Paris to Nice
 

Four of us will be travelling from paris to Nice in June. We will spend 6 nights in Nice. Should we go by plane or train? Any suggestions?

I really enjoy taking the overnight train along this route, you wake up in the morning and look out your window at the wonderful Riviera passing by... divine.. I don't know how it would work out cost wise for 4 people, but my husband and I always book a first class sleeper for 2 and it is roughly the same as one nights loging at a 2-3 star hotel.

Train, or, cheaper, car. That way you'd have a car available to tour the wonderful countryside inland from the Cote d'Azur.

If you can sleep on an overnight train (I can't), then Thyra's suggestion is a good one. <BR> <BR>If you can't, and you've never taken the train from Paris to Nice, you might enjoy taking the train during the day to see the countryside and also just for the experience. <BR> <BR>I've taken the train before -- and liked it -- but, once I started to fly between Paris and Nice, that's become my preference. It's faster, not that much more expensive, and I love the view flying into and out of Nice.

Me again. There was a big article in today's Wall Street Journal about the new TGV service SNCF is starting this week to Provence. Many years in the making, billions of Francs spent to minimize environmental, visual, sound impacts (example: railway viaduct painted blue somewhere near Aix in order to blend in with the sky.) There's now "super" TGV service to Aix, on to Marseille and Avignon; the schedule (averaging around 300km/h - can that be right?) - cuts almost an hour off the Paris-Avignon run, almost 2 off Marseille, presumably shortening the trip to Nice accordingly, too. <BR> <BR>The trouble with the TGV in our experience is that everything is a big blur, except the distant farms and hills. Along stretches where the nearby scenery is the attraction (e.g. the beaches along the Med.,) you're going too fast to see anything except phone poles buzzing past and tunnels that almost flicker. The WSJ reviewer also said that on any but the newest stretches of track the jostling of the coaches at speed caused motion sickness in a number of passengers on the "test run" (which originated in Calais and got people from the Channel to the Med in under 6 hours).

Ignore all that Wall Street Journal stuff about motion sickness etc. as it just is'nt true - there is very little motion or noise for that matter on TGVs which are extremely comfortable. They travel between Paris and Marseille at speeds between 270 and 300 kmh, but then slow down along the Med to not much more than 120 kmh, so I cannot quite understand the bit about the scenery being a blur either. <BR>There are now trains almost every two hours direct from Paris to Nice, taking 5hrs. 30 mins. for the full journey. Not quite as fast as the plane, but a lot less stressful with getting to the airport, checking in etc. <BR>If you do go by train, its a good idea to buy a picnic/snack at the station as a big weakness with the TGVs is their erratic catering arrangements, which seem to be solely at the whim of the heavily unionised staff.