We'll be going to Cannes (flying into Nice) and would like to do it sans auto if possible. According to Rick Steeves there is rail service in France, but after hours of searching it appears that routes and schedules must be a state secret. The SNCF website is pretty much useless. Any experiences would be appreciated!

Try bahn.de instead. There are certainly trains in France - very good ones!

Where are you trying to get to?

check here:

http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/train-ticket

For Nice to Cannes there seem to be trains every few minutes. Are you looking at sncf.com or www.voyages-sncf.com? You'll need to take a bus from the airport to the train station.

There are trains between major cities on a frequent basis. If what you want is to explore the hinterland though - the charming little villages back of the coast, the museums and natural beauty - it's much better done with a care. Trains go some, but not all places, and service may be infrequent.

Agree that bahn.de is best for finding schedules - but some of the towns may not have anything but infrequent bus service.

Thurs- So, are the local trains frequent enough that you don't have to worry about a schedule- kinda like a subway frequency? NY- This'll be the first time for the area and only for about a week so we'll probably stick close to the coast.

I don't know if tgv site posted above will help a lot. Does it show local/regioal trains? Because those are the trains I would take just to go to Cannes. They don't need reservation. You show up at the station and buy ticket before boarding. Just allow enough time to buy the ticket. It may take time with line or figuring out how to use the machine.

Try the following Swiss railway site, much easier to use than SNCF, often even for French local trains.
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en?
Every few minutes may be an exageration but this site shows 3 - 4 trains every hour for Nice-Ville to Cannes. But no, these trains are never as frequent as subway.

Depends on where you want to go. Nice-Cannes seemed very frequent, but Cannes-Monaco is more like one or two an hour. Did you try the voyages-sncf.com site?

<i>I don't know if tgv site posted above will help a lot.</i>

I booked one way tickets on that site for ~4EU, so yes, it's possible, and they show trains running every 20-30 minutes.

> they show trains running every 20-30 minutes.

Oh, you are right.

kappa- Yeah, the Swiss site works pretty good, I really like the feature where you can generate a custom pdf schedule. Thurs- I tried the voyages site, but I could only see TGV info and no local trains.

"I tried the voyages site, but I could only see TGV info and no local trains." - did you do it in French or English? If you ask for English it sends you to the TGV web site!

Thurs-yeah, I selected English. I'll look at the French later today.