Transportation from Barcelona to Nice

There is no night train from Barcelona to Nice only to paris and it is a long journey.

I mentioned in another post that you could take the train from Barcelona to Montpellier (Talgo day train goes direct without having to change) and then from there make your way from Montpellier to Nice. I am not sure if you would have to change trains in between, it would depend on the time.

I've just booked the round trip Barcelona to Marseilles (we're flying in and out of BCN, not open-jaw). Like you, I sought I a night-train, but it seems only to go to Paris.

We change trains in Montpellier, apparently a nice place for the stopover for a couple hours. That could turn out to be a nice thing on the way to Nice. (Our ultimate destination from Bcn is La Ciotat.)

Thank you so much for your replies. I just spoke with Rail Europe and found a train that leaves Barcelona around 5:30PM and arrives in Cerbere around 8:00PM. Then there is a sleeper train that leaves Cebere at 11:55PM and arrives in Nice at 8:40AM the next day.
Although there's a four hour wait in Cerbere, I think this may be the best bet. I figure we can have dinner in Cerbere.
Anyone, know anything about Cerbere? ;)

Your Barcelona-Cerbere-Nice route with the four-hour layover shows on the timetables at www.bahn.de. That site also shows a direct Nice Ville-Venezia Santa Lucia night train leaving at 21:07 and arriving at 07:36.

Although I'd rather take a train than fly any day, I suggest that you at least check out Vueling and easyJet for Barcelona-Nice (via Paris). You can fly from Barcelona to CDG on Vueling and then from CDG to Nice on easyJet. Or you can fly easyJet from Barcelona to Orly and again from Orly to Nice.

Does anyone have more information about when that train from Cerbere to Nice runs?

I need to take an overnight train from Barcelona to Nice on June 20th, and I cant find it on any timetables. I only see reference to it on this site http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/euraide/t5508cer.htm

However when I checked on French railway site, it said their timetables are only valid until June 16, so is it possible it hasnt been posted yet?

The Cerbere-Nice train I mentioned upstream apparently doesn't run every day. After checking the timetables again at www.bahn.de, the best route I found was Barcelona Sants-Narbonne-Toulouse-Nice. The Toulouse-Nice leg is a night train.

Thanks Tim,

I saw that one too, its just a long train ride, but I guess thats what i'll end up doing.

On our recent trip we took the Vueling direct flight between Barcelona and Nice. Is there a reason you don't want to fly? If not, this was very cheap and quick.

Has anyone done this trip, including Melodie? Was it OK? Cost? Where did you buy tickets - online - in Europe?
Appreciate your feedback. My wife & I are going there next year from Australia.

Then we need to get from Nice to Paris. Any ideas?

Thanks.
Every Blessing,
Nick

Nick,

Although I generally prefer trains over planes, I recommend that you fly from Barcelona to Nice on the budget airline Vueling. If you book far enough in advance, it will be much cheaper than the train.

For Nice-Paris your best options are daytime TGVs, the direct night train, and the budget airline easyJet from Nice to either CDG or Orly. If you decide to fly, book well in advance on easyJet to get the cheapest fares. However, for this route I prefer to relax and take the train. Booked well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at www.voyages-sncf.com, you can get discount fares for either the daytime routes or the night train. If you can't handle the French on the SNCF site, go to www.tgv-europe.com, sign in as a resident of Great Britain to get the same discount fares, and choose Great Britain as the country in which you will retrieve your tickets even though you will be picking them up in France. (If you pick France, the site will revert to French.)