Levanto to Genoa
 

We have to take the earliest train from Levanto to Genoa and wondered if Levanto is on the direct train route to Genoa. It will be in July so all of this volcano dust should be gone by then hopefully.

There is an IC train that departs at 0701 and take 1:15 to Genoa---will that work?

Yes i think that will work because we have to make connections in Genoa to get to Nice in time to catch the 12:32 or 1:23 TGV to Avignon. How long to get to genoa to Nice do you know? the rental car office might be closed if we get to Avignon any later. Thanks for info.

I live along that train line and the IC trains are extremely unreliable, frequently running late. You should plan to get an ES (Eurostar) train. They stop in La Spezia, Sestri Levante and Rapallo, and you might even be able to find a one-seat/no-change ES train from one of those stations to Nice.

You can use the bahn.de website to learn train times.

Actually, it just occurred to me that the ES trains to Nice from Italy may only run in summer, and the schedules may not be posted yet. Taking the IC train, you might miss 12:32 TGV, but probably would easily make the 13:23.

Have you considered picking up your car in Nice? It's a 2.5 hour drive to Avignon from Nice.

Good idea picking up car in Nice instead of Avignon as we run the risk of rental office being closed in late afternoon. we are actually going to Mausanne which would be a little closer from Nice maybe?? will figure it both ways. At least we have until July before we get there.
Thanks