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Nice to Turin by Train: Tickets and Changes

By The Travel FieldbookPublished on Updated on 5 min read
Piazza Castello in Turin, with historic buildings beneath a clear blue sky.
Piazza Castello, a central square in Turin. (Raffaella Troiano · Pexels License · Edited)

Nice to Turin by train means changing operators at Ventimiglia, then continuing along the coast via Savona before turning inland to Turin. Starting at Place Masséna and finishing at Piazza Castello, you have a station walk at each end as well as the railway journey. A through Italian regional train keeps the transfers simpler, while the inland alternative through Breil-sur-Roya currently involves replacement buses.

Train or coach?

Coastal rail rather than a direct coach

Pros

  • Arrive at Porta Nuova, convenient for the walk into central Turin.
  • One train change if you take a through Italian regional service, a manageable option if you can carry your luggage between trains.
  • Worth choosing on price if the combined French and Italian tickets cost less than the coach and its local transfers.

Cons

  • You must transfer luggage at Ventimiglia, and some departures require another change at Savona.
  • A direct coach avoids train changes, useful with children or bulky luggage.
  • FlixBus publishes a stop-to-stop minimum of 2 hours 45 minutes; rail is not the obvious choice for speed.

SNCF TER runs from Nice-Ville to Ventimiglia, and Trenitalia Regionale continues via Savona. Six daily Turin–Ventimiglia connections are reported for 2026. Savona is not a compulsory change on a through train.

The direct FlixBus option uses Nice’s Vauban Bus Station, 16 avenue des Diables Bleus, and Turin’s Vittorio Emanuele stop, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 131/H. From there, bus 55 reaches Piazza Castello in about 19 minutes.

Boarding at Nice-Ville

Service
SNCF TER: Nice-Ville–Ventimiglia
Scheduled journey
57 minutes shortest; 1 hour 1 minute average
One-way fare per person
€10.60 full fare
Discount fares per person
€7.50 with ZOU! Malin card; €5.30 ZOU! Mini-group, 5 or more people
Service count
More than 30 round trips daily

From Place Masséna, the walk to Nice-Ville is about 1.2 km and takes about 17 minutes. Buy the French ticket at the blue regional machines, the ZOU! ticket office, SNCF Connect or the TER app. Allow extra time for summer ticket queues, especially with luggage.

The platforms and façade of Nice-Ville railway station.
Nice-Ville railway station in Nice, France.
Florian Pépellin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Edited
  1. Find the TER for Ventimiglia on the departure board, keeping your luggage with you for the operator change.
  2. Validate SNCF paper tickets before boarding. Digital tickets need no validation: use an A4 printout or the app ticket for scanning, not a confirmation email, webpage or an unprinted PDF on a phone. If the validator is absent or faulty, approach the conductor spontaneously.
  3. At Ventimiglia, validate a Trenitalia regional paper ticket before departure at the starting station of the onward journey. Validation is permitted until 23:59 on the printed date. Complete travel within 4 hours afterwards unless a specific regional fare rule applies. If validators are absent or faulty, notify staff as you board.
  4. A Trenitalia Digital Regional Ticket validates automatically at the selected train’s scheduled departure, with no manual check-in. It covers only the validated train or trains until scheduled arrival, but a delay beyond expiry still allows you to finish. Present its dynamic green bar and valid ID when requested.

Via Ventimiglia and Savona

From Nice-Ville, take the coastal TER to Ventimiglia, then board your Italian train towards Turin Porta Nuova via Savona. Choose a through regional service to avoid unloading again at Savona, because other itineraries require a change there.

The first French TER leaves Nice-Ville at 05:59 daily. The departure window belongs to the timetable running from 14 December 2025 to 12 December 2026, with engineering works able to alter services.

If your Italian itinerary changes at Savona, the autumn connections below leave different amounts of time to move between platforms. Keep luggage easy to carry for the shorter connection.

Dates in 2026Savona arrivalTurin-bound departureWait
15 September–9 October07:5208:0816 minutes
15 September–9 October12:3613:3054 minutes
10–14 October07:5408:0612 minutes
10–14 October12:3813:2850 minutes
Temporary Savona connections, 15 September–14 October 2026

Via Breil-sur-Roya and Cuneo

Instead of continuing along the coast from Nice-Ville, the inland corridor runs through Breil-sur-Roya and Cuneo. The operator change is at Breil-sur-Roya, from SNCF to Trenitalia. At Cuneo, you change again for a Trenitalia Regionale Veloce (RV), a fast regional train, to Turin.

The Italian-operated Breil-sur-Roya–Cuneo leg takes about 2 hours 23 minutes. The first listed departure is 06:56, train 22952. The last is 20:17, train 22964, daily. Keep the Italian services separate from the disrupted French approach when choosing connections.

Onward trainCuneo arrival from BreilTurin-bound departurePorta Nuova arrival
1122411:3213:2414:35
1122813:3215:2416:35
Leg-specific Cuneo connection examples; operating-day conditions apply to trains 11224 and 11228

At Cuneo, choose the direct RV for an onward journey without another train change. A different regional itinerary from Cuneo to Porta Nuova changes at Fossano and takes about an hour and a half.

The adult first-class Cuneo–Turin one-way fare is €14.40 per person in the 90.1–100 km tariff band. That is a ticket for the domestic leg, not the whole inland journey.

From Porta Nuova to Piazza Castello

Both the coastal and Cuneo services bring you to Turin Porta Nuova, shown locally as Torino Porta Nuova. From the station, Piazza Castello is about 1.3 km away, a walk of about 18 minutes. Leave towards the centre and follow Via Roma to the square, rather than transferring to another railway station.

Once you have reached Piazza Castello, day trips from Turin by train offer separate ideas for later outings, with Turin as your starting point.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: services and fares and charges.

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