Can you advise me what would be nice places to stop travelling From Barcelona to Rome by train? I have about 9 days.

Do the 9 days include time spent in Barcelona and Rome, or are they all traveling days? In either case, Nice, Monaco, and the five towns of Cinqueterra would top my list. Florence and all of Tuscany is in there too, but you should probably devote more time to them... The train that runs from Barcelona into Italy runs along the coast and passes through all the above-mentioned towns.

Thanks for the info. could you be kind enough to elaborate a bit about the trip from Barcelona to Rome? Since I won't be driving, what would be the best stops for me with about a week to do so?

I've covered this entire distance, though neverin the same trip to Europe. You could spend 3-5 days on the Spain (and Andorra, if you wish) portion; 5-15 days on the France portion, and a similar period on the Italian portion. You really need to get some books, do a lot of reading, and figure out what kind of choices from the "buffet" you want to make.

Best wishes,

Rex

I'm sorry but if you only have a week, IMHO, That itinerary doesn't make much sense.

I can't blame you for wanting to see as much as possible on your trip. Many people will say it's a waste of time, since most people believe in spending more "quality" time in each city, which is a very valid opinion. However, during my first (and only, so far!) trip to Europe, I actually did Barcelona to Rome in less than a week. I was on a "city-a-day" regimen, knowing that I was "previewing" the cities for return trips.

If that's what you're plan is, here's an example of how I did Barcelona to Rome in 6 days (excluding Barcelona and Rome), which might give you an idea...

From Barcelona, train to Nice. Overnight in Nice, spend half the next day there (we spent the morning at the Matisse museum). Train to Monaco. Spend afternoon there (we wandered around looking at the yachts, then toured the cliffside gardens and caverns). Train to (and here's where things broke down for us due to train strike - we ended up in Savona for the night) Genova. Overnight in Genova, train next morning to Cinqueterra. Spend day hiking between the five towns, overnight in one of them, spend morning in Cinqueterra. Train to Pisa, spend afternoon in Pisa. Train to Florence. Overnight in Florence, spend day in Florence, overnight again, spend morning in Florence. Afternoon/early evening train to Siena, overnight Siena. Spend day in Siena, late afternoon train to Rome.

Again, you haven't told me if the nine days include Barcelona and Rome themselves, but if they do, that would be your nine days, if you spent a day and a half in each of those cities. If not, you have time to spend more time in Florence, Siena, and/or Cinqueterre.

Many people on this board eschew the idea of trying to see a city a day, but it IS doable, if you're very energetic and travel knowing you're only going to get a BRIEF overview of these places.

I actually have no problem with a city a day - - the issue here is that there are easily 20-30 (maybe 100?) to choose from. That's why I think that some browsing/reading is in order - - and/or some indication of what is desired, in terms of <i><b>kinds</b></i>destinations that &quot;tam&quot; wants to visit. A day on the Costa Brava is very different from Montpellier or Marseilles, is different from Monte Carlo, is different from Antibes or the Esterel, or Pisa or Florence or Orvieto.