>>>The regional trains you first talked about took 10 hours or so.<<<

I don't know where you got that idea. There are darn few IC trains on this route and ES designation doesn't exist anymore.

Travel time Nice/Firenze 6:35 including changes:


Station/Stop Date Time Platform Products
Nice Ville Tu, 29.04.14 dep 05:25 RE 86001 Regional-Express

Ventimiglia Tu, 29.04.14 arr 06:13
Transfer time 20 min.

Ventimiglia Tu, 29.04.14 dep 06:33 IC 505 Intercity

Pisa Centrale Tu, 29.04.14 arr 10:56
Transfer time 16 min.

Pisa Centrale Tu, 29.04.14 dep 11:12 R 3150 Regional

Firenze S.M.N. Tu, 29.04.14 arr 12:00

There is just 1 direct train between Ventimiglia and Pisa which forces people sleeping at Nice to get up in the middle of the night and to leave their hotel without breakfast.
There are 4 direct trains between Ventimiglia and La Spezia
There are 4 direct trains betweeen La Spezia and Florence

. There are darn few IC trains on this route and ES designation doesn't exist anymore.>

No but I got that off the German Railways online schedule site where they still use ES and say EuroStar Italia as a generic name for high-speed trains and there is one on that route according to bahn.de.

Not sure why you don't want to fly. I'd fly Easyjet Nice-FCO (Rome) and take the train ( about 1.5 hours) to Florence.

Not sure why you don't want to fly>

Well perhaps they want to see some of France and Italy in between airports and large cities like Florence or Rome - the lay of the land in between - but granted it is a long slog by train if they can't break it up into two days which I think they should consider - even Genoa makes a fantastic old-world type town for an overnight.

We took trains from Nice-Pisa several years ago. I don't remember being wowed by scenery. I think unless they have the time to break up the "long slog by train", it doesn't make sense not to fly.

The flight solution might look like this:
Nice city dp 6.30 - NCE dp 9.00 - easyjet (fares start around 130 EUR) - FCO 10.15/11.42 - Trenitalia (standard fare 51 EUR) - Florence ar 14.22

Corresponding train solutions:
Nice Ville dp 5.25 - Florence ar 12.00 (via Pis C)
Nice Ville dp 7.22 - Florence ar 14.55 (via Milano C)

I'd fly.

I live 25 miles from the Italian border, so maybe I'm used to the view, but all that time in a train in order to see the ocean that you're going to see in Nice is a waste of time.

The Nice airport isn't O'Hare, for heavens sake - it's small and easy to maneuver.

5:25 am train departure means getting up what at 3 am and packing, etc. No a viable option. the 7:22 is even pretty early for many.

"5:25 am train departure means getting up what at 3 am and packing, etc. No a viable option"
That's what I said yesterday (see my post above).
But if you take the plane, you have to get up around 4-5am (according to the day)!

Whatever you do, the door to door travel by plane is NOT shorter than the door to door travel by train!

There are no planes leaving after the early morning hours?

Air Francre and Alitalia have non stop flights for about 300 EUR. There is no problem, if you want to pay around 400 EUR for the whole Nice - Florence trip,
but
whatever you do, the door to door travel by plane is NOT shorter than the door to door travel by train!

whatever you do, the door to door travel by plane is NOT shorter than the door to door travel by train!>

Well I'm not sure bout that! Trains take, once you get on it at Nice-Ville station, about 7 hours with the fastest links.

Not sure how long an air flight may be but I'd say 1 hour tops - and since it is within the Schengen Accord countries you do not have to clear Customs, etc nor do you have to show up that early for the plane.

Florence's airport is a short bus ride from the town center - Pisa's is about an hour - 1.5 hr bus shuttle and train ride from Florence.

Can't see how that nearly adds up to 7 hours but I'll listen. Thanks.

BTW I applaud neckervd's always exhaustive review of all possibilities!

Starting June 15 this year there will once again be direct Nice to Milan trains - making the Nice-Milan-Florence route more seemless - only one change of train not multiple as is currently on either route to Florence from Nice (via Genoa and the coast or via Milan and high-speed inland route).

For the new service Nice-Ville to Milan check www.voyages-sncf.com - French Railways site for discounted fares, which if combined with a discounted fare Milan to Florence - like one of those ballyhooed 9 euro fares, this could make the Milan-Florence route very cheap IF you can get those discounts - again booking very early is important as they are sold in limited numbers.

Not sure what will be offered on this new Nice to Milan train slated to start June 15, 2014.

I note that this 'new' train Nice to Milan does not appear on www.bahn.de/en - my preferred schedule site to sue for all European trains - as of yet does not list it. My info that the train will commence running June 15 is from the Tomas Cook Continental Timetable - the first issue published since it was rescued from the German company that owned it and closed it down - in their What's New page they say Nice to Milan trains will start rolling this June 15 - that's all I know. Check www.seat61.com - for their 'News' section for an update.

There are no direct flights between Nice and Pisa or Florence. Everybody here speaks about Nice - plane - Rome - train - Florence.

thank you so much everyone, cant tell you how much we appreciate it..

>>>Starting June 15 this year there will once again be direct Nice to Milan trains - making the Nice-Milan-Florence route more seemless - only one change of train not multiple as is currently on either route to Florence from Nice (via Genoa and the coast or via Milan and high-speed inland route).<<<

I'm not seeing a train Nice/Milan without changes on the French site.

An apparently simple question. How to get to Florence from Nice. Now at 38 replies and no actual conclusion yet.