transit options from Barcelona to Cinque Terra

Possibly check skyscanner.net for flights from Barcelona to Milan then train to Cinque Terre? I see that both easyjet and ryanair fly direct for US$29 or US$39...plus all the other probable fees.

Kathy, The method I'd use on that trip is a budget air flight from Barcelona / BCN to Milan / MXP, and then train to the Cinque Terre. For example, EasyJet has four flights a day, with prices currently as low as €26.99 PP. There will of course be a few "fees" added to that, starting with an "Admin. Fee" of €11 per booking. However it will likely still be considerably cheaper than taking the train. A couple of points to note. Budget airlines don't usually allow pre-sellection of seats, so you may have to be prepared to sit separately during the flight. However, I recall reading that EasyJet is trying reserved seats now (for a fee of course), so be sure to look for that during booking. If you think your luggage might be over the allowable limit, it's cheaper to pay the overweight charges at the time of booking rather than at check-in. Finally, many budget carriers only allow ONE carry-on item each. That doesn't mean "one plus a personal item such as a Purse", it means ONE ONLY of the approved size! You'll probably arrive at MXP Terminal 2. From there you can take the Malpensa Shuttle to Milano Centrale (€7.50, about 50-minutes). If you can connect with a direct train, the travel time from Milan to Monterosso will be about 3-hours. If you happen to connect with one of the trains that has a change in Rapallo, the travel time will be about 3.5 hours. I used Monterosso as the destination, since you didn't specify which town you'd be staying in. Travel time is not long between the villages. Happy travels!