Can anybody tell me what the approximate train fare would be from Santa Margherita to Florence?

Also, would like to know what the approximate train fare would be from Nice to the Italian Riviera

Thank you for your help
Susan

Depends on when, type of train, class of service, time of day, etc. Simply go to www.trenitalia.com for a quick look.

You can also look at www.italiarail.com although using that site means paying a small surcharge.

This is a great site to learn about trains in Europe:

http://www.seat61.com/

There's more than one Santa Margherita in Italy. You would want Santa Margherita Ligure, I imagine.

Part (or all) of the trip would be on regional trains, whose ticket prices are not shown on the Trenitalia site more than 7 days in advance. To see the current prices of the regional trains, choose a date in the next week. If you do the whole trip on regional trains (which are the slowest trains) the entire cost would be around €18.

On the other hand, the faster reserved trains (all except the regional trains) cover parts of the route. These have large discounts for advance purchase, especially if you purchase 120 days in advance, when they first go on sale. So, if you're willing to commit yourself to a specific train that far in advance, you can get an idea of the prices by searching for a date a bit less than four months from now. Since the regional trains are never discounted, you can often get tickets on the faster trains even cheaper than the regional trains.

I wouldn't buy the tickets for regional trains online, as they are nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. If you buy them in the station, they can be refunded and exchanged freely. I would buy them in the first larger station you come to, because small stations have irregular hours.

To get the fare from Nice to the Italian Riviera, you need to look up the price from Nice to Ventimiglia on the French rail site, www.sncf.fr . Then look up the Italian segment from Ventimiglia to wherever you're going on the Italian site shown above. Click on the UK flag to get the English version.

The TrenItalia site, above, provides prices and ticketing from Nice and other points in France to Italian destinations. As does the SNCF site. No need to complicate matters with two connecting searches.

Sta Margherita Ligure - Pisa - Firenze: 18 EUR by regional trains
Nice - Ventimiglia (Italian Riviera): 6 EUR
Ventimiglia - Sta Margherita Ligure: 15 EUR by regional trains

From Ventimiglia to Genoa (where you change for the Italian Riviera) there are also IC trains that are much faster and a bit more expensive and soon to start if not is a daily direct Nice-Ville to Genoa EC train - check www.voyages-sncf.com for info on that - not sure when it starts.

Mainly regional trains Genoa to La Spezia and from that vicinity to Florence.

bvienci has given all this more clearly but just to confirm there is no need to buy any of those tickets ahead of time if taking regional trains - faster trains yes so check the sites referred above.

and yes in addition to www.seat61.com for excellent info in general on European trains I always also highlight www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

>>>The TrenItalia site, above, provides prices and ticketing from Nice and other points in France to Italian destinations. As does the SNCF site. No need to complicate matters with two connecting searches.<<<

If you search Nice/SM Ligure on Trentalia, it only turns up the Thello night train to Genoa changing to an IC train on to SM Ligure. No other trains show up on Trenitalia whether you search the English or Italian version.

Does anyone know if you can buy an Italian train ticket in Nice? I've heard no but seems strange - like a Nice to Genoa ticket on trains requiring a change of trains at Ventimiglia?

In any case if the connecting time at Ventimiglia is short on your proposed itinerary it's nice to have the Ventimiglia to Genoa or wherever ticket in hand - could be long lines at any Italian train station ticket window - there are usually machines that for some can be hard to figure out.

>>>I've heard no but seems strange - like a Nice to Genoa ticket on trains requiring a change of trains at Ventimiglia<<<

I would think so since you can buy a Nice/Genoa ticket on the French train website. You don't see all options on the website though so you will only be able to book the IC trains for the Ventimiglia/Genova portion (you would still have to change trains in Ventimiglia and the IC tickets are train specific unlike regional train tickets).

TTT

thanks kybourbon - extremely knowledgeable as usual!