Nice to Barcelona

Hi Sushy, you do not want to pick up a car in one country and drop it off in another. It’s similar to the US meaning it costs a fortune to rent in one state and drop it off in a different state. Instead you can fly from Nice to Barcelona for as low as $37. The down side is, if you check a bag, it may cost more than the price of the ticket. Consider packing light and doing laundry.

I agree about not picking up and dropping off in different countries unless money is truly no object. You can drop the car somewhere on the French side of the border, take a train across (to Figueres for the Dali Museum or Girona, perhaps) and then on to Barcelona. Perhaps you won't need or want a car in Spain at all? Places like Aix-en-Provence and Arles are very well served by trains. Unless you want to see some tiny villages, a car may not be helpful to you.

There are nearly unending possibilities for stops (overnight or otherwise) between Nice and Barcelona. For that matter, there are lots of interesting towns right near Nice that are most easily visited by train or local bus (no parking issues that way). Nice itself can fill a few days, especially if you like art, because it has at least 6 art museums.

I'd suggest starting with Rick's guide book to Provence and the French Riviera, which has more-detailed information about that part of France than the general "France" book. See what places intrigue you.

We can help more if you tell us what types of things you like to see and do as tourists (art museums, historical museums, markets, small villages, larger towns, wine tourism, historical sites, etc.). If scenery is especially important, you might go to the viamichelin website and plot your route. If you zoom way in, the most scenic roads will be marked in green. As you can see, there's not necessarily a road right along the coast, and most of the green roads run perpendicular to the coast rather than along it. It looks as if some of the best coastal scenery lies just north and south of the border.

I'd recommend that you rent your car in Nice and drop it off in Avignon. If Avignon isn't on your itinerary, consider dropping it in Arles or Aix, Nimes or Marseille; depending on your car company, they may well have offices there. You'll still pay a one-way drop off charge, but it's not as much as the international fees, which in my view aren't really that bad--couple hundred dollars. It's doable, especially if you're flying open-jaw. Of course, it depends on your budget and how much trouble you want at borders and driving several more hours. We dropped our car in Avignon; from there it was easy to make day trips (easy ones at that, great train schedules) and day tripped to all of the above, as well as Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Pont du Gard. At first we thought we'd drive to Barcelona from Marseille with a detour to Andorra, but it was just too much trouble. From Avignon there is a train which only makes a few stops en route and is quite comfortable. After a week of driving, it was a pleasant change. At the time, the only flight from Marseille (the closest international airport to Avignon and the only in the area) was on Vueling at 10 pm, and we didn't want the airport and taxi hassles in Barcelona at midnight. As for route, we largely followed the RS itinerary, and were satisfied. Driving will take more time than you think. Basing your calculations on viamichelin.com rather than Google maps is a safer bet.

Make sure you include Pont du Gard, Carcassonne and Collioure.

You have two weeks and you will spend 3 or 4 in Nice, and want to include Aix and Arles. As someone else said, there are SO many possible stops, but it sounds like you will have ~7 days remaining. Did you want to spend time in BCN? In that case, I agree with another poster about dropping the car in Arles and catching the train to BCN. You could stop in Figueres and/or Girona, as Acraven mentioned, on the same train route, ending in Barcelona (or dont stop at those, depending on your time and interest). But I agree with losing the car and making a B-line for Spain after Arles

Life does exist west of the Rhone, and you can drop the car in many interesting places on the TGV line, if you want to go directly to Barcelona, or at the border and take a local train from there.

Major cities west of Nimes: Montpellier, Sète, Béziers, Narbonne, Perpignan
Spanish side of the border: Figueras, Gérone, if you want to get off the train to visit

If you drop the car in Perpignan, you could easily visit Collioure first. Or, you would be right next to the local lines that start right over the border from Argèles-sur-mer (if there is a car drop in Argèles). This is a commuter train line that takes two hours to reach Barcelona. It stops in a lot of villages before Barcelona.

Much thanks to everyone for the info provided. Hadn’t really thought much about the rental car drop off, so that’s very good advice. We will actually gecsiendung 4 nights in Barcelona before departing back to the states so I believe our time in the Sourh of France will be well used!

There is a slow route between Nice and Aix that involves taking the A8 until you get to Sainte Maxime and then on to the St. Tropez peninsula (incl Ramatuelle and the beaches), following the D559/D98 and working your way through to Hyeres and Bormes les Mimosa, skipping past Toulon and detouring through to Sanary sur Mer/Bandol, a side trip to Cassis, and then up to Aix. It's a slower route but the shame is there are many beautiful places and side jaunts along the way by getting off the "A50/A570" and venturing closer to the sea via the D routes (D559, D98).

Heading to Aix you can venture north and visit the Luberon valley via Lourmarin to Bonnieux and then head west to Avignon, drop down to Arles (side trip to Les Baux/St Remy) and then west and up to Nimes. Heading west from there you can stop in Montpellier (you can also take a train from here). Perpignan is probably the last town with the big car rental companies where you can drop off and catch the train.

Gooster...thank you! Just about all of the towns you mentioned are on our list. We've driven from Nice to Aix before, but were on a much tighter schedule so we made no additional stops. Thanks so much for valuable info.

We had a one-way rental; after staying for a couple of days in Argeles Sur Mer (lovely town, great riding bikes along the beach area, lovely visit to Collieure), we dropped off the car at Perpignon (Sixt drop off was at a hotel parking garage right next to the train station) and trained into Barcelona. Easy and convenient.

Thank you so much!