Travel from France to Italy - plane, train, or automobile?

Flying takes 6-8 hours into Pisa, according to Rome2rio.com. Note any drop-off charges between France and Italy if you drive.

In addition to the long drive, if you pick up a rental car in France and return it in Italy there will be a drop charge. On this Forum I've seen reports of between €50 and €600 (not a typo - six hundred euros).

You've chosen two places that simply don't connect easily. You can look at Rome2Rio for ideas: http://www.rome2rio.com/

How about spreading the trip over two days?

First day Saralt-la-Caneda to Nice Ville and drop off the car, about 7hrs driving on good roads. Find a hotel near the train station and spend the rest of the day exploring Nice & walking the Promenade de Anglais.

Next morning – train from Nice Ville to Lucca via Pisa, unfortunately it’s another 6-7 hours

deanna,

Given the distances involved, that's going to take the better part of a travel day regardless of what route you use.

In the same situation, I might consider driving to Bordeaux (about 2.5 hours from Sarlat-la-Canéda), and dropping the car at the airport. From there book an easyJet flight to Milano / MXP (flight time ~1.5 hours). You'll arrive at MXP Terminal 2 and will then use the Malpensa Shuttle (Bus) to reach Milano Centrale (about an hour, depending on traffic). You can buy tickets from the driver as I recall. When you arrive at Milano Centrale, the trains to Lucca will take 3H:09M (usually FrecciaRossa for the first segment and Regionale for the second - DON'T forget to validate your Regionale ticket!). There are frequent departures.

Although it's not usually recommended here to buy advance rail tickets to connect with an inbound flight, in this case it's a domestic flight and I might take a chance on that. If you do that, you won't have to stop and buy tickets when you arrive at Milano Centrale. If you'd prefer not to buy advance tickets, the quickest method to buy tickets would likely be the Kiosks adjacent to the ticket office at ground level of the station. You'll need to have tickets in hand to get through the security doors to access the tracks.

I'd work towards getting to Bordeaux for the direct easyjet service to Milan as Ken describes above.

If you don't plan any intermediate stops along the way, fly. Flying one of the regional carriers is generally faster and cheaper.

I like to keep my travel legs to under four hours travel time per day (whether by train, bus or car). If it gets over that, I shop flights.

Drive to Toulouse, fly Easyjet to Pisa.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful replies. There isn't any easy way to get from Sarlat to Lucca, but any calculus we do seems to include a flight. We will work out the wherefores soon but appreciate the experience and recommendations of more seasoned travelers.

Deanna,

from Bordeaux, also look at Volotea airlines. They do fly to Pisa, which is a short train ride from Pisa Central to Lucca.