouldn't do it for the scenery, and the drive is just an unscenic haul, and I'd calculate the added costs of petrol and tolls -- but in the end, I can see why some people would opt to drive it.