Paris to Nice to Cinque Terre and back

Flying from Pisa to Paris is usually cheap or Genoa is second-closest. See www.skyscanner.com.

If you buy an advance-discount ticket for the TGV train from CDG to Nice, it's useless if any flight delay makes you miss the train.
If you buy a ticket at the station on the same day, the regular fare is about $200 per person in 2nd class.

If you can put your Paris visit first, then you'd be better able to reliably plan ahead for the train ticket. Or if you can change your fight plan to include a same-airline connection to Nice, that transfer is better protected by the airline in case of delay.

I'm not clear on exactly how many nights you will have in Europe.

The first possible issue I see is that very long hop on your arrival day. The TGV will take about 6 hours. How do you plan to deal with ticketing? The usual (and logical) advice is to wait until you arrive to purchase train tickets if you plan to move on, on your arrival day. It's very risky to guess when your plane will actually arrive and how soon you can get on a train. Waiting to buy the tickets to Nice on the spot will probably subject you to a fare of about 126 euros per person, one way; it could go a bit higher than that. I don't know how low the price can be if you buy the tickets when they initially go on sale. I see some 55-euro fares in April, but those might not be the lowest possible. Faced with those numbers, I'd try to develop a burning desire to spend a night or two somewhere much closer than Paris, but I guess that is not a typical reaction.

You won't face the same problem on the Nice-Cinque Terre leg, since you will know your travel date and can choose a time early enough to snag the cheapest tickets. The trip takes 5 to 5-1/2 hours. Some of the departures include Intercity or Eurocity trains whose fares do increase as you get closer to the travel date. Other departures--which do not necessarily take any longer--are totally on regional trains. You might prefer the departures that include a fast-train leg, because those will probably allow you (or require you) to have a seat reservation. On the regionals, you're on your own to find a place to sit.

The trip back to Paris would be extremely long by train. It looks like at least 11-1/2 hours. There are a bunch of different routings, including one through Switzerland that would probably be costlier than those just transiting Italian and French territory. I suggest investigating schedules and fares on the trainline.eu website, because I'm not sure any of the individual train-company websites will show you fares for all the options.

The CT-Paris leg would be faster by air, but it will still be a slog, and I hate mixed-mode trips. Airports to check include Genoa (the closest), Pisa, Florence and Milan. On the other end, you'll have options to fly into CDG or Orly. You do not want to fly into Beauvais, which I think is used by RyanAir. The Skyscanner website will let you explore flight options. You can probably find good fares now for September, but on any of the budget carriers you will probably pay extra to check a bag and to select seats. The tricky part is coordinating the train ride (at least part of which will be on a regional train) with the possible need for supplemental transportation to reach the departure airport, then with the flight schedule.

I don't know about you, but that sounds very daunting to me. I have to ask: How wedded are you to the Cinque Terre? It is a beautiful area (though current reports indicate that it is overwhelmed by mobs of tourists), but a few days there in conjunction with a trip to France is more than a little awkward. There are lovely places along the French Riviera and in the hills above it. There's also Provence. You could have a fine time if you limited your trip to Paris and southern France.

great advice for certain. we will have 14 full days..these are non flight days.
Once on the ground I really don't want to take flight again.
My wife and I are very good travelers and don't mind long days of travel (last spring we landed in Frankfurt and hit the ground driving...RODT>Munich>Salzburg>Zell am Zee>Pinswang>Interlaken>Wengen>Strausbourg )
We are thinking buying at 3-4 day rail pass so we can avoid exact departure times, we did this last year with the Bernese Oberland pass, so not too concerned with flight then to train. Flight arrives early am.

I do like the idea of staying in Southern France though

I would suggest spending a few days in Paris so that you can buy the discount ticket without risk of missing the train. Then on to Nice, C Terre, but then maybe Milan and come home from Milan or continue on to Rome and come home from Rome. That would reduce your total travel time.

France is quite different from Germany and Switzerland in that the faster or longer distance trains all require seat reservations. The number of reservations for pass holders can be limited and therefore may be sold out on short notice. Paris-Nice by TGV follows the most used train line in the country, so booking a pass holder reservation on the day of travel is not a safe bet. Paris-Nice by unreserved trains takes 14 hours our more. See https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/france-rail-passes.

Fantastic information, greatly appreciate it
Perhaps we should spend the 1st day/night in Paris and just trim it off the other end.
So instead of catching the TGV from CDG airport, can you take it from one of the other stations ie Gare de Lyon ?
Thanks for this

With a railpass you would need seat reservations on the fast trains in both France and Italy, so you don't have the flexibility you had in Switzerland. Their passes work differently.

If you book a Paris-Nice TGV well in advance for the day after you land, the savings over a day-of-travel ticket for two might well cover the cost of a hotel for the night.

Returning to Paris from Cinque Terre by train, look at the routes and pick a place you would like to see as an intermediate stop for a night or two. Take a night from Cinque Terre if need be.

Places to stop right on your way back to Paris include Milan ( and lakes nearby), Torino, Lyon, and Swiss towns such as Luzern ( which would be my choice), Bern, and with a bit of a detour, Montreux and other towns along Lac Leman.

I don't think heading directly to Nice is such a bad idea if you will come back to Paris anyway at the end. I'd prefer not to split up my nights in Paris. But it would be even better to do an open jaw and fly home from Italy instead of going all the way back to Paris.

If you have not bought your tickets yet, the open jaw just suggestion is a great alternative. You can take a train to Milan for a flight back. You just front load your trip with your Paris leg. (However, the open jaw options open up if you need to take a one+ hop flight anyways back to the home)

Alternative, Air France does indeed fly from Genoa to Paris nonstop. You can take a train to Genoa.

I'd feel a lot better about including Cinque Terre in this itinerary if you were flying back home from Milan. I think having close to a week in Paris and two other stops of 3 or 4 days is a nice pace. When you start adding in two days on the rails, traveling back from C.T. to Paris, you're cutting painfully into your Paris time. And that's without really stopping to see anything on the way.

As I see it, flying into Paris and out of Milan is beneficial in several ways:

• You see Paris first and can commit to a specific date and time for that otherwise-costly TGV ticket to Nice, making a rail pass unnecessary.
• You have the time you originally planned for Paris.
• You don't have a long, long train slog back from the Cinque Terre.
• Although flying back from Milan may cost more (that depends on your origin), I think you'll probably still be ahead when you factor in the cost of a train from the Cinque Terre to Paris, or the extra cost of a rail pass above what you'll pay for advance-purchase tickets Paris-Nice, Nice-Cinque Terre, and Cinque Terre-Milan.

Tickets are already bought, we fly in and out of CDG.
Checking flights I think our best option is to fly from Genoa to CDG, it is really inexpensive and quick.