Nice to Genoa-Train? Bus? Option to hop off-hop on?

Hi,

In May, 2015 I took a train from Nice to Milan's Statizione Centrale. We stopped in Monaco, Menton, Ventimiglia, Sanren . . , Imperia-Port Morizio, Diano Marino, Alassio and Abenga. I'm sure you can exit at each of those stops. That was about 4 hours 40 minutes total and cost about $45 U.S. I met a friend in Milan, we stayed over night and then we took a 1 hour 30m train the next day to Genoa. That trip was less than $20 U.S. My friend actually messed up her schedule so the the stay overnight was not planned (but I didn't complain about being stuck in one of the world's greatest cities for a day!). If you plan it and get the timing down, I'm sure you could schedule it so you can have a very short layover in Milan . . .

Good luck

It looks like FlixBus can make the trip in 2h 45m according to Rome2rio departing from the Nice central bus station to Genoa’s Fanti d’Italia/Principe bus station. It also appears to be direct meaning no transfers required.

I am not sure the cross border train is still running, but if not it is an easy transfer in Vintimille/Ventimiglia.
But the bus is slightly faster (took Flixbus to Turin once, which was much faster than the train in that case), and if you sit on the right it is just as scenic as the train, so you might as well compare options.

Using the train is fast, cheap, easy, reliable, and provides beautiful views of the riviera.

There's no need to go via Milan. Italian trains from Ventimiglia (on the French border) take between 1:57 and 2:20, going in a straight line.

French trains from Nice Ville (the main station) to Ventimiglia go many times daily, making a few stops along the riviera and in Monaco, taking 56 minutes.

The direct Italian (Trenitalia) regional trains from Ventimiglia take 2:20 and making 16 stops to Genova Piazza Principe (the main station) along the way. With a regional ticket there are no extra charges and the ticket is valid for several hours (less time if bought on line and longer if bought at time of travel from a machine or sales counter) so as long as you keep going in the same direction (no backtracking) you can hop on and off within the time the ticket is valid. If you want to stop longer tickets on those regional trains are dirt cheap, if you can plan ahead you can get a French ticket (also regional train so cheap and a walk up fare) to Ventimiglia, get an Italian ticket and make an easy change onto the Italian regional train to your intermediate stop (next to the ticket office in Ventimiglia is a small bar/shop which makes decent Socca - yum), along the coast to your intermediate stop, then buy a ticket for the balance of the journey and you'll be in Genoa in no time.

The regional trains go every 2 hours, odd hour:57 (3 minutes before even hours). On the opposite hours there are IC - Intercities and one FB (Frecciabianca fast train in the afternoon) which cost much more and have fixed reservations so no hopping on or off.

I hope this is clear - if not ask for clarification.

These are great! Thanks for the quick responses!

The takeaway here is that a train ticket is not good for the entire day (unless you buy it in the evening when midnight is looming). I don't know how long the validity period is, and as already mentioned, it's shorter for internet tickets than for those purchased in person and validated at the station.

If you're on a rail line with trains only every two hours, that doesn't give you a lot of flexibility for making a stop somewhere: It's going to cost you two hours. I think you'd only be able to do than one or two times before your train ticket was no longer valid.

I don't think any sort of stopover would work on a bus. Bus tickets are normally checked when you board and either punched or ripped (or perhaps collected entirely). If you hop off for a short visit to a town along the way, I don't think you'll be able to get on another bus without buying a new ticket.