southern France and Barcelona

If you pick up a car in one country and drop it off in another, you will pay a hefty drop off fee. If you want to have a rental car in Provence so you can easily get to smaller towns and villages, drop it off on the French side of the border--Perpignan probably would work well--and take the train to Barcelona.

"Southern France" covers a lot of territory so how long it will take to get to Barcelona depends on from where you will depart.

You could fly to either Marseille or Montpellier. In either case I think you would have to change planes in Paris.

Marseilles Provence Airport (MRS) is an airport for you to consider if you want to fly into "Provence" (a large area). To do Provence you need a car if you want to get into the country, however the main cities of Avignon, Arles, Nimes, and Aix-en-Provence are well connected by rail. And I agree with your thinking that late December is not the best time to see Provence, but it can be done, many sights will be on shorter hours and it will get dark well before 5pm.

Unless things have changed, there are big fees for renting in France and dropping off in Spain, so I'd look at a train for that part of your trip.

You can fly into Toulouse if you want to spend all your time in the SW, or into Marseilles if you'd like to spend a few days in Provence. It would be helpful to have a car in France, and, that time of year, a Plan B for inclement weather.

Have a great two weeks!

Yes, I agree, renting a car from one place and dropping it off in a different one will cost you big bucks.Plus the high cost of gas in Europe.
Train is an option. Also check out skyscanner.com .It allows you to search for low price flights allover Europe, but you will need to book in advance.
Good airports in Southern France to fly out are Nice and Marseille.

Hi Angel. I'd fly into Nice and hit Provence if you can on your way down to Spain. The distances aren't that far and I think Nice is a fabulous area. You can tie things together as you drive - there's a "Grand Canyon" as you head out of the Riviera on the way to Provence. Just depends where you want to focus.

I lived in Nice, France for a year and also in Barcelona for 4 months....I loved Barcelona...the architecture! But more than that, loved travelling all thru Southern France. I'd fly into Nice....there are so many small fab towns near Nice...especially Monte Carlo....(which is a seperate principality).
LA Turbie, Eze, Bealieau,Antibes,Cannes, all have old towns and so charming. Two weeks visiting these towns and more via bus from Nice would be a wonderful way to spend two weeks.

I always think it best to stay off long haul trains (France to Barcelona) and spend that time visiting wonderful villages. Bus trips are usually 20 min from Nice and Oh La La, what a time you will have!
Also, check out www.couchsurfing.com...you can stay for free and meet some wonderful French people that way.