Why It’s Called the Train des Merveilles
The train runs along the Nice-Breil-sur-Roya railway line and crosses a territory rich in unexpected and truly beautiful places, straddling two valleys, the Roya Valley and the Bévera Valley, between canyons carved by emerald-green waters, multiform mountain peaks where rocks change texture and color (from limestone to granite) from one valley to another, forests and woods crossed by trails, perched villages, chapels and small churches rising on the summits. Wonderful places, in short. Unlike the Train of Wonders, which travels in Italy (starting from Turin and stopping in Cuneo and Limone Piemonte, then crossing the French train at Tende and Breil-sur-Roya), the Train des Merveilles is a route that touches only France.
But that isn’t the only reason. When the railway was built, in 1883, to be completed in 1928, it was a titanically monumental undertaking, a technical challenge that required no less than one hundred bridges and viaducts, including spiral galleries that let the train gain altitude through a sequence of curves carved directly into the mountain, and to climb along narrow stretches of track. In short, this railway line is a monumental work, admired both for the landscapes it traverses and for its numerous engineering structures.
Some structures were destroyed during World War II to hinder the refueling of German troops stationed in the upper Roya valley. Among these, the Scarassoui Viaduct (Fontan). The original structure was designed with a monumental central masonry arch with a 48-meter span crossing the Roya River. It was blown up by the French army in June 1940 and completely destroyed. During the extensive restoration of the line, it was rebuilt with a modern reinforced concrete arch. The line was fully reopened in 1979.
The real reason for the name “meraviglie” however is another. From the Tende terminal at the border with Italy, in half an hour you reach one of the most incredible places that exist in Europe: the Vallée des Merveilles (from which the train effectively takes its name). This valley, within Mercantour National Park, preserves 40,000 mysterious rock carvings. Returning to the Bronze Age, i.e., around 5,000 years ago, it is a true open-air museum of prehistory. The valley lies on Monte Bégo, which rises to an altitude of 2,872 meters. Since mountains are often associated with a means of ascent toward gods or deities, it’s possible that Monte Bégo was considered “sacred” at the time and that prehistoric populations carved the rock along the mountain to consecrate the site.
The stops of the Train des Merveilles
From the Nice-Ville station, the train makes 15 stops up to the terminus at Tende. The first few stops are not very touristy (Nice Pont Michel, L’Ariane, La Trinité-Victor, Drap-Cantaron, Halte de Fontanil), but from the sixth stop onward every one is worth a halt (if you’re traveling in a day trip you won’t be able to do them all and you’ll have to choose two or three at most, but many people decide to stay at least one night to have more time to visit them all or nearly all). Which stops are the most interesting and what to see.
Peillon Sainte-Thècle
The station sits at an altitude of 181 meters, but the village of Peillon rises higher (334 m.) on a rocky spur overlooking the Vallée du Paillon that gives its name to the river. This hill town, perched like an eagle’s nest, has fewer than 1,500 inhabitants and was founded in the Middle Ages to escape invasions. It evolved under the sovereignty of Provence and the House of Savoy (when it was Italian it was called Peglione) before passing to France in 1860. Perched as a fortress, the old town is made up of stone houses built tight against one another. This structure, akin to a fortress, served as a natural defense, protecting residents from looting and conflicts. The internal plan forms a labyrinth of cobbled alleys, steep staircases, vaulted passages, and small hanging bridges (called “puntines”). The remains of the ancient fortified castle lie beneath the parish church.
Peille
Until 1235, Peillon and Peille shared the same history before diverging. Today Peille is a fairly touristy village and also more populous than Peillon (about 2,000 inhabitants), at 630 meters above sea level, clinging to the slopes of Mont Baudon near the Faquin stream which carves a steep gorge at the foot of the cliff that once formed a natural defense of the old citadel of the “Baou de Caster.” Also of medieval origin, it offers a spectacular labyrinth of steep lanes, Romanesque and Gothic vaulted passages, and ancient stone facades. The town invites you to discover a church classified as a Historic Monument, a pyramidal 12th-century bell tower, and an 18th-century chapel richly frescoed.
L’Escarène
This stop also deserves a visit. It is a medieval village first mentioned in the 11th century. A crucial stop on the Salt Route that linked Provence to Piedmont, the site originally belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Pons in Nice before separating from Peille in the 16th century to settle in the valley floor. The town experienced a notable artistic flourishing in the 17th century, thanks to the rebuilding of the church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens and the construction of splendid chapels of the fraternities of penitents in a baroque style. Here you will find one of the most striking points of the Train des Merveilles: a monumental viaduct with eleven arches and a height of 40 meters spanning the Paillon valley above the town. Built in the 1930s, it is traversed daily by the Train des Merveilles. Outdoor enthusiasts will be pleased to know that several marked trails depart from L’Escarène, winding through pine, larch, and oak woods, and trout are abundant in the two rivers crossing the town. Additionally, L’Escarène is a well-known transit point for the legendary stages of the Monte Carlo Rally and the Monte Carlo Historic Rally.
Touët-de-l’Escarène
The next stop is Touët-de-l’Escarène, a scattered micro-village of about 300 residents whose altitude ranges from 300 to 1,000 meters. With its fountains, vaulted passages, a stone washhouse, a 16th-century church, a mill converted into a cultural space, and an old bread oven repurposed as a restaurant, it’s a truly charming spot that isn’t overrun by tourists. The Revel and Albera districts offer stunning panoramic views of the valley, while numerous trails invite hiking and mountain biking. Just outside the village there is a small natural paradise, Cascade de Redebraus, where swimming is prohibited but which is certainly worth a photo.
Sospel
At the Sospel stop the train practically empties. Of the Train des Merveilles route this is the best-known stop. Is it worth it? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. The town is pretty with the Bévera River cutting it into two—right bank and left bank—along the flowering riverside walls, and the Pont-Vieux, one of the last fortified bridges in Europe. The town feels a touch faded, with peeling façades and clothes drying on the windows, but its decadent charm is precisely what makes it appealing. In Sospel there are several sights: the two historic quarters on either side of the river, some chapels, the baroque Saint Michael Cathedral with its organ facing a charming square lined with restaurants, and the forts of the Maginot Line that are part of a series of fortifications built along the borders between the two world wars.
The imposing Fort Saint-Roch comprises four reinforced-concrete barracks perched above a network of tunnels carved in rock that can reach a depth of 30 meters. Visitors can explore the building at their own pace. Kids will be amazed at the reconstruction of life inside this fort. Don’t forget to bring a cardigan because the tunnels stay at 16°C. The fort is closed on Mondays. Fort Suchet or Fort du Barbonnet was built atop the hill and, from afar, blends with the surrounding nature. Fort de l’Agaisen protected the other forts and helped cover the border. Fort du Mont-Grosso is, finally, the largest fortification on the southeastern border. Located at an altitude of 1,000 meters, it dominates the Sospel road, Tenda passes, and the Brouis and Pérus passes.
Breil-sur-Roya
To reach this village you pass through the spectacular Gorges de la Roya. Breil-sur-Roya develops like an amphitheater at the foot of a rocky spur, with a lake and terraced olive groves that stretch lower down. Here everything evokes Liguria in the 16th century: the color of the house stucco, the porticoed lanes, the votive chapels, the chapels and washhouses, the communal bakery and the baroque church of Santa Maria in Albis, with its historic organs. Do not miss the view of the lake from the Tour de la Cruella and a visit to the Ecomusée du Train des Merveilles, where you can see some historic steam or electric locomotives of the SNCF, telling the story of the Train des Merveilles and where you can admire a model of the line and a simulator to try driving the train. The museum is open from August to October.
Saorge
Clinging to the rock face, the village of Saorge, entirely pedestrian—the stop is Fontan-Saorge—unfolds as you stroll through cobbled alleys and “cununs” that wind toward the monastery. It is one of the most beautiful villages in France, a timeless place inviting you to wander and truly unplug, often compared to a Tibetan village. The site to visit includes the Baroque Franciscan monastery with its gardens, the church of Saint-Sauveur, and the chapels of the penitents.
St Dalmas de Tende
This mountain hamlet began life as Bergeggi but later took the name Saint-Dalmazio or St Dalmas de Tende as it housed a monastery dependent on the Abbey of Pedona (now Borgo San Dalmazzo), which today is an inn. It developed later around the silver-lead mines, closed in the 1930s. Until 1947 it was also an important border site on both the SS 20 and the Cuneo-Limone-Ventimiglia railway linking Italy and France. With the transition to France, the customs post moved to Tende. If you don’t alight, at least pause to observe its imposing littorian-style railway station (Mussolini had a country house just outside the village). Many alight here because it is the closest stop to Mercantour National Park, a perfect base for hikes and to admire the famous prehistoric rock carvings of the Vallée des Merveilles.
La Brigue
Before reaching the terminus, the stop that deserves a visit is La Brigue, a village to explore by wandering through medieval alleys until you reach the ruins of the Castle of the Lascaris. This place hides a small treasure and thus deserves a stop: the chapel of Notre-Dame des Fontaines, beautifully painted and colored and often described as the Little Sistine Chapel of the Alps. The 15th-century frescoes, lit only by natural light because there is no electricity inside, tell a story that is sometimes eerie and symbolic, with every detail carefully crafted. But the chapel sits at seven intermittent springs, a source of water and life in the heart of the mountains as well as the last potable water source along the High Salt Route.
The intermittent nature of these springs is the subject of local legends. One tells that one day the springs of La Brigue dried up, perhaps after an earthquake. Unable to irrigate the fields, the villagers promised to build a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary if she would bring the water back to their lands. Miraculously, the springs began to gush again… To visit the chapel with the main spring you must book a guided tour from May to September. To reach it, you either walk or bike for 4 km, or there is a shuttle that departs from the station, also to be booked in advance. For those who want to make a stop in La Brigue and for hikers, from here you can reach the Salt Route and set out on several trails that climb up to two thousand meters.
Tende
The Train des Merveilles terminus is the town of Tende, a medieval village terraced along the mountainside at an altitude of 800 meters, offering numerous vantage points over the valley. Before the Plombières treaties of 1858 between Napoleon III and Cavour, the area was part of Italy, but it was ceded to France together with the entire territory of the former County of Nice. It is an must-visit stop for lovers of baroque art thanks to the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption, constructed between the late 15th and early 16th centuries, celebrated for its baroque ornaments in dazzling colors and the Renaissance-styled portal carved in the green Roya stone; it is also one of the gateways to the Vallée des Merveilles, which you can glimpse splendidly at the Musée des Merveilles just outside the station next to the Office de Tourisme.
The museum is very modern and well organized, with interactive sections and a scale model that recounts the story of prehistoric peoples (one section is also dedicated to Ötzi, the Iceman of the Similaun, with a replica displayed at the Archaeological Museum of South Tyrol in Bolzano). The highlight hosted in the museum is the original stone said to be the head of the tribe, taken from the Vallée des Merveilles with the rock engravings (a copy has been placed in the valley).
Tips for a Wonderful Journey
The train runs daily from the central Nice station (Nice-Ville) with schedules that vary by day and season (at certain times the train operates only Monday through Friday or only on Saturdays, Sundays and weekdays). The sightseeing train, that is to say the train with an onboard guide who explains the itinerary and all about the Train des Merveilles and the places it traverses, is the train that departs at 9:32 a.m. from platform F. The guide, aboard this train from June 1 to October 2 and then on weekends in October, explains in French, English, and, for Italian-speaking passengers, also in Italian. Therefore, you can board the train without a guide at the preferred times, but for a full journey the recommendation is to board the guided train and, if possible, sit in the same car as the guide to hear more and perhaps ask questions to satisfy your curiosity.
Since the trip from Nice to Tende lasts two hours (the 9:32 a.m. train arrives in Tende at 11:32 a.m.) with 15 stops, another tip, if you want to do a day trip, is not to make any intermediate stops at all, but to ride the entire route, getting off in Tende to visit the historic center, the Chapel of the Annunciation and the Musée des Merveilles, all free activities worth doing, and have lunch at a café or trattoria (note that many businesses close on Mondays) before boarding again and choosing one or two more stops at most (Sospel is recommended, but Breil-sur-Roya, Saorge, and La Brigue are also charming) or you’ll return too late and the day will be very long (the last train is at 6:32 p.m.; if needed, from Sospel there is also a bus to Nice).
A further tip concerns the train ticket: there is indeed the Pass Journalier from SNCF that costs 8 euros and allows you to ride all French trains for 24 hours. It is very convenient because you can board and alight at any stop along the Train des Merveilles, and it is valid on other routes along the Côte d’Azur as well, including the Principality of Monaco. If you are traveling with more than one person (maximum 8), you can purchase a single pass; the important thing is that you all travel together from the start to the finish. If you travel with a pet, you will need to purchase a separate ticket (a medium-sized dog pays 10 euros) and it must be kept on a leash (a muzzle is preferable as well).
One last tip if you’d like to cycle after alighting from the train. At the main stops there are bike-sharing services and secure storage facilities for bicycles. In fact, one of the train cars is designated for carrying bicycles with a hook to hang them.
