We will be flying to Barcelona to visit our son who is studying there. We will take a short weekend trip from Barcelona to Southern France. Thinking about Nice. Any suggestions on locations, method of travel and hotels would be helpful. Other destinations are possible too. Thanks.

I was at a conference in Barcelona and also had the dilemma of where to go for a few days. I chose to rent a car as I left Barcelona. I had a wonderful trip! I stayed in once place and did day trips. It was at the beginning of October (again, time of ear would also change my recommendation). I liked it as it allowed me a really interesting mix of site seeing, wine tasting and lovely scenery.

whoops. I havent had my coffee yet..I based myself in Languedoc (a great B and B which served wonderful meals- Chateau Quarante).

Although Nice and Barcelona are both on the Mediterranean coast, they are relatively far apart - perhaps too far apart to make Nice suitable for a short weekend trip. There are some direct flights on Iberia between Barcelona and Nice, but they are relatively expensive (about $450 per person), you'll eat up time in airports waiting for flights and the flights don't look that frequent (so you might not be able to maximize time in Nice).

You probably would be better off aiming for a location in Western France (along the coast if you want). Alternatively, stay in Spain and explore towns like Cadaques (a lovely coastal town just West of the French border) and Girona. A trip to Cadaques and Girona would be an easy weekend trip - my husband and I did it as part of our honeymoon.

We were staying at Costa Brava region for 2 weeks this summer, about 1.5 from Barcelona.
Here is the towns and sights we explored http://burlaki.com/travelog/costa-brava/.
If you base youself in Girona, you can drive around to litte towns such as Pals, Begur, Pubol (with its Castell Gala-Dal&iacute, a bigger town - Figueres with its Dalí Theater-Museum.

I agree that trying to go as far as Nice is going to pretty much eat up your weekend. I'd suggest renting a car and traveling up Costa Brava and go up into France to Collieure area - to try to go any further is just too ambitious.