Travel to and from Bussana Vecchia by public transport
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Nearest airports are Nice airport and Genova airport.
Nice airport has many international flights including lower cost airline such as Easyjet, Transavia, Ryan Air, and Vueling.
Genova airport has few international flights but includes Ryan Air.
Both have good connections to public transport systems, but in the case of Nice this is complicated by the need to use the French and the Italian railways. This page focuses on Nice airport, but you can use the links below to check the public transport options to Genova airport.
Bussana Vecchia has no public transport connections (unless you want to include the occasional public schoolbus), but Bussana Nuova is a stop for most buses riding on the via Aurelia to and from Sanremo, including buses going to Taggia and Sanremo railway station. There's a bus stop on the via Aurelia directly in front of the Carrefour supermarket, and another one at the pedestrian overpass from Bussana Nuova to the beach.
Buses (info from 2019..)
Busline (Linea) 13 towards Taggia railway station starts as early as 5:12 on weekdays (6:15 weekends) and has regular service every 20 minutes up to 00:47 at night. It is a 10-minute trip.
Buses in the direction for Sanremo start at 5:43 (weekends 6:43) and continue to run every 20 minutes until 00:48.
The bus company is Riviera Trasporti (RT). On their website you can find updated schdules as well as detail on many other buslines they operate, including connecting lines to STAT (website) which runs long distance conenctions to Nice airport, Torino, Genoa and many other cities in Italy.
Unlike trains, the bus transportation is quite frequent, starts early in the morning and continues until late a night. For early departures or late arrivals at Nice airport it is more effective to use the French railway system up to border station Ventimiglia and take the bus from there.
Busline 2 starts in Sanremo and ends in Ventimiglia. The trip takes 40 minutes. First bus from Sanremo departs at 5:40 (weekends 6:45) and last bus departs at 01:00. First bus from Ventimiglia starts at 6:15 (weekends 6:45) and ends at 01:10.
See the RT website for latest schedules.
To get from Bussana to Ventimiglia railway station by bus, this means the first opportunity
is the Bussana bus at 5:43, a transfer at Sanremo and arrival at Ventimiglia at 6:35.
In the other direction, the last option to travel to Bussana is the 00:00 bus linea 2 from Ventimiglia to Sanremo, transfer to linea 13 and arrive at Bussana at 01:00.
For completion's sake: There is also a bus from Genova to Nice which briefly stops at the Sanremo highway access station at 8:00 and arrives at the airport at 9:00. It does not add much to the other options mentioned above, unfortunately.
Trains
Check latest schedules at French SNCF railway website and Italian Trenitalia website.
A useful site to check for both the French and Italian railways is Rome2Rio.
From Taggia railway station you can get regular trains in the direction of Genoa and towards Sanremo, border station Ventimiglia (Vintimille or XXmiglia).
Taggia railway station is less important than Sanremo, so in some cases it may be more efficient to take a bus to Sanremo railway station, or take bus lines 13 and 2 to go to Ventimiglia.
There are direct (or connecting) trains from Taggia to Nice St. Augustin station (10 minute walk to airport terminal 1), with first train departing at 6:52 and arriving at Nice St. Augustin at 8:38, and the last train at 21:37 from Taggia arriving at Nice St. Augustin at 23:25. The trip duration is between 1h25min and 2h10min depending on time of day and transfers.
Ticket price is around 12 euro one-way.
From Nice St. Augustin towards Taggia, the first train departs at 6:18 arriving at Taggia at 8:09, and last train departs at 18:07 arriving at 20:21. For late airport arrivals we need to be creative.
Traveling by taxi
Sandy beaches and towns like Bussana Nuova and Arma di Taggia are easily reached on foot from Bussana Vecchia and for visits to Sanremo you can take one of the local buses or rent a bicycle to use the coastal bike path (pista ciclabile).
For longer distances and travel to and from Nice airport you may use a local taxi service. Several of my guests have recommended Sanremo Taxi (Tel: +39 0184 541454). These speak good English and can be booked in advance by phone or by mail. For services to and from Nice airport they are less expensive than the French taxi services and they have the advantage that they are familiar with the small roads in the area. A minibus for up to six people to the airport will be in the range of € 200.
Picking you up from the beach for a ride back to town will be around € 15. In the peak summer season (late July up to mid August) this avoids driving stress and costs will be in same range as the beach parking.
Earliest and last public transport options
To select your flights to and from Nice airport, you need to consider these earliest and last options on public transport (for weekdays).
Eearliest point in time that you can reach Nice airport (St. Augustin station) from Bussana on weekdays is to take bus linea 13 at 5:43 at Bussana Nuova, arriving at Ventimiglia at 6:35, taking the train at 6:52 and arriving at Nice St. Augustin at 7:52.
If you include a 10 minute walk you might be able to be at the check-in desk (terminal 1) around 8:02. Traveling with hand luggage only means you can consider flights out of Nice T1 as early as 9:00 and T2 as early as 9:15.
Nice airport is fairly relaxed and small, so if you're an experienced traveller you may be able to push departure down into the 8:45 range.
You will need to leave Bussana Vecchia around 5:15 and there is no room for delays.
There is one alternative bus option: The STAT line has once daily connection between Genova and Nice airport. Their bus departs at Piazza Colombo in Sanremo at 8;15 and arrives at terminal 2 at 9:05 (T1 at 9:10). I've never taken this bus so please check on-line for an updated schedule.
The trip can be much more relaxed if someone is willing to take you (or book a taxi) to Taggia station to take the 6:52 train arriving at Nice St. Augustin at 8:38, arriving at check-in (terminal 1) at 8:50, so for outbound flights at 9:45 (10:00 from T2). This is likely also the first available option if you want to depart in the weekend or public holiday.
The last opportunity to travel from Nice to Bussana is with the 22:18 train from Nice St. Augustin, arriving at Ventimiglia at 23:20, taking linea 2 from there at 23:30 (or 00:00) to Sanremo, arriving at 00:05 (00:35) and continue with line 13 at 00:05 (00:35) to arrive at 00:30 (1:00) at the Bussana bus stop.
This means that flight arrival at Nice T1 (hand luggage) should be before 21:45 (with 32 minutes to get to T1 exit and railway station), or T2 at 21:30. This will be good for weekdays and weekends.
If you are comparing flights to and from Nice and find that they may arrive very late or depart too early, you may want to consider the possibility to take a taxi or use a Nice airport hotel for one night, such as the Campanile airport hotel which is 68 euro or the Kyriad Saint Isidore hjotel (with free shuttle) for 62 euro for a room. Of course you should also consider Airbnb places. Adding this to the discounted airline price may give a more economic result, and it allows you to spend part of the day exploring the old town of Nice, which is well worth a visit.
Rental Car
Nice airport has all international rental car companies, and rates start at around 25 euro per day. This will be effective for larger families and if you prefer convenience. For up to two persons, the highway toll between Bussana and Nice will be similar to the public transport price, but it reduces the travel time from three hours to about 1.5 hour (including rental car return time).
I typically never take any additional insurance (my credit card takes care of up to €1000
in damages), so the price remains modest. I drive the car to Bussana Vecchia and leave it parked for a week and walk or use the bikes for going up/down hill.
I suggest you spend a little time to find a 'real' rental car company rather than a consolidator. Use one the rental car companies that are on-airport at Nice (you can see their names on Google Maps). Problems with consolidators is that they are never available when you need them and the 'real' rental car companies try to lure you into various ridiculously priced extras when you arrive with a ticket issued by a consolidator. They even may charge you extra if you do not arrive in the specified time slot, or try to have you pay extra because you drive into Italy as if it suddenly is no longer part of the EU, more risky, or whatever. I somehow always manage to 'forget' to mention this. If they're so smart they can find out themselves from the GPS systems in the car.