how to get from Barcelona to Nice?

First thing, don't use Raileurope. You can look at the schedules using the German rail site www.bahn.com. One issue is that Europe adjusts their rail schedules around June 14. For now, look at the current schedules and assume they will not change a whole lot. The French schedules will be out in a few months. The Italians will wait until the last minute. French site is http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/?DISTRIBUTED_COUNTRY=GB
Use France as the ticket collection country. If you use USA, you'll be bounced back to Raileurope. For Italy, use http://www.trenitalia.com/trenitalia.html. The trick here is to use the "Tutti I Treni" button to view all the trains, since you will need to use a non-high-speed train out of Genoa.
The route from Barcelona to Nice will not habe a lot of options as to best route, take the one that's quickest as it looks to be at least 9 hours.

zosialiv,

On that particular route, I'd suggest focusing on efficiency rather than scenery. While you could travel by train, it will be a LONG day. There's a departure from Barcelona Sants at 09:20, arriving Nice Ville at 19:05 (time 9H:45M, 1 change). That trip is via TGV, which will be one of the quickest trains to use.

OTOH, a much faster method would be to take a budget flight with Vueling, which has a travel time of about 1H:15 (plus the usual check-in, security and other airport routines). It will also probably be a cheaper method of travel. Using an arbitrary date of 14 June, they have flights listed as low as €29.99 PP (plus fees of course), for a departure either at 10:15 or 16:00. The prices will increase as the flight fills, so booking early would be a really good idea. One other point to mention is that tickets on budget airlines are often non-changeable and non-refundable when booked, so choose carefully! Be sure to read the Terms & Conditions prior to booking, especially related to luggage weights.

Getting from Genoa to Venice is very easy. Genoa has a number of rail stations, but using a departure station of Genova Piazza Principe as the departure point and Venezia Santa Lucia as the arrival point, travel time will be about 4.5 hours with one change at Milano Centrale (depending on which train you choose). Reservations will likely be compulsory for trains used on that route, especially the leg from Milano to Venezia which will be Freccia high speed train. Note that you MUST only use the train specified on your ticket (ie: ES-9717) as the reservations are specific to train, date and departure time. Not having valid reservations for the train you're riding on will likely result in hefty fines, which will be collected on the spot!

Although you're not travelling until June, you'll be able to get a reasonably good idea of the train details using either the Trenitalia or Bahn.de websites, by just searching using the same day-of-the-week that you'll be travelling. The schedules likely won't change much.

Happy travels!

I think there are two "best" approaches to this route, really fast or really slow.

Really fast would be by air. The train will take a good 9 hours.

Really slow means making stops along the way, maybe even renting a car once you get to France. A few nights in Languedoc, and as much time as you can in Provence.

I'm guessing you want really fast, but you might consider really slow if you can swing it. It would be a sweet trip.

There is really only one train routing from Barcelona to Nice. Even by bus, the highways won't be too far from the railroad tracks. It's a long day. We've take this run to Nimes. Didn't really pay too much attention to the scenery. It wasn't out of the ordinary. For this segment, you might be much better off flying as suggested above by Sam and Ken. For Nice to Genoa, you're looking at another 2.5hrs on the train and from Genoa to Venice, another 5.0hrs with a train change at Milano Centrale.

www.eurolines.com does seem to have a bus runs between Barcelona and Nice (11hrs) and between Nice and Genoa (2hrs on fastest runs). Here's a link to a screenshot of what I see on the Nice/Genoa run. http://gyazo.com/3102355d0dac4848f70bffba85c30832

Thank you very much for all the insights. Now we can plan our vacation much better thank you, everyone! Also I must ask is it worth staying two nights in Genoa? Never been there, but it seems to be convenient point to travel to Venice from there after. Maybe you can recommend other places better then Genoa to see the Italian Riviera? We have just two nights between Nice and Venice. Thank you very much in advance for all suggestions!

zosaliv,

Genova would not be my first choice for visiting the Italian Riviera. My suggestion would be to either stay in one of the five towns of the Cinque Terre, or perhaps in Levanto. I normally stay in Monterosso when in that area, but everyone here has their own "favourite" of the five towns.

IMO, that will provide a much more pleasant visit to that area.

BTW Vueling has direct flights from Barcelona to Nice for as low as 30 euro although 50 euro is more common. 1 hr 15 min flight.

I found that EasyJet airlines flying from Barcelona to Nice and just bought tickets for 177 Euro for 4 persons, its cheaper then other airlines for June 24, 2014. Thank you for help, everyone!

zosialiv,

Be sure to watch your luggage weights when using budget airlines in Europe. I usually fly with EasyJet once or twice a year, so I'm quite familiar with their policies. One other point to note is that EasyJet typically allows only ONE carry-on item per passenger. That doesn't mean "one plus a personal item such as a purse", it means literally ONE ONLY of the approved size (and they WILL check)!

Hi Ken, Thank you very much for your suggestions about EasyJet luggage policies. Could you help me please, they are listed on their site that you can take one carry on: --- "If you bring a bag no bigger than 50 x 40 x 20cm we can guarantee this size will always travel with you either in the overhead locker or, if necessary, under the seat in front of you." but they never listed how much it should weigh for cabin carry on luggage. Could you tell me please how much weight allowed for cabin luggage on EasyJet flights? Or they just checking size only?

Easy jet says: No weight restriction applies as long as you can place and retrieve the cabin bag safely in the overhead lockers without assistance.

zosialiv,

The information posted by Marco is correct, as that's always been my understanding of the rules (no weight restrictions but the passenger has to be able to lift their luggage into the overhead bins).