Recommendations for Travel between Northern Italy and Costa Brava/Barcelona
 

Hello! I am planning a trip through Europe March 18 - 29th. We are arriving in Naples and then departing from Barcelona. As of right now, this is our current itinerary:

Naples - 1 day
Rome - 3 days
Florence - 1 day
Nice - 2 days
Girona - 1 day
Barcelona - 3 days

I know it looks a bit strenous in some areas, but we are two 20-somethings (and also my boyfriend's first time in Europe), so we have the stamina to withstand a little more rigor in our schedule. We are currently planning to travel to each location by train.

The area of my itinerary I am currently struggling with is from Florence through to Girona. Currently, we have Nice as our stopping point between Italy and Spain due to the ease of travel there by train. My question is - are there other areas in the South of France we should be considering instead? Or are there other areas in France or Italy that we should consider instead and fly into Barcelona and skip Girona or just do a day trip there? Since we will be doing so much traveling, I am hoping to have the time spent in this 2-3 day period with as little travel as possible, so I would want to really hunker down in that city and enjoy it. We also will be going in March, so still a bit cold for this area as well.

For reference - as far as our activity preferences, given the amount of museums/art we are seeing in other areas of our trip, we are hoping to do more general sight-seeing, exploring and enjoying the local culture/food over visiting museums.

Any suggestions would be VERY much appreciated!!!

You really only have 1/2 to 3/4 of a day in Florence - which is no time at all if you plan to visit any museums.



From Florence to Nice, there is a train that departs at 9:00am & arrives at 4:00pm - with one train change. By the time you check into your hotel in Nice & "ready to go" - it will be 5PM. So you really have only 1 day in Nice. Don't look for anyplace else in the South of France - Nice will be your best bet in March


There are really no reasonable train schedules to Barcelona from Nice - all in excess of 10 hrs with multiple train changes. I certainly would skip Girona - no good train schedules there either. Fly from Nice to Barcelona (I did not look up possible air flights.)


Stu Dudley

Yes spending most of your time on trains. I suggest you scrub Spain and just do Naples (maybe 3 nights for day trips to Pompeii and Capri by ferry from Naples.

Add time for Florence.

fly home from Nice though Venice beckons and you could fly home from there.

But, as is you must figure most of a day between each overnight with relocating and all.

For lots on trains and how to book discounted tickets check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

You are all over the place, with more time in transit than time actually seeing anything. You don't really have any time for Florence, and barely any time for Nice or Naples. Forget Girona.

I would spend another day in Naples, take the train to Rome, then fly to Barcelona.

There is also an al-day and overnight ferry from Italy to Barcelona - lots of entertainments on board -could be fun to do once.

That sounds interesting! Do you have any information on that?

You should be struggling with more than just from Florence through to Girona. In order to get:

Naples - 1 day
Rome - 3 days
Florence - 1 day
Nice - 2 days
Girona - 1 day
Barcelona - 3 days

. . . you would need 17 nights . . . Not including your transatlantic travel days. You don't have 17 nights so you need to cut at least two destinations IMO. Sure you are young and can travel fast and don't mind being uncomfortable sometimes. Bu that does not alter the fact the to get 1day in Florence you need 2 nights, and to get 3 days in Barcelona you have to be there 4 nights. etc etc. Unless you have a private helicopter that can pick you up in a city center and drop you i the next city center, you will spend between half and a full day just in transit between locations. You don't have that much time. As it is you are literally spending more time and money traveling between places than being IN most of those places.

Pal -- that ferry won't help the OP in any way since they don't have the time . . .

No, they'd have to drop some place - like Girona - this is if they do their proposed itinerary. And as it travels at night the daytime time should be equal to train time between Nice and Barcelona so I think it could fit in with a little trimming.

We would support the suggestions of others. With your ambitious schedule, we would advise skipping Girona.

I sure would not want to embark on a fast paced trip (on trains for 2-7 hrs on some days) - then take a night boat trip where I might not be able to sleep to "catch up" on some needed rest for my too-fast-paced "vacation".

Have you considered flying to Spain?

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! We've removed France from our trip altogether. We added a night in Florence and will be flying from there to Barcelona.

Much better! You might consider trimming elsewhere, too. ;-)