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-   -   train travel from vienna to nice (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/train-travel-from-vienna-to-nice-84605/)

judy Aug 28th, 2000 10:05 AM

train travel from vienna to nice
 
My daughter and I will be traveling to Vienna as an end to a German trip on September 18th. I am going home to Canada and she wants to find the quickest way to use her eurail flexipass to get to Nice. Any suggestion on the best way to do this?

elvira Aug 28th, 2000 10:50 AM

It's a haul. If she leaves Vienna at 7:30am and goes to Venice, she'll have about 7 hours until her overnight train leaves for Nice (7:30am arrives 4:00pm; leaves Venice 11:30pm arrives 9:25am Nice). She could do TWO night trains (leave Vienna 10:30pm arrive Venice 8:30am - she'd have a full day in Venice - then she would take the 11:30pm train from Venice to arrive Nice 9:30am). <BR> <BR>Day trains Venice to Nice change either in Milan or Genoa, which is a pain with luggage. <BR> <BR>There's also Vienna to Zurich (leave 10pm arrive 6:30am) then Zurich to Nice (leave 9:07am arrive 8:00pm). She'd get some good scenery on the second leg.

Bob Brown Aug 28th, 2000 11:32 AM

RE: your question about travel from Vienna to Nice, France, with the train. <BR>Like the old joke goes, I don't think you can get there from here. You have to go some place else first. <BR> <BR>I took a look at the German Bundesbahn website and printed out a schedule that I am happy to share with you. <BR> <BR>The shortest time for the trip is 16 hours and 43 minutes according to the timetable I read. <BR> <BR>Leave Wien (Vienna) South Bahnhof (Südbanhof) at 7:34 (AM) on train EC 31. <BR>After a long and painful last this train arrives at Venezia (Venice) Mestre at 15:24 (3:24 PM). At 16:12, train IC 632 leaves Venice for someplace west of Milano called Ventimiglia. It arrives in Ventimiglia at 23:10 after crawling though Verona, Genoa, and San Remo. At 23:30, take train RE 56966 to Nice arriving at :17 (17 minutes past midnight). This train crawls along at a good walking speed through Monaco and some other stops before reaching Nice. <BR>Sounds like a perfect way to end a long tiring day!! <BR>Just out of curiosity, I am going to check the times for the route through Zürich. I know the elapsed time is longer, but I am curious about time on board. It may be that you could take the Zürich route and spend a night enroute and see something in Switzerland as part of the bargain. Be back soon. <BR>

Bob Brown Aug 28th, 2000 11:53 AM

After tweaking the route through Zürich, it looks like an overnight stay in Zürich, or else an all nighter on the train. The total time spent on the train is greater: a total of 19 hours and 30 minutes. <BR>But here is a way: leave Vienna Westbahnof at 7:17 and arrive in Zürich at 16:27 (4:27 PM) Look around Zürich for a while in the afternoon and spend the night in any one of several hotels near the main train station. Leave the next day at 7:34 for Nice via Geneva and Avignon. It is a long haul any way you care to make it.

Ben Haines Aug 28th, 2000 03:08 PM

Fodors <BR> <BR>I can add a little to Mr Brown's results. The day train he notes from Vienna to Venice runs at 80 kilometers or 50 miles an hour through some handsome mountain scenery, and carries a dining car. I see no length nor pain. The train out of Milan is admittedly slower, at 55 kilometers or 34 miles an hour. And arrival at 0017 is unattractive. <BR> <BR>So would your daughter like to leave Vienna South at 1304, change and dine at Venice Santa Lucia 2150 to 2355, board a sleeper at 2215, leave at 2355 and reach Nice at 0907 ? <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR>

Bob Brown Aug 28th, 2000 07:48 PM

I guess the length of the trip from Vienna to Venice is a function of who is doing the sitting. The distance from Vienna to Venice is about the same as from Paris to Lausanne. The TGV makes the trip to Lausanne in 4 hours. Any way you slice it, sitting on a train for 8 hours gets boring to me. I react to trans Atlantic flights the same way. The only saving grace is that on some trains you find interesting people to talk to. Of course you usually have a more comfortable seat on a train as opposed to a sardine can seating arrangement common to most airplanes, unless you can afford a bundle of cash for business class.

rob Aug 29th, 2000 09:38 AM

Hi Judy - <BR> <BR>Unless there is some compelling reason for a visit to Nice, I would strongly suggest that your daughter go someplace else after Vienna and save Nice for another trip. It's too far. Might as well go to Madrid or Edinburgh. I don't know where you will have been before Vienna, but some places within striking distance are Budapest, Prague, Krakow, Munich, maybe Venice, and any place in Austria.

Codie Aug 29th, 2000 11:31 AM

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am the infamous daughter and am backpacking through France on my way up to Edinburgh for university. I am thinking that I would rather go through Venice and perhaps spend a 1/2 day or full day there. So, it looks like the 7:30 AM leave time would be the best bet. Once again, thank you so much. <BR> <BR>Bob, what is the website that you were looking at?

topper Aug 30th, 2000 06:19 AM

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