blue1

Hello, first time poster here (but avid reader of Fodors). I need your advice for a trip from Bologna to Barcelona, 10 days between them. Is it worth/recommended taking trains between the two destinations, through the south of France? If yes, should we aim for Nice and Marseille?
Or should we head to Rome, spend most of our time there and fly to Barcelona?
Or fly to Portugal and then head to Barcelona?
We have 4 days in Barcelona once we arrive.
We are in our late 30s, love food and considering taking our 5 yr old with us. This is a rare opportunity for us, but we have visited Paris before ( never been to Italy, Spain or Portugal). We enjoy being active & nature (i.e. hike rather than museum.) Not shoppers. All recommendations welcome and thank you!

Traveler_Nick

You don't mention when but no the train with only ten days doesn't make any sense.

Head to Rome if you want to see Rome. If not you can likely fly out of Bologna.

I would not head to Lisbon unless you want to see Lisbon. It's not only the other side of Iberia it's a different country.

bilboburgler

train makes good sense and offers you a few fantastic over night stops but toddler may not like the changes, however being able to walk around in the train has its benefits.
seat61.com explains how it all works
I'd look at Marsaille and Narbonne as possible over nighters
Portugal as well. You need to buy a bigger map, I know Europe looks like a small place on google maps but that is more to do with the Projection used on google maps. Lots of differences between countries and their cultures, food etc

neckervd

May be you first choose the places you like to visit and look then for transport.
There are direct flights between many italian cities and BCN.
Ther are overnight ferries between Civitavecchia (port of Rome), Genoa and Barcelona too.
The train could make sense if you plan to visit at least 2 cities in France (which are not close together), but I don't think that you will have time for that.

Sassafrass

When is this trip? Very important. Different advice for Summer or winter.
How long will you be in Bologna? Is that your arrival city?
Have you booked flights already? If not, do not book anything until itinerary is absolutely firm.
Are you taking day trips from there to see Florence and other places in that area of Italy? Venice, Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Padua?
Looking for small towns or places to hike? Would you hike with a five year old?

When you say days in a place, do you mean full days, not counting arrival or departure days? That is super important. 10 full days would mean 11 nights. Is that what you actually have?
Every move or change to another hotel, any travel, will eat up sightseeing time. Never count any travel days as time in a place.
You are going to Barcelona. Make that your end of trip city. You have (4 full days) 5 nights there? Correct?
With 10 days, do not throw in Portugal.

Including a five year old will greatly alter advice for the trip, particularly depending on time of year.

blue1

Thank you very much for all of the replies. They are helpful to make up our minds.
The trip is end of March.

May I ask if any of the places that have been mentioned are more worthy to visit than others ? I understand if we don't go through France that we would need to fly into one of the destinations. We have 10 full days between the two set destinations.

bilboburgler

Of those named cities I would prioritise as follows in March
Florence
Venice
Siena
Padua
Pisa
Lucca

annhig

i hope you don't mind my going back to first principles and asking why you are trying to combine Bologna and Barcelona? There is so much to see in and around Bologna that with a small child in tow, my instinct would be to spend the whole 10 days there in an apartment. Or if Barcelona is the real pull stay there for 10 days. Both will give you plenty enough to do both in the city itself and by way of excursions to fill 10 days.

if OTOH you have already bought your flights, I would divide it with 5 nights in each, again in apartments. Even if it were just yourselves, IMO trying to add more overnight destinations to this itinerary will end up selling both those wonderful cities short; adding in a 5 year old would make it hard work as well. less in this case is more.

blue1

We have considered this possibility as well, we just wanted to fit in as many different sights between the two countries as possible. The problem is that we don't know whats worth exploring and what to skip. I am studying Bologna to build an itinerary, and tie it in with the top cities that were recommended.
Is Rome an obvious destination if we are this close?

bilboburgler

to brass tacks.

if you want to do Bologna and Barcelona in 10 days with a couple of overnights in between you can, it is crazy tight but you can do it by train (not a great holiday though)

if you want do Bologna and Barcelona with a flight in between you can, a muppet would do it but its your holiday, you decide, but not a great holiday

if you want a holiday around Bologna for 10 days you can, fly into say Venice, stay 2 nights see Venice, go to Bologna, train to Rome stay 2 nights fly home. Fantastic fun

if you want a holiday around Barcelona for 10 days, loads of lovely cities to the north in Spain and into France, use the train. Easy and fun

which is your prefered option?

Sassafrass

Total time is still not quite clear, so difficult to give recommendations without accurate days and nights.
If you lay out your itinerary, either with days in each place, not counting travel days, or nights, it will be clear.

I read it as 10 days, not split between the two cities, but as ten additional days in which to visit another place after seeing Bologna and before seeing Barcelona. 10 days in addition to time already allotted to Bologna and Barcelona, but you do not say how many days you have in Bologna, so perhaps it is part of the 10 days in Bologna, with 4 more in Barcelona.

Bologna, X Number of days (X + 1 nights)
Travel to yet-to-be-determined place, 1 day
Yet-to-be-determined place, 10 full days (11 nights)
Travel to Barcelona, 1 day
Barcelona, 4 days (5 nights)

So, X days in Bologna + 1 day to travel + 10 days unplanned + 1 day to travel to Barcelona + 4 days in Barcelona?

Others are reading it as a total of 10 days with days divided between Bologna and Barcelona. If that is the case, then clearly, there is no time for another country. I would give 5 days to Bologna, day to travel to Barcelona, 4 days to Barcelona.

Perhaps you mean, 10 full days from arrival in Bologna, + 4 more days in Barcelona. In that case, spend the 10 days in Italy, but not all in Bologna.

Please make it absolutely clear for best advice.

SusanP

Everyone seems to be giving advice based on Bologna and Barcelona being part of the ten days. From what blue1 says, I thought that she means they have ten days in addition to their time in Bologna and Barcelona. She says they have four days in Barcelona after they get there and ten full days in between the two cities.

Sassafrass

Of course, each has many other things, but the focus of:
Florence is Renaissance Art & architecture, art museums, churches
Area of Tuscany outside of Florence is walled cities, countryside, food
Rome is Art, Churches, Roman history, archeological sites, art museums, food

Why did you choose Bologna?
Tuscany (outside of Florence) seems a better match for your interests, but March will still be chilly and rainy.

annhig

I think that the first thing to do is to jettison the idea of fitting in as many different sights as possible. In 10 days there is no way you can see everything that there is to be seen in either of these two cities, let alone both of them AND places in-between. And of course Rome is an obvious destination but that begs the question why, if you wanted to go to Rome, not just fly there in the first place? I'm still not clear whether your flights are already booked, and having reread your OP I'm more confused than I was about how many days you've got. Are the 4 days in Barcelona on top of the 10day or part of it? A train to Rome from Bologna typically takes about 2 hours, add to that the time needed to get to the station in Bologna and the time needed to get to and check into your hotel in Rome and that's the morning gone. You could conceivably add in Florence by getting a very early train there from Bologna [about 40 mins] and then spending the day there, getting an early evening train to Rome which will take just over 1 ½ hours. Doable but absolutely not with a small child in tow.

blue1

Hi everyone,
Still much appreciate the feedback and your patience.
Here is the itinerary to help with the confusion:

• arrival in Bologna - 2 full days
• 10 additional full days of exploring
  • possibly driving or taking train through Tuscany to Rome
  • connecting Bologna to Barcelona through southern France
  • other option
• arrival in Barcelona - 4 full days

I've considered Dolomites and southern Portugal because of nature but they seem impossible to pull off. As mentioned, all recomendations for the best use of our time welcomed. Bologna and Barcelona are set as destinations and could use specific recommendations for them as well. I am also reading other threads. As mentioned we would appreciate nature over architecture (apologies if that is ignorant), would skip shopping, but food is not to be missed.

bilboburgler

so basically a holiday of 16 days of which 4 are in Barcelona

Option 1
Bologna and environs train
Rome fly
Barcelona

Option 2
Bologna and environs train
train via Genoa/Marseille/Nice/Girona/Narbonne/Girona train
Barcelona

There are so many great places worth visiting. Ravenna, Florence are world class

Traveler_Nick

South of France end of March wouldn't be my first or second choice. Okay Nice is great but if you're expecting outdoor beach weather know that the Med is not tropical. If it was me I'd fly from Nice to Barcelona. Summer fine plenty of places to stop in between. Montpellier,Sette and I'm sure plenty of others but March?

Also if by nature you mean mountains a car would make life easier. But end of March weather can be changing. This year sounds like the ski season is a dud across Europe but even so March isn't really hiking the high Alps weather.

blue1

Very helpful to know about the weather. We are coming from a dry Mediterranean climate and usually spoiled with decent weather in March.

Sounds like Italy - south and west of Bologna - are recommended over other options. I am assuming the weather will treat us a little better in Tuscany & Rome?

I will start building an itinerary; please keep the ideas coming. So far it looks like:

Bologna - 2 days
drive or train to Florence
Florence 2 days, Tuscany small towns based on recommendations - 3 days, and Rome 4 days
flying to Barcelona (I am assuming we should NOT do the ferry?)
Barcelona - 4 days
Is Valencia worth visiting or should we just stick to Barcelona?

bilboburgler

Sounds like Italy - south and west of Bologna - are recommended over other options. I am assuming the weather will treat us a little better in Tuscany & Rome?

not really

You keep thinking in big distances
The logical amazing places near Barcelona are Girona, Figueres,
Valencia is at least a 7 hour round trip from Barcelona why would you do that on holiday?

Traveler_Nick

March is famous for being unpredictable. In general Rome is great but some years snow. Some years beach weather. Florence tends to be cooler but it depends on what you're doing. Plenty of indoor things to see . The Tuscan countryside ? It's still winter.

No ferry unless you're being punished. Read the reviews. The ferry is expensive,long and not that comfortable. The flight is short,cheap and nice enough for two hours.

Love both Barcelona and Valencia. Question is more do you have enough time.