Train connection times between Italy and France

If you leave Rome at 07:33, you'll have a 40-minute connection (lots of time) in Milan for a train to Ventimiglia. At Ventimiglia you'll have a 10-minute connection for a train to Cannes. It's a small station so there will be no problem if you arrive on time. If you miss your connection at Ventimiglia, you won't have long to wait for the next train. There are at least two trains/hour from Ventimiglia to Cannes.

If you leave Paris at 07:42, you'll have a 15-minute connection in Milan for a train to Venice. Since you will already be familiar with the station in Milan, that's enough connection time. However, it's a good idea to be standing at the door with your luggage when the train arrives in Milan so you are the first ones to get off and can quickly find your train to Venice.

Thank you so much for the helpful info!

The three of us were planning on buying passes and reservations or point to point tickets (whichever ends up being cheaper depending on whether we spring for 1st class or not) - do you by chance know what happens if your first train is late and you miss a connection you already have a seat reservation for on the next train?

You're welcome again, Lindsey!

FYI, I decided to see if I could get the Rome-Genoa-Ventimiglia route to show up on the DB site. Sure enough, when I unchecked the box that says "prefer fast connections" (the default choice), there it was.

One more thing. If you take the daytime Paris-Milan-Venice route and don't want to rush with a 15-minute connection in Milan, book the 16:05 IC train rather than the 15:05 IC train. If you buy that ticket and your Venice-Rome ticket as soon as you get to Rome, you may be able to get either a meno 30 fare (30% discount for tickets purchased at least 15 days in advance) or a meno 15 fare (15% discount for tickets purchased at least 7 days in advance).

The link on the Trenitalia site that tells how long you have to exchange your ticket or reservation if you miss a train is down at the moment, but I think you have up to three hours after the scheduled departure time of the train you miss. And I think it's the same for French trains.

I just learned something interesting. One of the routes for Rome-Ventimiglia suggested by the DB site has you leaving Rome at 07:33, arriving in Milan at 10:30, connecting to an IC train to Ventimiglia that arrives at 15:07. (That's the 40-minute connection time I gave in my first post.) The Trenitalia site doesn't even show that route. Instead it shows going Rome-Genoa-Ventimiglia, leaving Rome at 06:10 and connecting to the same IC train that you would have boarded in Milan to go to Ventimiglia. The layover in Genoa is longer (1hr47min), but the fare is a lot less. Going via Milan the 2nd class fare is 89 EUR for Rome-Milan plus 24.50 EUR for Milan-Ventimiglia. For Rome-Genoa-Ventimiglia the total fare for both legs together is 67.50 EUR.

The fare for a regional train from Ventimiglia to Cannes is 10.80.

The standard 2nd class fare for Cannes-Paris is over 100 EUR, but the cheapest Prem's fare booked online up to three months in advance at www.tgv-europe.com is 45 EUR.

The standard fare for the direct Paris-Milan morning TGV is 95 EUR. The cheapest Prem's fare is 30 EUR. You can find the fare for Milan-Venice on the Trenitalia site.

There is also a direct Paris-Venice night train that you could book on tgv-europe.com. When you use that site, say that you live in Great Britain. If you say you live in the US, you will be bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares.

Thanks again, Tim!