Train from Riomaggiore to Nice
Sep 8th, 2015, 06:37 PM
#1
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Train from Riomaggiore to Nice
Hi All
I am optimistic someone here has the answer, since I've always had god advice from this forum over the years.
We will be in Riomaggiore and need to leave on Oct 12th for Nice where we have a hotel reservation.
Don't want to be late to the hotel since we have had our reservations yanked before in France for late arrival, but also don't want to leave at the crack of dawn unless necessary. From what I can see so far, we have to get to Ventimiglia first. Correct?
All the different train lines are confusing to me since we have never traveled by train in Europe before.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
I am optimistic someone here has the answer, since I've always had god advice from this forum over the years.
We will be in Riomaggiore and need to leave on Oct 12th for Nice where we have a hotel reservation.
Don't want to be late to the hotel since we have had our reservations yanked before in France for late arrival, but also don't want to leave at the crack of dawn unless necessary. From what I can see so far, we have to get to Ventimiglia first. Correct?
All the different train lines are confusing to me since we have never traveled by train in Europe before.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sep 8th, 2015, 07:57 PM
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Are you looking for something more than what www.bahn.com or www.trenitalia.com spit out? You would need to articulate what you mean by "different train lines" being confusing. You will be changing trains as there is no one train that runs all this route over two countries.
Riomaggiore to Nice is not a quick connection. I presume you knew this when you booked into Riomaggiore and Nice. Whether you change the train at Ventimiglia or not depends on the itinerary. Bahn and Trenitalia sites tell you where you would be changing trains.
Regarding hotel reservation being yanked, was the booking secured with a credit card? And how late is the "late arrival?" -- like next day morning?
Riomaggiore to Nice is not a quick connection. I presume you knew this when you booked into Riomaggiore and Nice. Whether you change the train at Ventimiglia or not depends on the itinerary. Bahn and Trenitalia sites tell you where you would be changing trains.
Regarding hotel reservation being yanked, was the booking secured with a credit card? And how late is the "late arrival?" -- like next day morning?
Sep 8th, 2015, 08:08 PM
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On the German train website Bahn.com I see a train from Riomaggiore with one connection in Ventimiglia, leaving Riomaggiore at 13:03 and arriving in Nice Ville at 18:41 - shouldn't be too late, right? Connection time of 21 minutes is probably OK.
http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml
Usually the German site has train schedules for most of Europe. I looked on the Italian Trenitalia site and found similar trains but not one at 13:03, not sure why. There's also one at 14:13 with the same connection, arriving Nice Ville at 19:51.
It looks like both of those trains are regional trains without reservations, so you can buy tickets in Italy - no worry about the trains selling out. You can probably buy them at any train station in Italy, but it's going to be an international ticket, and sometimes that'makes the purchase more complicated. Riomaggiore is a small train station. If you happen to be in a big city like Rome or Milan, you might consider buying the tickets there where there may be more experienced agents who can help you more quickly.
When I buy train tickets in Europe, I write down the information on a slip of paper and hand it to the agent (who will probably speak at least some English). Write down the date in European format (12/10/2015), the time you want, and the origin and arrival. (And the class if there is one - both of these trains should be 2nd class only, though.)
Please remember that in Italy, for non-reserved regional trains, you MUST stamp your ticket in the machine to validate it BEFORE you get on the train. Otherwise you may be inspected and get a stiff fine for not having a validated ticket - and there is no sympathy for naive tourists. If you change trains and have a different ticket for the other train, you need to validate that one, too. If you have a reserved ticket (train car and seat number listed on the ticket), you don't have to do this, because that ticket isn't automatically valid on any other train.
(Have fun! I've never been to Nice, but I loved the Cinque Terre, have been there twice. I can still taste the focaccia bread pizza I got take away in Riomaggiore - I would grab a slice then sit in the little town square and eat it. Plenty of tourists in the CT but didn't see many in the town square. I remember hearing school kids from an adjacent school singing in music class while sitting there.)
http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/index.shtml
Usually the German site has train schedules for most of Europe. I looked on the Italian Trenitalia site and found similar trains but not one at 13:03, not sure why. There's also one at 14:13 with the same connection, arriving Nice Ville at 19:51.
It looks like both of those trains are regional trains without reservations, so you can buy tickets in Italy - no worry about the trains selling out. You can probably buy them at any train station in Italy, but it's going to be an international ticket, and sometimes that'makes the purchase more complicated. Riomaggiore is a small train station. If you happen to be in a big city like Rome or Milan, you might consider buying the tickets there where there may be more experienced agents who can help you more quickly.
When I buy train tickets in Europe, I write down the information on a slip of paper and hand it to the agent (who will probably speak at least some English). Write down the date in European format (12/10/2015), the time you want, and the origin and arrival. (And the class if there is one - both of these trains should be 2nd class only, though.)
Please remember that in Italy, for non-reserved regional trains, you MUST stamp your ticket in the machine to validate it BEFORE you get on the train. Otherwise you may be inspected and get a stiff fine for not having a validated ticket - and there is no sympathy for naive tourists. If you change trains and have a different ticket for the other train, you need to validate that one, too. If you have a reserved ticket (train car and seat number listed on the ticket), you don't have to do this, because that ticket isn't automatically valid on any other train.
(Have fun! I've never been to Nice, but I loved the Cinque Terre, have been there twice. I can still taste the focaccia bread pizza I got take away in Riomaggiore - I would grab a slice then sit in the little town square and eat it. Plenty of tourists in the CT but didn't see many in the town square. I remember hearing school kids from an adjacent school singing in music class while sitting there.)
Sep 8th, 2015, 08:11 PM
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I did almost this exact trip in July. I was worried about pre-booking and concerned we weren't organised enough in advance but were completely fine (even when we had a couple of challenging complications en route).
I would just allow a couple of hours extra than what the route planner says, that way you will be comfortable with any delays or unforseen issues.
We did the trip going from Nice to Monterosso, via Genoa (actually we started in Antibes). We had a train strike in Nice (can happen any day) but our train was only delayed about 20 minutes.
From Nice to Genoa, on Thello, we discovered our ticket number didn't actually exist. There was an entire missing carriage (ours). But we were able to get other seats so that was fine. From memory we were meant to then get a train to Monterosso, but it didn't show up! There was no information - not in English anyway - but I rushed back to the information desk and the lady pointed me in the direction of another train (I think to Levanto) and then we just had to get another local train to Monterosso. It sounds like a nightmare but it was my first time in Europe, making my way to Italy for the first time, and we were fine. It took a couple of hours longer because of the extra connections etc but as long as you expect that it's all not so bad in the end.
I would just allow a couple of hours extra than what the route planner says, that way you will be comfortable with any delays or unforseen issues.
We did the trip going from Nice to Monterosso, via Genoa (actually we started in Antibes). We had a train strike in Nice (can happen any day) but our train was only delayed about 20 minutes.
From Nice to Genoa, on Thello, we discovered our ticket number didn't actually exist. There was an entire missing carriage (ours). But we were able to get other seats so that was fine. From memory we were meant to then get a train to Monterosso, but it didn't show up! There was no information - not in English anyway - but I rushed back to the information desk and the lady pointed me in the direction of another train (I think to Levanto) and then we just had to get another local train to Monterosso. It sounds like a nightmare but it was my first time in Europe, making my way to Italy for the first time, and we were fine. It took a couple of hours longer because of the extra connections etc but as long as you expect that it's all not so bad in the end.
Sep 8th, 2015, 08:59 PM
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Thanks for your efforts.
It looks like I can get from Riomaggiore at 8:30 am to Spezia then to Genova then to Ventimiglia by about 1:00 pm and then on something on Thetrainline.com there seems to be a train every half hour to Nice. I can book the Trenitalia portion on-line.
So, it looks okay.
greg, Re: late arrival. It was years ago, but as I recall we arrived in the evening, somewhere around 9:00pm, in the town whose name I don't recall (I think it was like French Disneyworld). Not only was it secured by credit card, but it was fully paid in advance. The desk clerk admitted no responsibility,refused to give us a refund, and when we complained that they had taken our money, but did not deliver a room, he put us in the basement with some kind of plumbing pipes for wall decoration.
It looks like I can get from Riomaggiore at 8:30 am to Spezia then to Genova then to Ventimiglia by about 1:00 pm and then on something on Thetrainline.com there seems to be a train every half hour to Nice. I can book the Trenitalia portion on-line.
So, it looks okay.
greg, Re: late arrival. It was years ago, but as I recall we arrived in the evening, somewhere around 9:00pm, in the town whose name I don't recall (I think it was like French Disneyworld). Not only was it secured by credit card, but it was fully paid in advance. The desk clerk admitted no responsibility,refused to give us a refund, and when we complained that they had taken our money, but did not deliver a room, he put us in the basement with some kind of plumbing pipes for wall decoration.
Sep 8th, 2015, 09:57 PM
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Re: different train lines. Yes, I was confused by the check box, Frecce," and "all other trains,"and "Regionale" vs "Intercity," but after several hours of googling, I think I'm getting a handle on it.
And does the DBBahn site book the same trains as Trenitalia?
And does the DBBahn site book the same trains as Trenitalia?
Sep 9th, 2015, 01:50 AM
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Should be easy, and no need to change at Ventimiglia or split-ticket:
Go to www.trenitalia.com and switch it to English.
Book Riomaggiore to Nice Ville.
Up comes (1) a 10:14 arriving 16:00 for (2) €28 OR a 14:19 arriving 19:51 for €22.50.
No added fees, pay and go...
Go to www.trenitalia.com and switch it to English.
Book Riomaggiore to Nice Ville.
Up comes (1) a 10:14 arriving 16:00 for (2) €28 OR a 14:19 arriving 19:51 for €22.50.
No added fees, pay and go...
Sep 9th, 2015, 04:39 AM
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Bahn.de is the official german rail site (DUH!) and is good for schedules for all of europe. But it does';t sell tickets for all those countries - only for trains in/to/from Germany.
Each country has their own national railroad that you need to use to buy the appropriate tickets. A few countries have a competing RR company (but the same stops and tracks just different owner for the trains).
I think most of what you are talking about is if the train is a local, regional or high speed (often international) train - with different rules about buying tickets and need for reservations.
Not really complicated - just do a little reading - as you would for airline tickets.
Each country has their own national railroad that you need to use to buy the appropriate tickets. A few countries have a competing RR company (but the same stops and tracks just different owner for the trains).
I think most of what you are talking about is if the train is a local, regional or high speed (often international) train - with different rules about buying tickets and need for reservations.
Not really complicated - just do a little reading - as you would for airline tickets.
Sep 9th, 2015, 09:37 AM
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For lots of good info on European trains check www.seat61.com - Man in Seat 61 who posts above his commercial site; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com - if using the Thello trains - currently I think the only ones that go straight thru Ventimiglia to Nice without changing there be sure to book in advance for nifty discounts - If using regional and IC trains with a change at the border those walk up fares should be rather cheap - no huge discounts or on regional trains none and no seat requirements - no need to book in stone in advance IMO except for Thello trains where you can save some euros.
Sep 11th, 2015, 06:11 AM
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www.thello.com to book Thello tickets Genoa to Nice-Ville sans any change at the border. early bird gets the worm as Man in Seat 61 explains.
