train schedule from Villefranche port

[jules4172]

Does anyone know where there is a good site for finding train schedule from Villefranche port to Monaco, Eze and/or Nice? Have the bus schedules but would like the train options too. Thanks.

[moyaroo]

There are several trains per hour along this route. Note the train goes to Eze bord du mer (Eze by the sea) not Eze itself (elev 1400 odd feet up). Think of the train as a subway or tram type service in terms of frequency.

[olwagner]

Does anyone know where there is a good site for finding train schedule from Villefranche port to Monaco, Eze and/or Nice? Have the bus schedules but would like the train options too. Thanks.

 

The train runs every 30 minutes (more or less) and takes about 15 minutes.

 

The Germans have a good train website (which covers all of Europe). Look for directions from "Villefranche-sur-Mer" to "Monaco-Monte-Carlo": http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

 

If you're feeling brave, you can also give a shot at the French website: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ (the only advantage for the French website is that it would give you prices as well)

[TLCOhio]

You can go to this website

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm

or

http://www.raileurope.com

and check all of the various train options, timings and costs on rail travel within Europe through the "schedules" option on their web page. For some routings, such as Avignon to Barcelona or Nice to Rome, it will not yield results. You will be need to break it out into separate routings such as Nice to Genoa, then Genoa to Rome. Great, very useful site!

 

Starting at 5:30 am, it shows trains depart about every half hour and that this connection only takes about 15 minutes. Lots of good and frequent service.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[olwagner]

You can go to this website

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm

or

www.raileurope.com

and check all of the various train options, timings and costs on rail travel within Europe through the "schedules" option on their web page. For some routings, such as Avignon to Barcelona or Nice to Rome, it will not yield results. You will be need to break it out into separate routings such as Nice to Genoa, then Genoa to Rome. Great, very useful site!

 

Starting at 5:30 am, it shows trains depart about every half hour and that this connection only takes about 15 minutes. Lots of good and frequent service.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Yes, RailEurope is just as good to get the schedules but do not buy your ticket from them.

 

For this Villefranche-sur-Mer to Monaco trip, RailEurope would charge you $11 while you would pay 2.50 euros at the station.

 

The 2.50 euros fare can also be found on www.voyages-sncf.com , but they do not ship to the USA (it just so happen that Rail Europe is a profitable subsidiary of SNCF).

 

I would recommend you to just buy the ticket at the station. Being brave (may involve entering a non-US mailing address (real or fictionnal)) and buying a ticket on www.voyages-sncf.com "to be collected at the train station" would only save you 30 seconds or so at the train station anyway.

 

 

 

More info from the Man in Seat 61:

From http://www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm :

"Who can use voyages-sncf.com? How are tickets delivered?

Anyone from any country worldwide can buy tickets online at www.voyages-sncf.com. Tickets can be collected at any French station (if starting in France, obviously) or posted to any address you choose in any European country and most other countries worldwide, including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Outer Mongolia and North Korea, but excluding the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Tickets cannot be collected at stations in countries outside France. Using voyages-sncf.com to book direct with French Railways can be far, far cheaper than using agencies in North America, Australia, etc., who may charge higher fares then charge postage and/or booking fees on top."

and

"If you live in the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand:

SNCF owns the 'Rail Europe' train ticketing agencies in North America & Australasia, at www.raileurope.com (USA), www.raileurope.ca (Canada) & www.raileurope.com.au (Oz & NZ). Now do you see why they won't send to these countries? You can buy tickets from these American/Australian websites/agencies if you like, BUT (and it's a big 'but') these sites often don't feature all the cheap deals available direct from www.voyages-sncf.com, and they often charge a booking or postage fee as well. You can often save loads of money booking online direct at www.voyages-sncf.com, with no booking fees or postage costs. Tickets booked at www.voyages-sncf.com can be collected free of charge at any station in France or posted free of charge to addresses anywhere in Europe, for example, your hotel or a friend's house. The price saving can be huge: For example, on a given date I found a ticket from Paris to Venice on the direct sleeper train being sold by www.raileurope.com for $184 when a cheap $45 deal was available at voyages-sncf.com (and also available, for the record, at the UK Rail Europe, www.raileurope.co.uk). So it's worth persevering with voyages-sncf, with cheap deals that blow expensive railpasses or even budget airline fares out of the water if you're prepared to pre-book on a no refunds, no changes to travel plans basis. But you can now see why SNCF make it difficult for US/Australian residents to buy tickets direct, and why they won't send tickets to these countries. The voyages-sncf website tries every trick to bump you to Rail Europe, even to the extent of sometimes requiring you to book in French, but this page will explain how to avoid the traps and travel cheaply by train."

[olwagner]

For some routings, such as Avignon to Barcelona or Nice to Rome, it will not yield results. You will be need to break it out into separate routings such as Nice to Genoa, then Genoa to Rome. Great, very useful site!

 

Starting at 5:30 am, it shows trains depart about every half hour and that this connection only takes about 15 minutes. Lots of good and frequent service.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For such routings, the German website http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml gives you itineraries just fine.

 

Buying the ticket however becomes challenging (and waiting to buy at the station may not be a good option for long distance trains since some (and more and more actually) do have their price fluctate the way plane tickets do).

In this specific case I may buy a local train ticket to Ventimiglia at the station but buy a long distance ticket from Ventimiglia to Rome on trenitalia.com ahead of time.

 

For domestic French tickets, I may buy way ahead of time (i.e. soon after the train is created in the system, which is 90 days before departure) in order to get a "Prem's" ticket, which can be printed from my computer. Prems are non-changeable, non-refundable tickets however - but that's fine since such tickets are very cheap (even by voyages-sncf.com's standards).

"Prem's" tickets in theory have to be purchased at least 15 days before departure, but since they are inventory controlled, one has to catch them before they're gone.

[Hlitner]

Ok, lets slow down a bit and try to deal in a few relevent facts. The regional train line (TER) that runs along the coastal route (including Cannes, Nice, Villefranche and Monte Carlo (and other stops) is similar to a regional commuter train (they even have bike racks). There is no need to buy tickets in advance as there are no reservations or reserved seats and they never get too full to sell tickets. It would almost be like buying subway tickets in advance. You can buy tickets at the stations in ticket booths, or in automatic machines. If there are no tickets available in a station (because a machine is broke, etc etc) then you can buy a ticket on the train from the conductor. As to the schedule, most do not even worry about it and just go to the station and get the next train. But, the real complete schedule can only be obtained from the TER website (it is in French) and I am posting a link here to the current schedule which may have some changes during the summer.

http://www.ter-sncf.com/Images/Paca/Tridion/FH04-Mandelieu-Grasse-Ventimiglia_v2_tcm27-31486.pdf

 

I only post this because some folks seem to get obsessed by schedules. In our experience the trains can run a little late which means that the schedule is not even accurate. Also keep in mind that the section of the route that runs from Nice to Monte Carlo is also served by the local bus line "Lignes d'Azur" and the #100 bus runs this particular route (it runs more frequently then the train and is cheaper).

 

In my humble opinion anyone who even considers buying tickets in advance on these regional likes needs to take a deep breath and have a stiff drink. Not only would you pay more money (assuming you can even get the ticket) but you may find that you cannot even use the tickets. On one recent trip to Cannes the train line between Cannes and Monte Carlo was on a one-day strike and any cruise ship passengers that had tickets simply lost money. This is your vacation. Relax, enjoy, and do not get too concerned with the small stuff that really does not matter.

 

Hank

[olwagner]

Ok, lets slow down a bit and try to deal in a few relevent facts [...]. This is your vacation. Relax, enjoy, and do not get too concerned with the small stuff that really does not matter.

 

Hank

 

Agreed

 

I added more info since we started talking about RailEurope and about a Nice to Rome trip.

 

But the OP really should not worry about these things.

[TLCOhio]

Agreed

I added more info since we started talking about RailEurope and about a Nice to Rome trip.

But the OP really should not worry about these things.

 

Yes, the original post wanted to know about schedule. Hank's point is exactly right on it being very frequent and often. I mentioned RailEurope as a way to get more timing options, not to suggest you must buy from them. Lots of options along that coast.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Hlitner]

Folks need to know that buying from RailEurope is a real (or we could say "rail) rip-off. For whatever reason the French railroad (SNCF) has made it almost impossible to buy a ticket directly from them and force Americans to the RailEurope site where you will pay a premium (sometimes a big premium) for the right to book through that site. The only time we recommend anyone book in advance is for certain high speed reservation-only trains (such as TGV, ICE, etc) where getting a reservation can be a problem in high season. Otherwise, it makes sense to simply buy tickets in Europe.

 

Hank

[moyaroo]

I have purchased tickets from the SNCF site by simply indicating pick up in France (after of course indicating that I was located in France otherwise I would be referred to the dread RE site. One day they will monitor the bank on the credit card and stop this but so far . . .

[Hlitner]

I have purchased tickets from the SNCF site by simply indicating pick up in France (after of course indicating that I was located in France otherwise I would be referred to the dread RE site. One day they will monitor the bank on the credit card and stop this but so far . . .

 

That makes a lot of sense if you are traveling on the TGV and need reservations. As to the regional (no reservations) trains such as the line from Cannes to Monte Carlo it makes little sense since you would have to wait, in line, to get to a ticket window which is actually more difficult then simply buying a ticket from the vending machines.

 

Hank

[Cruise Junky]

to the OP, take the bus, it's cheaper and they run more frequently.

[Hlitner]

to the OP, take the bus, it's cheaper and they run more frequently.

 

We agree, and the bus also gives you a more scenic view of the region.

 

Hank

[Cruise Junky]

We agree, and the bus also gives you a more scenic view of the region.

 

Hank

 

And you can pick where you get dropped off rather than just the trains station. I swear last time we were there they were running every 12 minutes.

[jules4172]

thanks for all the info. We're thinking of taking the train from Villefranche port to Monaco and then bus into Eze and maybe Nice. We wanted the train option from Eze to Nice just in case the buses were taking too long and will cut into our time in Nice. Does the train run from Eze to Nice? If not, then the bus it is.

[Cruise Junky]

thanks for all the info. We're thinking of taking the train from Villefranche port to Monaco and then bus into Eze and maybe Nice. We wanted the train option from Eze to Nice just in case the buses were taking too long and will cut into our time in Nice. Does the train run from Eze to Nice? If not, then the bus it is.

 

If you're referring to Eze Village then no, trains don't go up there.