Immigration in Ventimiglia

There are no immigration controls on the border between France and Italy.

Thanks Adam!

Both countries are members of the European Union. No customs between them for EU citizens or tourists.

The station at Ventimiglia is quite small, and very well laid out. You'll have no difficulty transferring trains, just know in advance which track your next train will leave on. The short time is really too bad, because you'd expect Venti to be a rural =hick sort of station, while in fact it had one of the best food store & coffee bars we encountered in a over month in Europe last summer.

Larry, both countries, France and Italy, are signers of the Schengen treaty, which is what created the border free zone. UK (which did not sign the treaty) and, for example, France, are both members of the EU, but you have, potentially, customs between them.

There is a confusion between Immigration and Customs here. Although non of it affects the OP.

All of the EU is part of a customs union so there is no customs between countries (including the UK and France.) You may see a customs post if non-EU flights go through the same hall but there will be a path marked through for intra-EU passengers that by-passes any checks.

Immigration (i.e. passport control) is separate from customs and there are immigration controls between EU countries, except those who have enacted other agreements such as Schengen or the Anglo-Irish CTA.

Peter, that is very interesting. So between U.K. and other EU countries, there are immigration controls, but no customs. I'll have to remember that.

Since Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland are Schengen countries, but not EU members, does that mean there are customs, but no immigration controls, between those countries and EU/Schengen countries?

So, between London and Paris, they could check my passport, but not my bags, and between Zürich and Munich they could check my bags, but not my passport? And if I flew from London to Zürich, they could check both?

In theory, yes. In practice, not really. The non-EU Schengen countries are legally entitled to have customs stations at the border, although part of the Schengen agreement stipulates that customs must not "have an effect equivalent to border checks" which basically limits them to spot checks. In general they don't bother, especially as being in the EEA they have very similar customs procedures to the EU.