Train des Merveilles

Some of the most spectacular railways hide in plain sight as ordinary local trains. The Train des Merveilles — the "Train of Wonders" — is one: a modest regional service that leaves the palm-lined seafront of Nice each morning and, in barely 70 kilometres, climbs deep into the Alps to the mountain town of Tende, close under the Italian border.

It follows the French section of the historic Cuneo–Ventimiglia line, completed in 1928, and the way it gains height is extraordinary: the track spirals up the walls of the Roya valley through a run of corkscrew tunnels that loop back on themselves inside the mountain, past stone villages perched impossibly on the rock.

The train is named for the Vallée des Merveilles, the Bronze-Age rock-carving site high on Mont Bégo above Tende — but the whole journey is a wonder in its own right. Torn apart by Storm Alex in 2020, the line to Tende only fully reopened in December 2025, which makes riding it today feel like a small celebration.

The journey starts at Nice-Ville, a few minutes' walk from the beach. The train slips out through the suburbs and up the Paillon valley, and almost at once begins to climb, curling through the first of its tunnels as the coast drops away below. By L'Escarène you are in a different world of terraced hillsides and grey stone hamlets.

Over a high shoulder the line drops to Sospel, a lovely medieval town with a fortified toll-tower on its old bridge, then swings north into the Roya valley proper — a deep, wild gorge that the railway shares with a rushing green river. Here comes the engineering everyone remembers: to gain height in so little space, the track disappears into spiral tunnels and emerges higher up, having turned a full circle inside the mountain.

It threads on through Breil-sur-Roya, an old frontier town on a lake, and past the foot of Saorge, its tall houses stacked in an amphitheatre up the cliff. The valley narrows and steepens all the way to Saint-Dalmas-de-Tende — with its improbably grand station, a relic of the frontier era — and finally Tende itself, huddled beneath the crags.

What makes it remarkable is how much it packs into so short a run:

• A climb from sea level at Nice to the Col de Tende tunnel, around 1,000 m up, in about two hours.
• A line famous for its tunnels — some 81 of them along its length — and for the corkscrew spirals that lift it up the valley walls.
• One perched stone village after another — Sospel, Breil, Saorge, La Brigue, Tende — each worth a stop of its own.
• A finish at Tende, gateway to the Bronze-Age Vallée des Merveilles that gives the train its name.

It is, quite simply, one of the great railway climbs of France — hiding inside a local timetable.

Since the line reopened in December 2025, service up the full valley is still building back. In 2026 the classic outing is the guided "Train des Merveilles": it leaves Nice-Ville at 09:32 and reaches Tende at 11:32, with a commentary on board.

Real return options from Tende: 12:59, 15:02 and 16:38. So the natural trip is up on the 09:32 and down on an afternoon train, with a few hours at the top for the Vallée des Merveilles or the villages.

Season (2026): the guided train runs 4 April–1 November — weekends and public holidays in spring and autumn, daily from June to September. In winter a Snow Train leaves Nice-Ville at 08:32 on weekends (10 Jan–15 Mar) and daily 14 Feb–1 Mar.

Trains run much more often on the lower section:

These are ordinary regional (TER / liO) trains: no reservation, turn up and go.

Times as of the 2026 timetable, after the December 2025 reopening. Confirm current times with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

This is one of the cheapest great rail journeys in Europe, because it is simply a regional train. There is no special tourist fare and no reservation: you buy an ordinary TER / ZOU! ticket for the Région Sud and hop on. Fares up the valley are modest, and the region has long run low, flat-rate leisure fares that can make the whole day out to Tende cost very little.

There is a single class aboard the modern railcars — comfortable, big-windowed and step-free — so the only real decision is which side to sit on (aim for the valley side for the drops and the villages) and whether to break the journey. Bikes are carried, which makes a ride-up, cycle-down day a fine option in the lower valley.

The options below link to SNCF TER Région Sud, which runs the line. Fares checked July 2026 against the operator's site (opens in a new tab); service is still being restored after the December 2025 reopening.

The whole point of this line is what lies along it — a string of mountain towns and villages, each an easy stop, and each a long way in character from the Riviera an hour behind you. Any of the places below makes a rewarding half-day, and with a little planning around the timetable you can string several together.

Most travellers ride the Train des Merveilles as a day trip from Nice, and the city makes an easy base, with everything from seafront grand hotels to little rooms in the old town and a fast train back down each evening. But the valley rewards those who stay. Sospel and Breil-sur-Roya both have small, characterful hotels and guesthouses, good for slowing down among the villages and the olive groves. Up at the top, Tende and nearby La Brigue offer simple mountain inns and gîtes — the natural choice if you want an early start for the Vallée des Merveilles, whose guided walks and jeep tours set off in the morning. Wherever you sleep, this is high country: nights are cool even in summer, the season for the rock-carving valley runs roughly late spring to autumn, and it is always worth checking that your chosen train up the valley is running before you commit to a night at the far end.