Night train from Barcelona going to Cinque Terra?

To be bluntly honest.....rail connections between Spain through southern France to Italy are atrocious. There is no overnight train. Any train journey from Barcelona will take you between 23 and 28 hours, involve anywhere from 4 to 8 transfers, and only one will give you any sort of proper sleeping accommodations...for an entire hour and a half. Most also involve a couple of hours' wait in a deserted train station in the early morning hours as you make one or more of the connections. If you have no plans to stop anywhere in southern France, forget the train, hope a Vueling flight to Rome, and work north from there.

Thank you Norm, Very helpful tip.

Take a look at Elipsos, which has night trains from Barcelona to Milan. http://www.elipsos.com/htm/default.htm?lang=3 Given that route is 14.5 hours and then you still need to get to CT, a flight might be a better option.

Thank You all. Because of your advise I found a flight from Barcelona to Milan for USD$25.00 one way using Easy Jet.
I also went ahead and found a trip from Rome to Paris for $45.00. Now instead of an Euro rail pass I am getting an Italian Pass and maybe anothe cheap flight Paris Barcelona. Thanks again.

I'll add to Steve's comments. If you have an Italy railpass, you will have to buy seat reservations for any trains that require them. For EuroStar Italia trains the reservation fee is €10. For IC trains it is €3. If a particular route requires making a connection and both legs are on EuroStar Italia trains, that trip will cost you €10 for each leg. Seat reservations are not possible on regional trains so you can jump on and off them at will.

To sum it up: Point-to-point tickets in Italy are nearly always cheaper than a railpass. Seat reservations, when required, are included in the cost of the ticket. However, you need to go to trenitalia.com, check the fares for all your routes, and do the math. Because Trenitalia has raised its fares for EuroStar Italia trains, a pass might be a good deal, even with the €10 reservation fee, if you will be taking lots of rides on those high-speed trains. If you'll be riding IC trains and regional trains as much as EuroStar Italia trains, then point-to-point tickets will definitely be cheaper. Tickets on regional trains are dirt cheap.

glad to hear you found good flights! As a RS-style traveler, I hope you're going light on the luggage. The discount carriers charge steeply for checked luggage in excess of their allowance, and also restrict the weight of carry-on. Its not a big deal if you know in advance and plan accordingly, just don't want you to face expensive surprises.

Again, you have not idea how your advise have lift a weight off my shoulders. We are indeed taking just a backpack to Europe and I will save a lot because of your input. Any good ideas about France? Javier