Having encountered overcrowded trains and buses for the past two days, I’d learnt my lesson. I aimed for an early train and arrived at the departing station with plenty of time to spare.
My target was the Train des Merveilles from Nice to Tende. I’d heard about the scenic two-hour train journey and wanted to make sure I avoided the crowds. As it happened, the platform was fairly empty. The train’s starting point was one stop before, Nice’s central station. I wondered if many people would get on there.
When the train arrived, it was not crowded! There were some tourists and a few French hikers heading into the Alpes-Azur mountains.
The train didn’t run for about a year whilst major works were being carried out. It started again in December 2025. It’s a spectacular train journey, climbing 800m over bridges and viaducts and through many tunnels.
Train des Merveilles could be translated as the Train of Wonders. It’s named after the
Vallée des Merveilles (Valley of Wonders). The valley has the second largest collection of Bronze Age rock engravings in Europe. Some of them are in the Musée des Merveilles in Tende.
The museum is a history of human development from the stone age onwards, focusing on the Mecantour National Park in the region.
After looking around the (free) museum, I walked to Tende’s old town. Since it was a Sunday, most shops were shut. The Tende’s appeal, however, is the quintessential French architecture with the backdrop of the Alpes-Azur mountains.
Once I’d walked around the town, which was quite small, I had about an hour before the next train left.
As I was thinking what to do, I noticed some people high above me at a viewpoint. This, someone told me, was the location of the cemetery at the top of the town.
Navigating a combination of stairs and steep hills, I got to the top fairly quickly. I was glad I went to the cemetery. The views were spectacular! I also got a better idea of how the houses were embedded in the mountain-sides, where they had no right to be. I wondered how they got building material to some of the places, never mind actually build houses!
I took a different route down from the cemetery and was soon sitting on the train for the return trip. It was a good chance to see the places I’d missed on the outward journey.
I got off at Nice Ville, the central station, and walked around parts of Nice I’d not yet seen.
