owdrai

Hi!

Can anyone recommend the best way to travel from Cinque Terre to Aix en Provence?

- is there a night train?
- if none, is there an afternoon train we can take, then overnight at a stopover (maybe Nice?), then proceed to Aix en Provence in the AM?
- is there an overnight ferry?
- how about bus ride?

Thanks much!

kybourbon

No night train, no overnight ferry. Even from CT to Nice can involve a couple of train changes (old slow trains mostly). You can look at train schedules on Trenitalia. To see prices, enter a date within the next 7 days (enter the CT town you are departing from and Ventimiglia). You will have to change trains in Ventimiglia (and perhaps Genoa before that). Ventimiglia to Nice doesn't take long (50 minutes - 7.50€). The CT/Ventimiglia leg can take 4-5 hours (depends on departure town and connections) and cost about 20€. Stops can be as little as 1-2 minutes so you need to be at the door with your luggage for your stops.

The slow regional trains which mostly serve this route don't have discounts or reserved seating and regional tickets bought online have more restrictions. Often only one class, but sometimes a 1st and 2nd. You can buy your ticket for CT/Ventimiglia at the station in CT.

Hez

What are the rest of your plans? We did something similar last year in reverse and it turned out easier/cheaper to rent a car and drive back (to avoid drop off fees) than any of the transportation options. Crazy but true!