travelbug821

I already bought the Railpass thus I'm not interested in taking a Ferry. I'm not quite sure how to get from Cinque Terre to Barcelona? I will rent a sleeper, because the ride takes 14 hours. However, I understand that I will have to get off at the border of France/Spain because of different rail tracks. Does that mean I'm going to get woken up in the middle of the night to switch trains? I'm not sure which train station to take from Cinque Terre and which train station am I arriving at Barcelona?

About flying, there's no flight from Cinque Terre (Genoa) to Barcelona. Thus, I'm not quit sure what the other posters on Fodor are talking about. Please advise if there really is a flight from Genoa to Barcelona.

Thank you all for your time.

PalenQ

Options:

Ferry from Italy to Barcelona - discount fof railpasses.

day train to Nice, night train to Port Bou, train to Barcelona.

Almost impossible to day in day.

Really for questions like this you can call BETS (800-441-9413) and even though you've already bought a pass they will answer questions like this, even though you've bought your pass elsewhere - a very unique service adn unparalleled i think. Which is why i unfallignly recommend them!

GeoffHamer

There are no sleeper trains where you have to change trains in the middle of the night. There are through sleeper trains to Spain; the wheels are adjusted as the train crosses the border. There are also overnight trains that terminate in the morning at Port Bou, the first station in Spain.
From the Cinque Terre, the best option would be the sleeper train leaving Torino Porta Susa at 2117 and arriving in Barcelona Franca station at 0902, which would allow you to sleep all the way through France.
Use www.bahn.de to find connections: enter Monterosso or one of the other Cinque Terre villages as your starting point, and Barcelona as your destination.

travelbug821

Thank you all for your responses. I think I'm going to fly to Barcelona from Milan or something. This is just too complicated.

Dukey

What is "too complicated" about getting oneself to Milan and taking the overnight train from there which arrives in Barcelona the next morning?

jahoulih

Dukey is right. Once you get to Milano Centrale by train from the Cinque Terre, it's a lot easier to board the night train to Barcelona than to get to the airport and take a plane.

The train that GeoffHamer mentioned actually starts at Milano Centrale at 19:50. The only catch is that it's Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights only.

kybourbon

The easiest option would be the overnight ferry from Genoa to Barcelona, especially if you can get a discount for having a railpass.

Flying option would be to backtrack a little by train to Pisa (just as close to Cinque Terre as Genoa) from La Spezia and catch a flight on Clickair to Barcelona or RyanAir to Girona. See www.whichbudget.com for flight links. Train time from La Spezia to Pisa is 50 minutes ES train and 70 minutes R train.

PalenQ

If both Italy and Spain is on a railpass then there is a discount of about 20% on these boats i think.

And there is a new Italy-Spain eurailpass - 2-country pass not including France which you'd be bypassing.