About this journey

Thorame-Haute station sits at around 1,150 metres in the Upper Verdon valley, the only station serving this remote alpine corridor on the Ligne de Nice à Digne. The Chemins de fer de Provence, an operator entirely separate from SNCF, runs the service — the AMP 807 — south toward the Mediterranean. The station building itself lies approximately 7 km downstream from the village of Thorame-Haute, deep in the valley floor.

Early in the journey, the line passes through its longest tunnel, which links the Verdon and Vaïre valleys before the route begins its long descent toward the coast. The Chemins de fer de Provence threads through terrain that shifts progressively from high alpine to coastal as Nice approaches. Nice-Ville station, the terminus, was opened in 1864 and completed in 1867, built for the PLM railway in Louis XIII style — a grand arrival point at the end of a mountain line. Nice itself was annexed by France only in 1860, following the Treaty of Turin, a history that left its mark on the city's architecture and character. UNESCO recognised Nice as a World Heritage Site in 2021. The journey therefore moves between two distinct worlds: a single remote valley station with no national rail connection, and a busy terminus where TGV, TER, and Intercités services converge on the French Riviera.