dkdrasta

OK, Forgive me, but let me ask this another way. We fly from Venice arriving in Nice at 8:30am on Sunday May 29, and we have to depart Barcelona at 7am Sunday June 5th to go back to Texas. So we have almost a full day Sunday through a full day Saturday to plan between Nice and Barcelona. What would you do??? With those two cities as a home base, where else would you visit for day trips? How long in each country?? We will take a 1.5 hr flight from Nice to Barcelona, but it could be any day.

We have never been to Spain or France. I speak Spanish, not French. Thought I would want to spend more time in Spain, but French coast looks so much more beautiful!! So I am torn. Forgive me for asking a different way, but we have so little time, I want to be sure we spend it well!

As for what we like:
We know we will get beautiful views in the Riviera. Big city and amazing architecture in Barcelona. So some of each is fine. We want to soak up the culture. Hear the language. Explore quaint villages. Enjoy food at little cafes. Short nature hikes are fine or short city tour. Not so much into museums. We want to see the 'must see' of Sagrada familia and Guell park, but also spend time avoiding total touristy at some points.

Thank you for your opinions and your patience!

bilboburgler

Why would you fly, why not just take the train? The view from the aircraft is terrible and they are so slow door to door. Plus you can do more stops.

dkdrasta

We chose flying because the shortest train trip is 8.5 hours (or 17hours) to get from Nice to Barcelona. The flight is 1.5 hours. I know we need to get to the airport 2 hours earlier, but still.....we would rather give up 1/2 day for plane travel than give up a full day to travel by train. That makes sense, right?

gooster

The flight does make sense, and there are plenty available.

How you split your time is a personal decision. From Nice, you will be able to take the train or buses to various villages and smaller towns along the cost. You could also drive or take a private tour. Just note that in Nice you will be overlapping the Grand Prix of Monaco so plan around it. My personal bias may be showing (I have a place in Nice), but my feeling is that the coastal and hill towns near Nice are more scenic than those near Barcelona. However, Barcelona has a much bigger big city vibe. I mean -- the buses will still be full at 3:30 am and clubbing goes into the night.

HappyTrvlr

A warning about your dates for Nice! We went to Nice around the last weekend in May a few years ago and it was mobbed! Nice is located in between the Monaco Gran Prix and the Cannes Film Festival, end of May. Many attending those events stay in Nice. We couldn’t get into restaurants, etc, Be very careful booking a hotel in Nice that weekend, if you can even get reservations. Once the events ended, Nice was wonderful again.