Nice to Italy
 

We are going to Nice in October with two other couples and will have two cars. Can you give us suggestions on where we should go that would be within a day's drive?

We should all be nice to Italy.

I went to Nice/Italy last Oct. We flew into Nice and took the train to the Cinque Terre towns on the Italian coast to stay the 1st night. It was pretty fast by train, but I'm not sure about the driving distance.

What about the Lake Como area? I think it's driving distance from Nice.

Hi claire,

You can reach Genoa in under 6 hr.

To skymcc: do you recall which train you took from Nice, from which train station,etc., that you took to the Cinque Terre? Do they run fairly often? Did you have to change in Genoa?

I'm planning the same trip the end of Sept. I can find train schedules from Genoa to CT on Trenitalia, but can't find any schedules from Nice to Genoa (I've tried Eurail, SNCF, local trains, etc.)

Hi baglady,

Use http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Use GenoVa not Genoa.

IMO you need to go to Lake Como! It is driving distance from Nice. My husband and I went a couple years ago and drove from Como to Nice. The drive is very easy...the only hassle (and it really was a minor hassle) being when you get to each city trying to locate the hotel.

Wherever you decide to drive I'd recommend Best Western's website for maps. Their trip planner covers most of Europe (http://www.bestwestern.com/tripplanner/index.asp). The only caution is estimated time may not be actual drive time as once you get on the highway/autobahn you may cut a couple hours off the time ;)

In Como we stayed at Hotel Metropole Suisse. Great restaraunt, great view of the lake, close to the Duomo, shopping, etc. They have a parking garage (relatively small...but it did the trick)...and since we were there slightly off-season we got a great rate on the Jr Suite (big room...even bigger bathroom).

Cannes, Eza, Monte Carlo, ST. TROPEZ for sure just be sure to get out and stay out of Nice. Your 5 days will be full enough with all that. I sure wouldn't go to Genova or Milan, they are big industrial towns in Italy. Lake Como area is very nice but it's a 3 hour drive each way.

Be sure your car rental allows for crossing to Italy. When we rented in Provence one time it specifically disallowed it. The CDW fee is different for Italy--required in the rental.

We took the train from Nice to Genoa to Monterosso. We just bought the tickets when we got to the station. I think that's easier than trying to reserve ahead esp in Oct.

Our trip took about 7 hours, but the train tunnel b/w France and Italy was closed, so we had to get off the train, take a bus for awhile, and reboard in Italy. It was a mess and added time to our trip.

I'm sure that's all fixed now, so the trip would be much short than the 7 hours it took us. I would recommend spending 1 night in the CT. Using a day to get there and see Monterosso and using the next day to see the other towns and travel back to Nice. Definitely worth it!

San Remo