That’s a really long train ride. I’d either stop somewhere between Rome & Barcelona to break it up, or fly. What are your interests? A few places I’d recommend to almost anyone would include Barcelona, San Sebastian, Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla (obviously not all of them in 10 days).

Trains are intended for shorter distances. So, traveling from Rome all through France without stopping (except to change trains, which you will have to do at least once [in Marseille]) to Barcelona doesn’t make much sense. Either dedicate some time to explore France too, or just fly from Rome to Barcelona.

Out of 30 days, you’re spending 10 in Spain, and 20 in Italy? Unless you have to be in Italy for 20 days, I would suggest to take at least 5 days away from Italy, and dedicate them to southern France.

I would start by spending 10-15 days in Italy (the fewer days you spend in Italy, the more you want to concentrate on a narrower area, like maybe spending 10 days exploring Rome for 2 days, then Florence and an additional Tuscan town for 2-3 days, possibly a side trip to Umbria for 2-3 days, and Cinque Terre for 2-3 days).

Then, head off to France and explore various points on your way to Spain. I would recommend 8-10 days, maybe break up the commute into an itinerary that roughly looks like this: 2 days in Menton w/side trip to Eze, 2 days in Antibes w/side trip to Nice or Cannes, 2 days in Arles or Nîmes, then 2 days in Carcassonne, and then off for Barcelona to kick off the Spain leg of your trip.

Once in Spain, the sky’s the limit. You can do Barcelona 2-3 days, Madrid 2-3 days, Sevilla 2-3. Or you can do Barcelona-San Sebastián-Madrid. Or Barcelona-Valencia/Altea/Alicante-Madrid. Do a search, as several suggested Spain itineraries have been brought up in past threads.

We’re actually going to Paris, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, and Bruges. Sorry for the confusion. I think we’d rather take the train from Italy to Spain and maybe stop in France, or just keep going. We don’t mind the ride.

Aside from Madrid, my favorite places in Spain are in the North. No, not Barcelona! Bilbao, Santander, the Picos de Europa and West to Santiago de Compostela and coastal Galicia.

No a huge fan of Barcelona…Ronda for the bullfighting, Seville, Granada for the Alhambra, Avila is an outstanding old walled City, Toledo is another great old city

I looked into the Grimaldi ferry, but that would only give us a 20% discount. We’d much rather use our railpass and take the train for “free”! I couldn’t find a website specifically for “fastferry” because when I’d search for it, I’d be directed to the Grimaldi line. So I guess that would be it for the ferries.

Thanks for all the options for cities to visit, everyone!

nanner wrote:

We’re actually going to Paris, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, and Bruges. Sorry for the confusion. I think we’d rather take the train from Italy to Spain and maybe stop in France, or just keep going. We don’t mind the ride.

I usually discourage people from making long train or ferry commutes without breaking up the commute, especially when bypassing several worthwhile places. In France, are you really only interested in seeing Paris? The commute from Rome to Barcelona will be very long, whether you go by ferry or by train. If you go by train, you will be forced to stop at least once [in Marseille] to change trains. If 30 days is the total amount of time for this entire trip, you can certainly rework your itinerary a bit and come up with a few days to rest up in the south of France as you commute from Rome to Barcelona.