Anyone have any suggestions about a route/method of getting 2 adults from Rome to Barcelona this coming June. We would like to see several places along the way (or side tripes) such as florence, cinque terra, Milan, and any other interesting places along the way you might suggest... maybe some sights in southern france (Nice?), Probably we should try to stay in each location along the way at least 2 days. I'm thinking train as I am too cowardly to drive in Italy. We have only been to Rome and Barcelona so far, a couple years ago and have a little experience riding italian trains.

Thanks for any suggestions!

You have already been to Rome and Barcelona. Why not spend a week and a half seeing Tuscany, CT and the lakes or Venice?
Or - fly into Marseilles (or other nearby city) and tour Southern France or Provence by car? Either way, you will see a lot more and spend less. Either place would be easy driving, but could be done mostly by train/bus.

Thanks! I'll consider it. Another trip detail is that at the end of this1.5 week period we will be meeting our kids (adults) in Barcelona which they have not seen before. We plan on being in Barcelona/and the area for about 1 more week.

In that case:
Fly into Nice (I've not been there, so do not know if that would suit you), drive the coast, visit Antibes, etc. or
drive a more Northern route through Provence,
or
Fly into Marseilles and tour Provence (Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Arles, Pont du Gard, etc. and fly out of Montpellier (or back out of Marseilles) to Barcelona. If you do not want to drive, you can base in Arles part of the time and uses trains and buses to see a lot. You could rent a car for part of the time or take a tour or two to villages that are difficult by car. You could also train to Carcassonne, spend a night there and train on to Barcelona instead of flying to Barcelona. Lots of fun options.

Oh, if you are coming from Rome, and that is set in Stone, then I would visit Florence, Sienna, Luca, CT, etc. (Venice if you have not been) or the Lakes area and fly from Milan (or Florence or Venice) to Barcelona. Would not try to cover both parts of Italy and France. Too much to see in each and too much travel time to get from Italy to France.

I would give Milan a miss unless there was a specific reason to spend a day there. Just not worth the detour as there are much more interesting places to see like cinque terre or Tuscany

thanks to all... working on a plan....

So, what did you end up doing? I'm traveling, one week. Must depart from Rome and stop in Barcelona. Car rental is outrageous for drop-off in different location than pick-up, so am interested in workable alternatives.

Welcome to Fodors mastoll: >>So, what did you end up doing? <<

I wouldn't hold your breath - the OP registered and started this thread and his one response last October, but never posted again.

I'd start a new thread w/ your own specific questions.