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Nice Cote d'Azur by rail to La Spezia / Cinque Terre / Rapallo

Hi there, I'm hoping someone can solve a few mysteries for me....

We will arrive at NC airport in the late evening so have booked a couple of nights at a hotel about 15 minutes away by tram a little way back from the promenade.

On the third day (second in France) we will be travelling from Nice by rail through to Genoa/Genova and onwards to La Spezia where we will stay for 3 nights. Accommodation is already booked.

We will explore Cinque Terre from La Spezia - but unsure if we can purchase rail tickets to do this from the Central Station in Nice town?

Otherwise, I assume we must buy another ticket at Genoa station...

From La Spezia, we work backwards for a 5 night stay in Rapallo - to visit (on separate days) both Portofino and Camogli.

We definitely want to spend a full day in Genoa (returning back to Rapallo the same day).

So, train travel - what is the best way to go about it as I'm struggling with timetables?
We're looking at late September into early October.

At the end, we have another full night in Nice and the majority of the next day due to a late flight back to UK - so we've booked 2 nights accommodation again rather than having to check out in the morning of the final day.

I would prefer not to have to add yet another app to my phone - as it's me who gets that job as my partner is a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to mobile phones. Hence, why we are looking to just be able to turn up and buy tickets...

But then, I keep hearing about having to "validate" the tickets - what exactly does that entail?

I'd be grateful for any information which will help us to get the most out the journey as we're really looking forward to the train trip along the coast.

Thanks!

Posted by
5498 posts

The French train company is SNCF . Use their website to book your tickets from Nice to La Spezia. Advance second class tickets are inexpensive. Looks like you will have 2 connections- in Venitmiglia and Genoa.

The Italian rail line you will use for both high speed and regional trains is Trenitalia. Use their website or app for advance booking any IC or Freccia train. You can also advance book regional trains, but there is no price saving and seats are not reserved on them. You can just buy regional tickets on the day, either online or at the station. It's up to you whether to download the app, but it's useful to see what platforms you need, as well as any last minute changes that may have occurred.

To explore the CT from la Spezia, you can buy a CT card at the la Spezia station. Essentially a day pass for all regional trains going between the CT villages and to/from la Spezia.

For more information on using trains in France and Italy I recommend exploring the Man in Seat 61 website. It's too early to book any trains yet.

Posted by
21226 posts

You will not see any of the regional train connections now beyond June 8. Italy will not publish these until close to that June date, so you will have to wait to see it. But you can look at a date before that and assume the schedules will not change much.

Validating regional tickets simply means you stamp them in a machine on the platform. These are only for tickets bought at a station. There is a different way to validate tickets bought with a Trenitalia app using the app. Tickets bought on line are prevalidated for a specific date and time.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you to both CJean and Sam

I was getting around to thinking the schedules were completely up to date....

I was hoping to buy the tickets from Nice to Italy the day before in person, whilst visiting the old town and taking a recce to where the station is located.

It seems as if we will need to buy the Italy leg of the journey in Genoa - is that correct, or have to purchase online BUT, what about this "validation" business if we purchase online (via a website) not on an app?
I don't like to purchase stuff on my mobile, neither do either of us us Google Pay or store card details on our phones. I only have a Chase card app, which allows me to control what can be used when we're travelling - but we use the physical card for purchases.

I shall seek out the man in seat 61, who I have followed on Twitter for sometime but I tend to use Rome2Rio for research as I find the details are laid out better.

Thanks again xx

Posted by
21226 posts

Almost all trains stop at Ventimiglia, Italy on the border and you change trains there. You could buy tickets there out of a vending machine, unless the change time is too short. Buying on line is an option if you could print them, or load the ticket bar or QR code on your phone. Of that I am not sure. If you buy tickets out of a vending machine, you have to validate them your self in the stamping machine, I don't know if you can buy Italian tickets at Nice train station, maybe you can. You'll find out.