---
title: "San Marino by Train: How to Reach Europe's Oldest Republic Without Flying"
description: How to reach San Marino by train and coach via Rimini, the story of its lost railway, and what to see on Mount Titano in Europe's oldest republic.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-22T10:19:49.113Z
updated: 2026-10-22T11:19:08.284Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/san-marino-by-train
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-27788910.webp
categories: Destinations, Mindful Travel
content_type: Guide
region: Europe
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
schema_type: Article
about:
  - type: Place
    name: San Marino
    description: Republic surrounded by Italy, with about 34,000 residents. It uses the euro under a 2012 monetary agreement with the EU and signed an association agreement with the EU in October 2026.
    url: https://www.gov.sm
    sameAs:
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino
      - https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q238
---

For twelve years, you could ride a train all the way to the top of San Marino. In June 1932, an electric railway opened between Rimini on the Adriatic coast and the City of San Marino, climbing 31.5 kilometres through hairpin bends and tunnels to the summit of Mount Titano. In June 1944, Allied bombing damaged the line, and services never resumed. The republic has had [no working railway connection to the outside world](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/meaningful-trip-to-andorra) since.

Yet you can still reach San Marino by rail, and it may be the most rewarding way to arrive. The journey takes you across Europe, down to the Adriatic and up a mountain to the oldest surviving republic in the world. This week, San Marino signed its new Association Agreement with the European Union. There has rarely been a better moment to visit.

## Take the train to Rimini, then climb the mountain

The gateway to San Marino is Rimini, the Italian seaside city on the main railway line along the Adriatic coast. High-speed trains reach Rimini directly from Milan and Bologna, and regional services stop there throughout the day.

![The Roman Tiberius Bridge crossing the water in Rimini under a blue sky.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-29355212.webp)
*The Roman Tiberius Bridge in Rimini, your gateway to San Marino — Photo: Reinhard Bruckner / Pexels*

[From London, you can make the whole journey by rail](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/backpack-two-days-by-rail-from-paris-to-the-cinque-terre-of-liguria). Take Eurostar to Paris, continue to Milan, directly or [via Switzerland](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/mindful-travel-the-4-day-glacier-and-bernina-express-tour-from-zurich), and change there for a train down the coast to Rimini. It is a long day, or a relaxed two days with a night in Paris or Milan, and every hour of it is spent watching Europe pass the window rather than waiting at a gate.

![Passengers with luggage walking beside a Eurostar train under the glass roof of London St Pancras station.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-35682867.webp)
*Your journey can begin under the glass roof of London St Pancras — Photo: Sergei Gussev / Pexels*

![Red and white high-speed trains waiting at the platforms of Milano Centrale station.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-12193513.webp)
*Milano Centrale, where you change for the train down the Adriatic coast to Rimini — Photo: Cristian Manieri / Pexels*

At Rimini, regular coaches run from outside the station to the City of San Marino, operated by the Bonelli and Benedettini companies. The ride takes about an hour and ends at the central coach stop at Piazzale Marino Calcigni, just below the old town. Buy your ticket before you board and check the timetable, as services are less frequent in the evening and in winter.

## Ride what is left of the railway

The old line has not vanished entirely. In 2012, San Marino restored an 800-metre section of the original track, including the railway's final horseshoe curve through the 502-metre Montale tunnel. The original AB-03 electric railcar, refurbished for the occasion, rests at the tunnel's exit, and a tourist road train now follows part of the old route between the City of San Marino and Borgo Maggiore. Walking through the old tunnels gives you a sense of how ambitious the original climb must have been.

The rest of the route has found new lives. Stretches of the old trackbed are now walking and cycling paths, and one former tunnel in Borgo Maggiore serves as a pedestrian walkway. Look carefully and you can trace the line across the hillside.

## Finish the climb by cable car

Since the railway closed, the final ascent has belonged to the funivia, the cable car that links Borgo Maggiore to the City of San Marino at the top of the mountain. The ride is short and steep, and the view opens out across the Romagna hills to the Adriatic. On a clear day, you can see the coast you started from.

![View from Mount Titano over the rooftops and green hills of San Marino towards the Adriatic coast.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-33308341.webp)
*From the top of Mount Titano, the land falls away to the Adriatic coast — Photo: Nimród Fekete / Pexels*

## Walk among the Three Towers

The Historic Centre of San Marino and Mount Titano was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. The old town is a maze of stone streets, city walls and gateways, and above it, along the ridge of the mountain, stand the Three Towers that appear on the national flag: Guaita, Cesta and Montale. A path along the ridge links them, and from the walls the land drops away on all sides in one of the most dramatic views on the Italian peninsula.

![The Cesta tower and crenellated stone walls above a winding stone walkway on Mount Titano.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-18876845.webp)
*The Cesta tower, one of the Three Towers on the ridge of Mount Titano — Photo: Alessandro Cesarano / Pexels*

San Marino traces its founding to the year 301, when, according to tradition, a stonemason named Marinus established a community on the mountain. That makes it the world's oldest surviving republic. Its democracy still has a medieval rhythm. Every six months, on 1 April and 1 October, two Captains Regent take office as joint heads of state in a ceremony full of tradition. If your visit falls on one of those days, the investiture is worth planning around.

![The Palazzo Pubblico, San Marino's town hall, with its clock tower and the Statue of Liberty in front.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-21316205.webp)
*The Palazzo Pubblico, the seat of San Marino's government — Photo: Giuseppe Di Maria / Pexels*

## Travel well in a very small country

San Marino covers just 61 square kilometres, so [it rewards a slow visit](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/the-new-romance-of-travel-why-women-choose-slow-luxury-and-mindful-adventures) rather than a rushed day trip. Many visitors arrive on a coach from Rimini, [see the towers in a couple of hours](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/day-trips-europe-crowded-cities-sintra-pompeii) and leave. Stay overnight instead and you see the old town after the crowds have gone, when the lights come on along the walls and the coast glitters far below.

![An arched gateway in the crenellated stone walls of the old town of San Marino.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-39265228.webp)
*A gateway in the old town walls of San Marino — Photo: Lajos Kristóf Kántor / Pexels*

Eat in family-run restaurants and try local dishes such as piadina, the flatbread of the Romagna coast, and torta Tre Monti, the layered wafer cake named after the three peaks. Walk the old railway path, visit the smaller towns away from the summit and buy from local producers rather than the souvenir stalls at the top.

![A folded piadina flatbread filled with cured ham, tomato and rocket on brown paper.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-21792198.webp)
*Piadina, the flatbread of the Romagna coast — Photo: Emiliano Vittoriosi / Pexels*

## The good news at the end of the line

There is something fitting about reaching San Marino by train. The railway that once climbed its mountain was destroyed in war, and the republic has spent the decades since building closer ties with its neighbours in peace. [This week's agreement with the European Union](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/eu-andorra-san-marino-association-agreement) is the latest step on that journey. Take the train to Rimini, ride the coach up the hill, step into the cable car and arrive at the top of Europe's oldest republic the way travellers did a century ago: slowly, and with the whole of Europe behind you.