Trains and Car Rentals

Raileurope is a reseller. Use www.trenitalia.it and/or www.sncf-connect.com

We have used Europcar four times now and have never had an issue with them. I will definitely use them again. By the way- I always take pictures of the car when we drop off no matter who we rent through.

Hi Gary. RailEurope is legit, but is a reseller; won't show all the trains, and won't show all discounts. For France, use the train company sncf-connect. These trains rarely sell out, but seats do vary a lot in price depending on day, time of day, and whether or not ticket is changeable.
For Florence to Nice, try the Italian train company trenitalia.com. But you will see it is a very long journey because of topography; likely 7 hours or more. For Florence, use 'Firenze (Tutte Le Stazioni)'. Use Nice as the end point to see total time, but Ventimiglia (last station in Italy) as end point to see sample prices. For both journeys, compare prices for trains a few days from now vs. your actual dates to decide whether it's worth it to buy now and lock in vs. wait and buy later.

Enjoy your trip!

We always rent our cars thru AutoEurope.com
They are a US based consolidator with excellent customer service and usually the best rates.
Do a search here for them and you will find many positive reviews/ experience
Check their site to see what they can offer

Thank you everyone. Really helpful. Seriously, thank you for taking the time to share your insights.

For the train from Florence to Nice what would be the best route? Florence to Genova, then Genova to Ventimiglia, then Ventimiglia to Nice? Should I buy the tickets now or wait until the day I want to travel?

When I looked at RailEurope it only gave us around 12 minutes in Genova to get to the next train which seemed tight. There is another train about an hour later but do you suggest we buy the tickets now for the short wait and then if we miss the train reschedule at the station? If I buy the tickets for the later train and by chance can actually make the first one is it a hassle to exchange the ticket?

Hope these questions make sense!

Forget about RailEurope, if you want protected connections you must use the official sites of the companies that run the trains.

For sure trenitalia.com will find the best route from Firenze to Ventimiglia, but you can try to put Nice-Ville in the "TO" box and see what happens. I doubt they are showing french trains from Ventimiglia to Nice, but you can easily make a separate search for that leg on sncf.

Check www.autoeurope.com, a consolidator.
It's a very reputable company and they offer deals with all the major companies in Europe (Europcar, Hertz, Avis-Budget).
For the train one faster option is from Florence to Milan (high speed train) then the Tello train to Nice. The option via the Riviera (Florence-Genoa-Ventimiglia then the Regional French train from Ventimiglia to Nice Ville is probably cheaper, although it might take a bit longer. There are a few fast Frecciabianca trains a day that go to Genoa without changes. They depart from the FIRENZE CAMPO DI MARTE train station (and don't call at Firenze Santa Maria Novella). Therefore when you use the site below make sure you enter FIRENZE TUTTE LE STAZIONI (Florence all stations) as departure station (your arrival station will be Ventimiglia, but also try Nice Ville).
www.trenitalia.com

Europcar are fine but as someone else said, take photos of your car all around both before you drive off and when you return it. In Naples, after I returned it, they added an extra cost for a ‘damaged’ front spoiler but finally removed that extra cost after I followed the directions on the back of the invoice with photos showing it was a pre-existing condition that wasn’t shown on the contract.
Be careful how you park as scrapes and damage to the alloy wheel rims will be expensive. They expect foreign drivers to park by touch on the curbs.