We are traveling from Avignon to the Cinque Terre (Monterosso) in September...however, I am having trouble with transportation. I remember a few years ago, there was a regional train (that took the Eurail pass) from Nice (we transferred in Ventemiglia and La Spezia...at that time we were headed to Florence). Does this regional train still run? Is there a way to find out the schedule? I cannot get any info from Eurail, they have a route that involves 3 transfers, two of these trains require reservations...we REALLY do NOT want to pay the reservation fee x2 for this route if the regional train is available.....thanks for any insight/tips
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15833 posts
There are several options. All require to change in Ventimiglia and/or Genoa.
Check schedules here:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml
The station names are:
NICE VILLE
MONTEROSSO
From Avignon you can take the TGV to Nice Ville using the Avignon TGV station.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thanks for the info. ..yes, I see the TGV option, this requires a reservation, I thought there was a regional train, that did not require a reservation. ..I know that the TGV is the only way from Avignon to Nice, but thought there was a regional train to Ventimiglia, with a change to another regional train to the Cinque Terre. ..? I did check the site you suggested, too early to get times. ....does the IC (intercity) really require a reservation? I thought they didn't. ...?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23547 posts
Regionale trains are so cheap in Italy that it makes absolute no economical sense to use a rail pass on a Regtionale. You are totally wasting your money. You do not want to waste a day of your pass on a Regionale train.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Oh, for sure! I just wanted to be sure that we could get all the way to Monterosso from Nice on regional. ...I think I'm being paranoid about being stranded, since it is too soon for the schedule to be posted for my travel dates, I checked out the schedule a few weeks from now, all regional. ...so I'm all good, but Roberto, thanks for the other link for scheduling and ticketing, good to have more than one option. .
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32318 posts
I'm assuming you meant Roberto in your last post?
As previously mentioned, a Railpass is rarely a cost effective option for travel in Italy. For travel from Nice to Monterosso, there are numerous combinations of trains every day. You'll likely be using several types of trains with changes, including Regionale (no reservations), Intercity (reservations compulsory) or Freccia (reservations compulsory). You'll have to check the Bahn.de website to see which particular combination best fits your preferences.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Oops, yes, Roberto, not Ricardo. ..I'm on my phone, small screen and all that ....yes, I'll check that website when the time gets closer. ..thanks Ken..