Our travels had us crossing the South of France towards Cinque Terre, Italy for a four day stay. Since there wasn’t a lot of advice on how to travel between these two regions as a tourist traveler, I thought that I would set out this post that covered our difficult and challenging travel experiences. While everything is relative in life, the rural train between France and Italy wasn’t an ideal or convenient way to get between these two points. This was despite the train being the most cost effective manner to get between these two cities.

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This post is one chapter on a trip to the South of France and Cinque Terre, Italy. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For information on how this trip was booked, please see our introduction. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Travelling by Train from Nice, France to Cinque Terre, Italy

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Today’s travel objective was to travel from Nice – France to Manarola (Cinque Terre) Italy. The two cities are about 350 kilometres away. Ultimately, these two points are not easily linked with any convenient public transportation manner.

Planning the Trip:

The two coastal cities of Nice – France and Cinque Terre are located about three hundred and fifty kilometers apart. When we considered public transportation options between the two cities, we weren’t tied to any one transportation method.

When comparing a faster flight between Nice Cote’ D’Azur Airport and Pisa, the available routings often took us well out of the way into the major European hub airports of Amsterdam (KLM), Vienna (Austria) and London (British Airways). It didn’t seem to make sense to spend six hours travelling and connecting across two flights, just to go a short distance.

The alternative to flying was looking into surface train travel to connect between these two cities. As the travel between these two cities was between France and Italy, it required two separate tickets across two train networks.

While we could have booked two separate train tickets for our French train travel on the Societe des Chemins de Fer (SNCF), and Italy’s train travel on TrenItalita, it was much easier to use an online travel agency such as Rail Europe. I would end up researching an end to end travel itinerary that would allow for international credit cards and one easy transaction. Regretfully, that routing would end up looking like this; a complicated multi stop journey that involved a very long six and a half hour day.

We did consider the possibility of renting a car. However, the lack of any confirmed hotel parking in Cinque Terre and having to rely on city lots, coupled with the cost of the rental car itself, made this last option less realistic and relaxing.

Train #1: Nice St Augustin to Ventemigilia

On our travel day, we packed up from the Sheraton Nice Airport and walked the short distance down to Nice St Augustin train station. It was an easy walk across mostly level sidewalks.

On arrival to the train station, our SNCF rural train collected us on busy platforms. It was fairly easy to manoeuvre with luggage, although if I were carrying sports equipment, it would have been a little more challenging.

Once we were on board, we had limited luggage storage space. We ended up locating some racks underneath the stairs. Our carry on’s fit here without any challenges.

The seating on the SNCF rural trains was mostly comfortable and functional in nature. While we didn’t have assigned seats, we were able to get quad seating near our bags. Our large suitcase ended up on the seats across from us, since there wasn’t anywhere realistic to store it on the train.

We arrived on the SNCF network into the town of Ventemigilia for our first train transfer.

Train #2: Ventemigilia to Genoa:

The Italian train station of Ventemigilia represented the end of the french Societe Nationale des Cheimns de Fer train network and the start of the italian train network TrenItalia.

Our new Tren-Italia tickets would take us onto our next train network to our final destination of Levanto in Cinque Terre. After disembarking the SNCF Train, I headed inside the train station to collect us some train sandwiches.

The Ventemigilia train station offered a small canteen to pick up some grab and go snacks. While the staff weren’t all too impressive with the grab and go concept, we were able to get some proscuitto sandwiches for the road.

After sandwich collection, it was time to board train number two; Ventemigilia to Genoa. We located our assigned platform and, sandwiches in hand, boarded our next train.

Seating on board the Tren-Italia trains, the trains themselves were much more institutional and functional than the french Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer trains. The Italian trains seating was firmer, with seats that were a little less aspirational.

While we were running down the coast, we enjoyed peek – a – boo coastal views along side the ocean. Despite this, the train tracks didn’t offer the best real estate as they tucked themselves in land towards Genoa.

Train #3: An Unscheduled Stop in Baigionna

After tucking into those sandwiches, we had an unscheduled stop.

We travelled approximately five stations from Ventemigilia to Bagionna, when there was an Italian announcement on the public address system. The announcement wasn’t in English, and my Italian isn’t as good as it could be for comprehension or understanding.

In summary, a decision was made to cancel the continuation of the train from Ventemigilia to Genoa. As a result, we had to disembark the train at Bagionna and find another one.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get that message in a reasonable amount of time. After getting yelled at by Tren-Italia train attendants, we got pitched off the train and found ourselves attempting to locate another one.

Train #4: Bagionna – Genoa

We ended up getting helped by some American Missionaries who helped us get sorted out. This involved a trip to the Tren Italia Train Office to pay 2.30€ to upgrade to an ICE Inter City Express Train to get us to Genoa.

We ended up locating a paper schedule directory on the wall of the train station. Based on that, we reverse engineered times that would get us to the destination. We ended up locating the TI 669 IC express train, that would take us to Livorno Centrale.

After confirming on the directories, we headed over to Track #3 with plenty of time for the next train departure in forty minutes.

Train #4: Genova Centrale to Levanto

We boarded our fourth train of the day, the IC 669 from Genova Centrale to Levanto. The ICE upgrade in second class offered fabric covered seats that were slightly more upscale than our rural Tren-Italia Trains.

With a faster train with less stops, we ended up arriving to Levanto much quicker than on our rural trains.

Train #5: Levanto to Manarola.

The towns in Cinque Terre, Italy are best connected through the Cinque Terre Express trains. After four different trains, and lugging our suitcases across each connection, we boarded our last train. The Cinque Terre Express train is designed to get visitors around Cinque Terre’s five cities with ease and convenience.

It was a short ride from Levanto past four stations to get us to our final stop of Manarola. The Manarola Cinque Terre station was right on the water, and we were treated to sunset like views getting off the train.

From the Manarola Train Station, we wandered up the hill to hotel for a four night stay at La Toretta Lodge, Manarola in Cinque Terre, Italy.

My Thoughts on the Journey from Nice, France to Cinque Terre, Italy:

All in, this train journey from Nice, France to Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy took us about seven hours across five trains. This included the cancellation and the mis connection. It wasn’t exactly a fun, nor relaxing trip, but it meant we actually got to our destination without sitting on an aircraft. We also didn’t have to pay for rental car or parking fees.

If I were doing this all over again, I would try to book a TrenItalia intercity express train from Ventemigilia to La Spezia Centrale (a town just beyond Cinque Terre), then a short back track on the Cinque Terre Express back to Manarola. This would ultimately save some time and probably about twenty five stops on the rural train.

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If you’ve travelled from the South of France to Cinque Terre, Italy, what advice do you have for the journey ?

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