Travel Marseilles to Florence

Nora, I've never looked into using Buses or Boats on that particular route, so can't offer any information. Travel from Marseille to Florence is a long trip by rail, a minimum of 10H:28M (with 3 changes) according to the current schedules. Even with a trip that long I'd probably still use the train, but might try to find an intermediate stop for one night to make the travel times a bit easier (Nice is one possibility). I had a brief look at budget flights but there didn't appear to be any low cost flights to Florence. However, you may be able to find a budget flight to Milan and then train to Florence. Happy travels!

Using the budget airline search engine skyscanner.com I found one easyJet flight from Toulouse to Milan Malpensa and two Twin Jet flights from Marseille to Milan Malpensa.

Wonderful suggestions and thank you for your help. Never thought about flying. This is not an easy route. Anyone rented an economical car? Experiences driving this route?

There is a sizeable fee for picking up a car in one country and ping it off in another. It is likely that you would save money by renting two cars. the first one in Nice. Take the train to Genova and pick up a second car there. Do not drive in Florence! If you pass through any ZTLs (special zones), your car will be caught on camera and you will have to pay a very stiff fine for each zone you pass through. If you stay off the autoroute and take the coastal route from Marseille to Nice, you will pass through some very beautiful country. I haven't driven in Italy. However, I've heard that after you cross into Italy from France you will go through a lot of tunnels so you will be limited in what you can see out the car window. If I were making this trip and had the time to do it in a leisurely fashion, I'd probably drive to Nice so I could take advantage of the views along the way. After staying overnight I'd take the train to Florence. EDIT: The editing feature has some glitches at the moment. I wasn't able to correct my typos.