I'd like to know the most efficient way to get from Barcelona to Nice. I'm surprised that it's a bit of an ordeal to get there from Barcelona. I assumed the train/plane connection would be a little more convenient than it looks to be.

Based on the forums and other reasearch, I can pay 90 euros for a flight on Vuseling, but they seem to have sold out on the date I want to fly, Dec. 22nd, right on the holiday.

Or, easyJet has a much cheaper flight to Lyon. My itinerary is pretty open, so it might be nice to spend half a day or so in Lyon, but what's the best way to get to Nice from there? Am I going to end up paying just as much as the Vuseling flight?

I've been having trouble, other than some vague information in the forums, about how to get there by train. I guess it involves an overnight train with multiple stops. Does this still exist?

Are there any other alternatives? my friend and I thought Nice would be a nice area to spend the days leading up to Christmas in our Europe tour. We would go up to Paris on Christmas day.

A few years ago, we flew a subsidiary of Iberia between Nice and Barcelona. The price was very low because we booked it at the same time as we booked our transatlantic flights, using the OneWorld partner program, which prices these short flights out according to mileage zones. You might want to check and see whether this option is still available.

The train between the two cities takes about nine hours, so flying would be the most convenient!

the overnight train yes stops a lot but it goes direct to Nice from the Spanish-French border town of Cebere i believe - if it did not stop so much you would get to Nice in the wee hours of the morning instead of around 8am

There is no direct Barcelona-Nice night train because tracks in Spain are wider than those in France - thus you take a Spanish train to the French border town of Cebere, i believe, could be Port Bou in Spain, and change to the overnight train to Nice there.

Barcelona does have a direct night train to paris because that train is a Talgo train with wheels that can be cranked apart at the border and thus run on tracks in each country. But not so on Barcelona-Nice so a bit more inconvenient.

But probably costs more than the plane though you would save a night in a hotel cost.

There is a Talgo day train that leaves Barcelona daily at 8:45am and with one change in Montpellier, from one platform to another - to change to a direct train to Nice, but you do not get to Nice until after 7pm.

Lyon has direct TGV trains several times a day to Nice - taking about 4 hours i think.
www.voyages-sncf.com has fares for Cebere-Nice day or night - watch for some PREM fares - really discounted over regular fares but don't always exist on days you may want to go and there is an allotment of seats at that price so act early. Unfortunately the voyages-sncf.com site is very fickle and has caused untold frustration for folks actually trying to book - but several Fodorites like helpful Ira and TimS amongst others are around to help you if you ask. Some folks indeed do get the site to work. Otherwise in the U.S. RailEurope.com, largely owned by SNCF or French railways markets these tickets - but somewhat higher usually (but not always) than on voyages-sncf.com. I always recommend www'budgeteuropetravel.com for any RailEurope product for their great person service and expertise IMO. And IMO you should book the night train at least if it is an integral part of your itinerary on a specific date.

There is also the overnight ferry from Barcelona to Genoa which isn't that far from Nice. I don't think you will see any sale prices for that week though. It will probably cost a little over 100€ per person, but would include an overnight you wouldn't have to pay a hotel for. Of course, you wouldn't arrive until the 23.

If you book well in advance (up to three months allowed) at www.voyages-sncf.com, you can can a Prem's fare of €22 for a direct TGV from Lyon to Nice. The trip will take about four hours. The standard 2nd class fare is around €65. You'll need to book as soon as the "window" opens to get a Prem's fare, especially since you'll be traveling so close to Christmas.

New European train timetables will go into effect in early December, but the times are unlikely to vary by more than a few minutes from what you'll find now. The best timetable site is www.bahn.de. Click on the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner for English. Enter 1 December as your departure date. After you get summary timetables for Lyon-Nice, click on "Details for all" to see the connecting points, if any.

I know there are flights from Spain to Genova -- have never checked if there is one from Barcelona to Genova, in addition to the overnight ferry.

If so, there are regular trains between Genova and Nice.

EasyJet i believe uses Girona, Spain, just a tad north of Barcelona, for their flights, which, if booked early enough can be dirt cheap

so don't just search for Barcelona but Girona for flights to Genoa (or Milan) as well - there are special buses from Barcelona to the EasyJet flights i believe (I may be mixing EasyJet up with RyanAir?)

EasyJet flies from Barcelona El Prat. There is a flight to Lyons from where you could take a train to Nice (maybe more convenient than from Genoa).

Ryanair flies from Girona to Milan (actually Bergamo) and Girona is at least one hour by bus from Barcelona.

Lyon-Nice by rail 4.5 hours

Genoa-Nice 3 hrs

but lots more service - hourly or so from Lyon - only a few optimal direct Genoa-Nice trains otherwise rail links would be much longer and demand changes of train i think

There is an overnight ferry between Barcelona and Marseille. The faster trains take about 2 1/2 hours to get to Nice and they leave hourly.

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