Barcelona & France

[SAS21]

My parents and I are taking the Serende TA in April and will be disembarking in Barcelona. They want to travel into France once we disembark.

 

Has anyone here done that, if so what city, and what transportation to get there did you use? We are thinking 2 nights somewhere in France and then return to Barcelona and fly home.

 

I would really appreciate the help, other than cruising we have never done anything like this.

[cberge]

My parents and I are taking the Serende TA in April and will be disembarking in Barcelona. They want to travel into France once we disembark.

 

Has anyone here done that, if so what city, and what transportation to get there did you use? We are thinking 2 nights somewhere in France and then return to Barcelona and fly home.

 

I would really appreciate the help, other than cruising we have never done anything like this.

 

I would highly suggest that you all sit down and decide where in Frnace you want to go first of all.Then decide if the train would do or you would need to fly to the city or area that you pick.Then you will have to fly home from that city say Paris or the South of France so you would need to make you flight reservation accordingly rather than fly or go back to BCN.If you have never traveled like this I would also suggest talking to a good travel agent as they would not charge and could be of great help to you.

[bugeater2]

Agreed,

 

Why would you go to France and then waste precious travel time going back to Barcelona to fly home.

 

Just fly home from whatever city in France you decide to visit.

[dalgirl]

We once did a day trip into France from Barcelona - we rented a car in Barcelona and drove to Carcassonne France. It is a beautiful walled castle and you can stay overnight if you like and drive back to Barcelona to fly home. My Mom wanted to go into France and so that is what we did. It was a long day as we did not stay overnight, but we love car trips and enjoyed the adventure. I am sure Youtube has all kinds of videos of it.

 

If you decide that you would like to visit Paris (which we did with Mom in October), you can easily get a flight on a local airline (we used Easy Jet), fly into Paris for a few days, and fly home from there.

 

Whatever you decide, you will have a wonderful time:)

[Hlitner]

Well, France is a pretty large country (by European standards) so just "going into France" is not very helpful. And getting from Barcelona to many places in France is not as easy as you might expect given your time constraints. This is especially true for Paris which is a long way (via train or car) although you could certainly fly from Barcelona to Paris and spend a couple of days. There are some pretty decent discount European airlines where you can easily get a one-way fare. You could then do an "open jaw" booking by flying into your cruise port and home from Paris (CDG). Another French city with direct flights to the USA is the Nice Cote d'Azur airport which works well for those trying to get home from that part of France. Another option with air is to simply do a "multi-city" booking which often gives pretty decent air fares...as in New Orleans to Barcelona to Paris to New Orleans.

 

Hank

[4774Papa]

We did a river cruise with AMA in SE France (Rhone river) and then a Med cruise out of Barcelona. The AMA tour ended in Barcelona.

 

You have choices.

 

If you want to go to Paris, the high speed rail is complete from BAR to Paris.

http://www.eurorailways.com/premier-trains/pes/barcelona-to-paris.html

 

You can rent a car. There is a lot to see in southern France. I am not sure where you would like to go?

 

Provence is a wonderful place to visit. The Rhone River is loaded with great cities to see, as well as the South of France (on the Med). Also, you can visit Toulouse or Bordeaux, with lots to see in those areas.

 

Bus tours may be available, but it would take a lot of research on your part.

[VMax1700]

A lot of Spanish Car hire insurance contracts only cover driving within mainland Spain. You will need to check if the insurance situation for taking the car to France if you decide to go the car hire route.

Edited February 15, 2014 by VMax1700

[fluffi]

We did a river cruise with AMA in SE France (Rhone river) and then a Med cruise out of Barcelona. The AMA tour ended in Barcelona.

 

You have choices.

 

If you want to go to Paris, the high speed rail is complete from BAR to Paris.

http://www.eurorailways.com/premier-trains/pes/barcelona-to-paris.html

 

You can rent a car. There is a lot to see in southern France. I am not sure where you would like to go?

 

Provence is a wonderful place to visit. The Rhone River is loaded with great cities to see, as well as the South of France (on the Med). Also, you can visit Toulouse or Bordeaux, with lots to see in those areas.

 

Bus tours may be available, but it would take a lot of research on your part.

 

we are doing our 1st barcelonia cruise in oct 2015 need all the tips I can get ,like do we book our hotel on our own how far the port is from the hotel or airport

[cberge]

we are doing our 1st barcelonia cruise in oct 2015 need all the tips I can get ,like do we book our hotel on our own how far the port is from the hotel or airport

 

You have well over a year to decide so I suggest you do some reading on this board for information that other's have done.You cannot book this far out anyway.You need to set a price point for your hotel stay as well if you post the question again.The Hotel Colon is a popular place to stay as well as the Hotel Arts($$$$).The Hotel Colon is right in the Gothic Quarter.Lost and lots of other ideas here as well.

[SAS21]

We once did a day trip into France from Barcelona - we rented a car in Barcelona and drove to Carcassonne France. It is a beautiful walled castle and you can stay overnight if you like and drive back to Barcelona to fly home. My Mom wanted to go into France and so that is what we did. It was a long day as we did not stay overnight, but we love car trips and enjoyed the adventure. I am sure Youtube has all kinds of videos of it.

 

If you decide that you would like to visit Paris (which we did with Mom in October), you can easily get a flight on a local airline (we used Easy Jet), fly into Paris for a few days, and fly home from there.

 

Whatever you decide, you will have a wonderful time:)

 

Thank you! My parents had already booked the flights home before we talked about France. So we are probably renting a car and driving ourselves just into France, probably Perpignan. Just to get a taste of France. Next cruise we can go into France.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Edited February 16, 2014 by SAS21

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We have spent time in Paris and Avignon BEFORE crusing out of Barcelona by taking the train with much success!

 

As your Barcelona flights home are already booked, to make the most of your time you could fly round-trip from Barcelona to Paris or Nice, depending on what you want to see.

 

If I thought it would be my only chance to get to Paris, I'd book flights from Barcelona to Paris after the cruise. I bet you could be in Paris by early afternoon. Enjoy 2 days there, and then fly back to Barcelona to catch your flight home.

 

In my opinion, Paris is worth ANY challenges it takes to get there! HAHA!

 

HAVE FUN!

[4774Papa]

we are doing our 1st barcelonia cruise in oct 2015 need all the tips I can get ,like do we book our hotel on our own how far the port is from the hotel or airport

 

The cruise port is very close to the old city area where Las Ramblas is located. You can actually walk from the area to the ship, but probably would not want to do so with lots of luggage. Near Las Ramblas is the Bari Gothic area, where the old Cathedral is located (not Sagrada Familia).

 

We have stayed in two different hotels on our two different trips to Barcelona. Our first trip we went for bargain prices and were very happy with our hotel near the Diagonal (over a mile from Las Ramblas)

That hotel was the Hotel Astoria. We paid less than 70 Euros per night. It is a nice three star, clean with nice little restaurant.

 

Our second trip, we were on an AMA river cruise tour that started in France and ended in Barcelona. We stayed at the Grand Marina hotel right near the port. It was very expensive, but included in our tour package.

 

Much depends on how much you want to pay and how close to Las Ramblas you want to be.

Barcelona has a great METRO system that we used quite a lot. It is safe to walk the streets, except you need to be aware that pickpocketing is very much a problem there. Wear a money belt.

 

Back to hotels. I used Venere.com website. You can also use Kayak. You can check ratings of the hotels on TripAdvisor, also there is a map feature that allows you to go to other hotels on the map.

[SAS21]

We have returned from our trip and wanted to say Thank you for all the suggestions. Well we made it to France, but in a different way than expected. While checking in to our rented apartment we asked the agent if she knew of any tour guides who went into France. Bingo! EASEETRIP.COM with Federico. He was a great guide he took us to the coastal town of Collioure, France. It has a castle and fort right on the water. We loved it. We drove along the coastal highway to get there starting in Portbou, Spain where we stopped for coffee. A day trip from Barcelona is very doable. We left @9 and was back in Barcelona by 4 including time for lunch in Collioure. I sure wish I knew how to post pictures.

Edited June 24, 2014 by SAS21