train travel from Lucca to Avignon,France

Yes, there are lots of train changes, but it is a lovely trip if you go up the coast---Lucca to Viareggio or La Spezia, to Genoa, Nice, then Aix and on to Avignon. You could spend one night along the way along the Ligurian coast (cinque Terre or a larger seaside village) and one in Nice or nearby. That would break the trip up nicely. (This is assuming you are going at a time of year when a trip along the coast is worth doing.)

Thank you for your reply. This is our first trip to Italy and France, and the train schedules look daunting. We are traveling in the first part of June. We fly home from Paris, so think going back to Paris, it would be fun to spend a couple of days in Provance.
Nancy from Idaho

June would be a perfect time to stop along the coast. I find the simplest train website to be the Swiss one, www.rail.ch It will come up in English. Put in Lucca under "from" and Avignon under "to" and pick a date in the next month or so (the schedules won't change much, and you can get the actual one closer to your travel date.) Pick a time in the morning, like 9:00. You'll see various options listed; click on the little button under "details" to see where the train changes are. Then you can click on "show intermediate stops" to see where the train stops along the way. You'll see two main routes offered-the easy one goes through Milan and Lyon, iinvolving fewer changes. But if you choose the coastal route, you could spend your first night in any of the Ligurian coastal towns-Levanto, Santa Maria Ligure, Sestri Levante, Camogli, or any of the 5 Cinque Terre towns (for some of these you would make an additional change to a local or regional train.) We loved our stay in Manarola at La Torretta. After Genoa the train route passes through Ventimiglia, Menton, Monaco, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Nice, Antibes and Cannes on the way to Aix; you could stay a night in any of those. I'm sure people would have some good recommendations for you along this section of the French Riviera. If you keep the train changes to 2 or 3 in a day it won't feel daunting. (We've done as many as 7 in one day but that was in Switzerland where it is so easy.)

Thank you again. Great suggestions. This is a great tool. I am thrilled to have the help.