Cinque Terre to Nice via Genoa?

Big ugly industrial port city with some interesting things to see.
The distance is short. You can do it in one shot. If you have an extra night to waste, why not stay one night at the CT?

Maybe skip the CT and spend one more night in Rome?

If you do stop in the CT, are you thinking you will depart Florence early a.m., arrive CT 90 minutes later, spend a few hours, then train for 5 more to Nice? The thing about the CT-for-a-day; the impact of the area has much to do with taking it all in. Its the combination of each village and seeing the contrasts and spending a little time in each that gives the CT its oomph. Would your plan be to train to one village and hang out there for a few hours, or were you thinking you might be able to hike between two or three villages? Or maybe you were thinking of taking a ferry along the coast so you could see all of them and then having a meal in one before departure?

In general, your itinerary looks very full (only 2 nights in Rome -- maybe you have been there before so this is a shorter visit?). I wonder why you want to try to squeeze the CT in at all...

Genoa is not a tourist town really. We stopped on our way from CT to Barolo but only really long enough to check out the aquarium. I would just take the 5 hour train ride to Nice - you won't be missing anything really

Jessica - we are squeezing it in because I have never been, as I have to Rome and Florence many times. I am travelling with someone who has never been to Rome or Florence. The plan was to train early morning from Florence to CT spend a few hours, then head out to Nice either for the entire 5 hr journey or stop somewhere along the way. I read that the scenery on the train ride is spectacular between CT and Nice, so i don't want to leave too late in the afternoon that we miss seeing the sights as well. I am intrigued about the boat/ferry. We will not be hiking between villages as we know we don't have that kind of time. I am also open to other suggestions for something to do once leaving Florence, and since we are seeing the French Riviera the next day, amd I just repeating scenery with CT?

That is what I was thinking Donna. Thanks!

Traveling between Florence and Nice, if the choice is to do it all in one day or break it up with an over night stay, CT would be my choice for the over night stay, not Genoa.

If time is critical, just ride the rails to Nice after a CT stop.

Last May, I spent a few days in the Italian Riviera (Camogli), day tripped to the Cinque Terre (where I had stayed before), and also day tripped to Genoa for a few hours, before taking the train on to Nice.

Keep in mind that the Cinque Terre is likely to be mobbed in August - towns will be crowded. I love the Cinque Terre, but I'm not sure I'd want to visit in summer, personally.

No town in the riviera will be empty in summer, but you might be better off stopping in another town besides of the Cinque Terre. Camogli is a nice town - probably mobbed with Italians in August not American hikers like the CT towns will be. Santa Margherita Ligure is lovely too but larger than Camogli - maybe a little more to see so more worthy of a stop. It may have luggage storage at the train station (not sure) - Camogli probably doesn't.

Some people love Genoa. I found it mostly unappealing - but the old town area is really nice, I thought. It's just not that big. It's up to you whether you would enjoy a coastal/beach town stop more than an old town in a big city (or see the Genoa aquarium or something).

We have ruled out Genoa. We will look at the towns suggested here. Thanks for the input. I think we will try and spend that one night in the CT area, wherever that may be then take the early morning train to Nice.

If anyone who reads this has taken this train, would it be correct to assume to sit on the left side of the train for the best views? I don't believe this is a regional train, is it?

If we do CT, which village do you recommend? We love eating out and drinking wine and just looking at the water. Would love to find a place with a balcony and just chill.

The ferry sounds very cool as well.

Thanks everyone for all these great recommendations.

Yes, sit on the left of the train. However, please don't expect to stare out your window for long periods at the beautiful scenery; the train through the Italian Riveira goes through numerous tunnels, so you rarely get an unobstructed view for too long.

Plenty of the trains in this region are regional trains; most likely the train to Genoa (to change to the Thello train to Nice) will be regional, unless you explicitly book an IC train (with reserved seats). If you have an Android phone, you can install the Trenit app on it to monitor train delays, get platform info, and even buy tickets.

Towns: not sure about August - but I've stayed in Levanto twice (one village north of Monterosso by train) and would stay again. I'm guessing by now things are already somewhat booked for August in all the towns. Monterosso seemed too big and "beach resorty" for me. Vernazza and Manarola are much smaller. Corniglia is nice but is up on a hill above the train station - either climb a lot of steps to get up or wait for a shuttle bus from the station. Riomaggiore is nice too - I've got a photo I shot there ten years ago hanging on my wall - people always ask, "Where is THAT?"

In looking at the trains, from Monterosso to Nice, the first part to Genoa is a Intercity train, the second half - Genoa to Nice - is a Thello Euro City train. Do either of these have reserved seating?

Most of the direct trains from Monterosso to Genoa seem to be IC trains. A lot of them with connections are regional (at least one direct regional train). It looks like IC trains (reserved seats) in this region aren't much more expensive than the regional trains, even near the last minute. I'd just book the direct train that suits your schedule best. But, with a regional train, you can buy your tickets ten minutes before departure and hop on - can't sell out. The IC trains could in theory.

If you are able to fix your times, just book the best trains that work for your schedule - use the Trenitalia website. If you want some flexibility the day you head to Nice, buy the Thello train from Genoa to Nice (could be more expensive close to departure) but book the train to Genoa on the fly - there are lots of regional train options all day to Genoa, even if most of them have connections.

Yes, the Thello trains are reserved. But when I got onto the Thello train last year on the way to Nice, I could not find my reserved seat! It did not seem to exist on the assigned carriage. But the train wasn't nearly full, so I just found another empty seat. Someone who got on a few stops later was assigned that seat; I offered to move for him but he didn't care and just sat nearby.

Awesome - great info - thanks so much!