I am planning to travel from Nice to Rome on 5th November early morning. I want to spend a few hours in Florence and Pisa as a pitstop around noon so as to reach Rome by 4-5Pm.
Best possible train for me is -
Nice to Ventimiglia at 5:36AM to 6:35AM (Regional France Train)
Ventimiglia to Pisa at 6:41AM to 10:30AM (IC Train)
Reaching Pisa in morning is perfect for my plan but my only concern is transfer of 6min only at Ventimiglia. Is this feasible plan? As per any of your experience, does regional French trains runs on time especially the first train in the morning? Is Ventimiglia large platform?
Posted by
Sweden
6384 posts
Short transfer times are not unheard of. Ventimiglia is the border station between France and Italy so you probably just have to alight the french train, walk across the platform, and board the italian train.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
The short transfer is fine with me. My only concern is whether Regional French train from Nice to Ventimiglia runs on rime?
Posted by
Green Bay
20089 posts
Tough call. The Deutsche Bahn website does not show this connection, although it does show the individual legs. Do they know something we don't? Regardless, unless Trenitalia will hold the IC for a few minutes in case of a delayed incoming train, you will have to get new tickets, since the IC train has seat reservations included. So I would at least get refundable tickets for the IC train. The next trains are more than an hour later and are Regionale with connections in Genoa and La Spezia, putting you way behind in making any "pit stops" on the way to Rome.
Posted by
Massachusetts
847 posts
I did a transfer through there a few years ago, arriving at the Nice station quite early planning to buy my tickets (as far as Genoa). The Nice station was a zoo (it was about 9 am so 5:30 would probably be better). The ticket kiosks wouldn't allow me to buy the Italian train ticket so I went to a manned booth which had a huge line and they wouldn't sell the Italian train ticket either. So I just got the ticket as far as Ventimiglia. I had almost an hour before the next train. The kiosk there was broken and the line for the one manned booth was out the door. All this was in July so hopefully for you November will be much quieter. But make sure you have all your tickets ahead of time.
Posted by
Green Bay
20089 posts
On that note, think about installing the Trenitalia App on your smart phone and have a European data plan. Then you can buy tickets, check schedules, etc on your phone.
http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en/Purchase/Mobile-Ticketing
Posted by
Washington DC
27112 posts
I took regional trains along the French Riviera frequently in early May 2017. It was common for those trains to be 5 to 15 minutes late. I didn't ever go all the way to the border, though.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2176 posts
When we took the regional train from Nice to Ventimiglia, there seemed to be a problem getting the train started - kind of like oogah, oogah, oogah that I've had with an older car battery in the past. Except it went on for a loooong time. Check to see when the next Ventimiglia-Pisa train would be, in case you miss the first one. Hopefully, it runs regularly.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11179 posts
OP----Now that it is long past Nov 5, how did the trip go?