Nice, Cinque Terre, Venice, Salzburg

For transportation, a 2nd class train ticket on the Eurocity/Intercity Plus run from Nice to Monterosso will cost 26Euro. I see two of these runs on the train schedule. These runs take 5.0hrs. There are several other runs during the day that do not include Eurostars and they cost a bit less. They also take longer.

From the CT to Venezia Santa Lucia, the fastest run of the day departs La Spezia at 7:52am. You're on an R train (local) to Bologna where you transfer to a Eurostar for the remainder of the journey. This journey takes 5.25hrs. and costs 32.60Euros.

Depending on how many days you are going to stay on those cities, I would say that you have plenty of time.
I would fly from Nice to a larger city around Cinque Terre. There are a few low budget companies in Europe with fares soemtimes lower than the cost of a train ticket.
check skyscannet.net
Inside Italy, chcek out trenitalia.com for rates.
Keep in mind that Eurostar and Intercity are the most expensive trains, and the travel time on some routes is not much less than on a cheaper train.
Cinque Terre to Venice is a long journey.I wouldn't do it by train, unless I want to stop in other cities.
You also might want consider renting a car since it will be 3 of you. Same cost for 1 or 3 people.

I checked the budget flights before posting my above reply. The only budget flights you can get out of Nice for Italy are to Rome. No Milan, Pisa or Florence which could rival the train alone on time if you could fly there from Nice. It is correct that some, but not all, of the less expensive train runs don't take too much longer than the 5.0hrs with the Eurostar-involved run. An all-local-train run would cost about 17Euro. I couldn't see the entire run on Trenitalia but Ventimiglia to Monterosso was 11.7Euro.

Larry,

If Ashley wants to go from Nice to CT , this is not going to be just a 5 hrs trip. She didn't say anything about Rome and Milan.Nice has a small airport, but she might want to fly from Nice to Paris ( $23-71 in July-just checked it) then she can go to Venice then CT. Paris to Venice fare is $20-60 depending on the day in July.
Or maybe renting a car is a better option.

Nice to Rome $88-168, just checked it.

Ashley,

I just checked the timetables at www.bahn.de. Depending upon the departure time, the total travel time and number of connections varies quite a bit. However, using Vernazza as the departure point, you can travel by train from there to Venezia Santa Lucia in as little as six hours. By the time you factor in getting to and from airports, it will be just as fast as flying--and a lot cheaper.

Will your 10-14 days include your arrival and departure days? If so, then 10 days is definitely not enough time to visit every place on your list. 14 days could work.

Thank you for all of the responses. The information that you offered has been very helpful. We will have a total of 14 days and are now thinking of ending our trip in Salzburg and not Vienna. Any thoughts on adding Innsbruck or any other reccomendations on must see sights and cities?

salzburg- pension elisabeth

Keep in mind that travel eats up your time. Try to arrange to take late trains (I mean evening, night, not delayed LOL). CT to Venice is probably an entire day. I would consider dropping Austria (where I haven't been . . . yet) and enjoying Italy . . . from CT to Florence/Siena/San Gimminiano to Venice.

I stayed at the BEST youth hostel in Florence. CT is expensive. Maybe you can schedule to arrive early and leave late the next day, so you only have one night there.

You may get more info/feedback on The Boot helpline, if you haven't already posted there as well.

Ashley - wow what a great time! It is a lot of travel - if possible would cut out Cinque Terre and fly from Nice to Rome for the Venice, Salzburg, segment of the trip. The train travel is awesome in those locations and not too much ground to cover. The train trip from Venice to Salzburg is about 5hrs but beautiful! For lodging I second the Pension Elisabeth (Salzburg) - it can't be beat for budget travel and is spotless with decent breakfast. It is in a resendential area so you will have to take the bus or taxi to Old Town or other areas for cafes, bars, sites, etc. For Venice I recommend the Hotel Messner which is just off the Salute vaporetto stop (accross the main canal from San Marco). Hotel Messner is also a residential area with rooms that overlook its garden or a small back canal. The restaurant there is also good.

Have fun!