My husband & I are doing a boat/bike trip in southern France in May, finishing Up in Avignon by 11am. Is it possible to get from there to CT by train to spend that night? We then have 8 days in Italy before flying out of Rome. We would like to see as much as possible without feeling frantic. We have hopes of spending a day in Florence then on to Tuscany. Never traveled by train but hoping to give it a go.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
12049 posts
This should help give you a start on planning the trip
Posted by
California 🦋
5298 posts
Traveling from Avignon to CT via train will be a very long day!
You may consider spending a night in Nice en-route to Cinque Terre.
Which village will you be staying in CT?
Posted by
OP
2 posts
We are just now putting this together. I know I’m a little behind the 8 ball. Right now we have a place in Monterosso - do you have another suggestion? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Posted by
1230 posts
gkw7re,
We did something almost that long last summer. You can do it. It will be a long day, but not too onerous in our experience. I would check rail tickets from Avignon to Ventimiglia (You will transfer here onto Italian rail, and note that when you look at tickets from Ventimiglia to Monterosso on Trenitalia - or whichever Italian train company you choose- you have to write Vintimille -> check the spelling, but France and Italy spell the same town differently).
Ok, we got tickets departing Nice at 3pm and arrived Monterosso at 9:30-10 ish. We had to transfer (everyone does because French trains don't run in Italy) in Ventimiglia and again in Genoa. But you will find the train, transfers, and timing that works for you.
IF there is not a workable train from Avignon to Nice, you may be able to rent a car for the drive to Nice, leave the car in Nice and catch the train there. This would probably take longer than the train actually, but if you have 4 hours (lets say you are also catching a 3p out of Nice, and you are done biking at 11a), and you can't find a good train, this could be back-up.
Now, arriving in Monterosso at 10; think nothing of it. People walk around there until very late. We arrived then and the town was very lively and social, with people out and about strolling, getting gelato, etc. If I remember, there is even a train that gets there at midnight, so if your hotel is willing to let you in, that gives you more time to get there ;)
edited to add: we departed that morning from Cassis at around 11a, drove to Nice, etc...