Shopinpat

We have just returned from London and a cruise in southhampton. We absolutely loved staying at the Hilton in Terminal 4 at Heathrow what a great Hotel. We also used Smith transportation to get to and from Southhampton and can not say enough good things about them. We also used a car hire from the Hilton Hotel and it was a wonderful way to see a lot more of London! The name of the company was A 2 Z Heathrow Cars the driver was fantastic. We found it much quieter to stay outside the city and use a car hire.

It was wonderful. If you can do the Thames 1 hour cruise it was so informational.

Good Luck have a great time.

I have been in touch with Smith's and they are very easy to contact and response is quick. Will be using them in July.

Nice to hear, thank you

Brell,

HEading to Iceland (REY) before cruise and was wondering what your exchange rate is in Iceland.

Here in the States our $1.00 is showing 1.07 for Iceland $. Is it easier to exchange in Iceland or

do it here in states.

Thanks

Pat

Does anyone know the name of company that does carriage rides and is it possible to order one at the port?

thanks London Tower! Really some great stops. I hope we can stop at all of them they look wonderful.

Thanks

Pat

Thanks all.

Does anyone know of any nice place to stay on the outskirts of Valencia or somewhere close to where the Lladro factory is?

We are also trying to figure out some stops between Madrid and Valencia and Valencia and Barcelona.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

Pat

Thanks All.

We live in a major city in the states so driving is the same.

We were thinking of getting a car in Madrid then leavening the same day and driving to Valencia and possible staying outside of the city with the car, doing some sightseeing and then driving to Barcelona and returning the car right away.

Anyone have any must see stops along the routes mentioned or any winery stops along the way, plus possible B&B to stay at outside of Valencia?

Any info appreciated.

Thanks for the info.

Yes we are just trying to get a feel of the country by driving from town to town. I am looking into Auto Europe.

I know all you travelers can help me with this question. We would like to rent a car from Madrid and drive to Valencia Spain spend a couple of days there and then head to Barcelona. If I have read correct it is about a 200 mile for each portion of the trip. Can someone tell me about the roads and the scenery if we do drive to these locations. We love doing the back roads and stopping along the way. Any info appreciated. We are looking to do this in September 2016. Any good car rental choices???

Thanks

thanks All. It is my understanding that the train tickets change prices all the time. Based on how many tickets have been sold also popular days.

Colorado cruiser was the train ride worth it? I know I have read you do not see much. Just wondering

Thanks Again

The air route between Madrid and Barcelona is still the busiest single air route in Europe, but did see a reduction of 34% with the arrival of the high speed rail connection to Barcelona in 2008.

 

While I have nothing against the trains, they sell out more frequently than the air routes and are often quite a bit more expensive. Do not think you avoid crowds by taking the trains and Spanish train station do have security similar to the airports.

 

Another fact is that passengers on the 'Puente Areo' or 'Air Bridge' between Madrid and Barcelona can access a separate security and with the fact that airports in Spain are fully staffed the wait time is relatively much less than in some other countries. The airport also has more to do after one has cleared security.

 

On popular train routes they will add trains up until the day before, meaning that inventory is constantly increasing and you can have 3 trains operating on the same track for one departure time. This can lead to incredibly long walks to your seat if you depart at such a peak time. This is only a problem at the origin train station.

 

Another factor that has influenced me greatly has been the addition a couple of years ago of the 30 Euro set fare to Barajas Madrid Airport from any location in the city center, which means I do not need to make my way to the Atocha train station by rail or subway or taxi and can just leave directly from where I am to the airport. There is also a light rail connection from Atocha, Sol or Recoletos to Terminal 4 and the metro is quick from Nuevos Ministerios to Terminal 2, 3 and 4.

 

I probably fly on this route 90% of the time still myself, while others prefer the city to city connection. Trains arrive at Sants Train station in Barcelona and I just prefer to take the 5.90 Aerobus directly to the city in Barcelona. The busses leave every 5 minutes to the city.

 

So, air or train is still a personal preference. The airport does have baggage storage with a per day fee as well and I often leave bags at Madrid airport and then pick them up prior to my flights.

 

The best website for Madrid is esmadrid.com that will include all tourist sites along with event schedules for just your dates.

 

The Art Triangle of museums would be my personal favorite recommendation, but you have an incredible amount to see in Madrid at any time of the year.

Thanks Madflyer. I guess it just seemed a bit confusing with the trains however we may just try and figure it out when we get to Madrid. It did seem like it could be more expensive to take the train then fly. Our final destination is Barcelona. I will check out the web site.

Will put the Art Triangle of museums on my list.

Can anyone tell me if it would be better to fly from Madrid to Barcelona or take the fast train.

It appears I am having difficulty trying to find out prices and times that the trains go also what train station would I have to get on in Madrid and where to get off in Barcelona. I have also read that the prices very on the trains so much I was not sure when was the best time to buy tickets. It seems a bit confusing to me can someone help.

Air fare seemed reasonable too.

Does anyone have a must see things to do in Madrid?

Any help appreciated

Thanks

Madflyer you are always so informative.

I have an additional question regarding renting an apartment in Barcelona.

Do you know if there are hidden or additonal fees once you book an apt?

I have read about a lot of unhappy people once they got to Barcelona. I am hoping that this is just a few people trying to make a large profit.

Do you know of reputable companies that rent apts? Or blan2 are you willing to share who you used to rent this apt?

Thanks All

pat

Thanks All,

I have lots of planning to do. Is renting a car a good option.

If I wanted to also take in the wine area would renting a car be an option with the road conditions?

Again thanks all.

thanks Wowzz.

Would you also spend some time in Madrid ?

I do like going to different less touristy places.

Thanks Madflyer. I have plenty of time to work it all out. Knowing the carriers helps! tHANKS AGAIN.

Thanks Mad Flyer. I do not have round trip flight yet. I was trying to see which would be the best to fly into. I would love to take a train also.

So may be best bet would be fly into Madrid then train to Barcelona and later round trip from Barcelona to Canary Islands than back to Barcelona for flight to US.

Thanks

Pat

We are going on a cruise in Sept 16 and was wondering if anyone can tell me if it would be possible to do Madrid, and Cannary Islands from Barcelona if I can add 7 days to our cruise. How are the flights from Barcelona to Canary Islands and a train to Madrid.

Any advice appreciative.

Pat

We also were just in Montenegro and had a wonderful tour with monttraveler. Diko was a great guide and we were really impressed with

the country and Diko's knowledge of the country. We loved Montenagro

you will not be disappointed.:)

I have been looking towards a chip and pin for a long time. I was told yesterday from Cap 1 that they are working on it.

My other question for all you avid travelers is Have you found that more and more retailers in Europe are charging you a fee if you use a credit card no matter which one you use? Where have you found the best place to exchange money for euros? Is it wise to get it from a bank in the states as opposed to exchanging in europe?

SF49ERS Thanks for the info!

Thanks, sf49ers.

Did you buy anything in the town of budva? I have booked with Diko. He was very quick to answer all emails and seemed like he was pretty much

able to do whatever we wanted. We will be touring with him in Sept.

Just wondering if there were any souvenirs worth noting.

Thanks

sf49ers or maherp,

Can you give some must see's on your tour with Diko, we are thinking about doing the 5 hours tour with him next month and I know he will taylor the tour to ones liking. I understand at least an hour for shopping!

No beach. How long was the drive up the mountain? Shoud we for sure do that or not? Can you tell me about the transportation he uses if for 4 people is it a car or a van? Did you go to lunch? Did you do the tour morning or afternoon?

Thanks

I just want to clarify my situation. Their web site said mini-van and that was what I ordered. When I got the confirmation it said sedan. When I questioned them I was told that a mini-van would be 50 euros extra. I actually had a screen shot of the website that showed mini-van. After I questioned it the website was changed to sedan. I would assume if your confirmation that you received from them said mini-van that is what you would get. Maybe they had too many people making reservations and they didn't have enough mini-vans for everyone or they figured out they could get a higher price for them. Even though I have never toured with them I don't think I would worry if your confirmation says what you in fact ordered.

 

Just for the record, I know all of you are very satisfied with the services you have received from them and i am sure they are very good, but with what happened to us we decided to tour with another company in all 4 ports. The company we chose also comes very highly recommended on trip advisor and my travel agent.

Thank you mfanderso for clarifying. You could very well be right about the possibility that they were overbooked and did not have a van. I did notice that the price has changed on the web site. I will also confirm with them that we will have a van and I will go from there based on what is said. Thanks for sharing what happened to you as I do believe that is the purpose of this site. Thanks Again

Your post comes across as a bit hostile. I know email does not always reflect someone's tone. But if you check Trip Advisor, there are currently 2,274 positive reviews on their services which proves my point. I am confident that Jany will sort this out for you.

Sure felt the hostility came from two previous posts! I am not trying to questions their services, just trying to find out if ANYONE ELSE had the problem of getting a quote and later having that changed. That was my question. But thanks for the info on the # of positive reports!

So, has anyone else had a problem with getting a different mode of transportation than they previously booked from RIL?