Hi - we are planning a visit to Barcelona next July to celebrate our 40th wedding Anniversary. We want to visit "Gaudi" places.
Has anyone been , seen, done that ......... and could perhaps offer advice about transport , links, accomodation etc.......
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

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By the time you've driven to Bordeaux (unless you're near) you could be half way there - well, almost! It's a great drive - lovely trip through the Dordogne. We had a night in Toulouse - wonderful place - then drove on to Barcelona. Because we took the car we stayed outside Barcelona - I'll check where it was - and took the new underground into town. The big advantage of taking the car is that absolutely everything is cheaper in Spain and you can come back loaded up with goodies. We got round just about everything in Barcelona on foot. Drove home in one day - easy drive with a nice break for lunch. If you just search on the internet for hotels Barcelona you will get loads with reviews, including the ones that are just outside.

We stayed in a seaside town Calella which had a train directly into barcelona which ran right along the beach, it took an hour to get into Barcelona and cost about 8 euros. We stayed at a Pension which is like a B and B called La Pekinaire - clean tidy, very well situated to approx 80 bars and Restaurants and te main shopping centre. Breakfast was buffet style and incl in the price with eggs bacon sausages, cold meats, fruit, pastries. Excellent value at 50 euros per night.

We were advised NOT to drive into Barcelona, parking charges ridiculous if you manage to find one !!?. The city is vast !

We got off the train and outside the station are tourist buses. We paid about 22 euros each they take you around all the sites and you can get off at any point you wish and then catch another bus back when you have looked at the gaudi buildings La Ramblas etc., It is really far too much to walk from one attraction to the other.

We flew with Ryanair from Poitiers to Gerona but I think they have stopped running this year.

We had a great time.

Hello, have a look at this thread:

http://poitoucharentes.angloinfo.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=58077

Definitely use public transport to get around - a book of 10 tickets works out very cheaply... we stayed at a mystery hotel booked on lastminute.com - not in the centre but close to a tube station then 30 mins to Las Ramblas etc. It was an amazing 5* hotel (Hesperia Tower) designed by the same architect who did the Lloyds Building, for £70 per night - a memorable place to spend a celebration weekend. However, a bit like Ryanair, the add-ons are very dear - parking or meals are to be avoided!

Don't book direct or it's many hundreds of euros!! Also look on tripadvisor.com to get hotels with guest reviews.

Thank you everyone you have given me lots of leads to chase up.
I see Ryanair flies to Barcelona from Stanstead - I will check next year to see if we could do it that way perhaps???
Al

Ryanair are back flying Poitiers to Barcelona 2012 - that may be closer