Barcelona to Carcassonne - one day?

[dalgirl]

We have been to Barcelona several times and are thinking of renting a car in Barcelona (Sunday) and heading up the coast to Carcassonne in France for the day round trip. Is this a bad/crazy idea?

[6rugrats]

Driving time alone will be ~three hours each way. Only you can answer if you would enjoy this.

[dalgirl]

Love the siteseeing, so that is not a problem. I guess it all depends on car rentals on Sundays - and the fact that it will be October.

[lalique]

Love the siteseeing, so that is not a problem. I guess it all depends on car rentals on Sundays - and the fact that it will be October.

Carcassonne is amazing. If you have done Barcelona and feel you have the time to go to Carcassonne you should do it. Spent a month travelling in France a few years ago and Carcassonne was one of the highlights.

[moyaroo]

My only concern with your idea is distance. If you want something different from Barcelona, less crowded and yet truly historic go to Tarragona SW of BCN on the coast. Along the way stop in Sitges sometimes crowded but quite nice and IIRC the home of Gaudi.

[dalgirl]

Mom is set on day trip into France - she is so excited, and we are old road warriors (one week and over 1000 miles on a rental car in Montana a few years ago) that a day trip of 6 to 8 hours is not that bad. We have moved the date to Sat before we cruise and are thinking of just going into Perrignan with a stop by the Dali museum in Figueres. Any thoughts on this plan?

[moyaroo]

Perpignan was one of my alternates for Carcassone. Lovely town, had the best paella there a few years ago.

[dalgirl]

moyaroo - Glad to here. Do you remember any not to miss in the area or the restaurant? We have booked the car - 9am to 11pm so depending on jet lag and weather, we are ready to take to the open road for an adventure (GPS included, of course;)) And the best is that we are using the Hertz at the rail station, so no cabs needed, just the metro which is right outside our hotel.

[Hlitner]

Perpignan is an OK sea resort kind of city and it certainly would fit your idea of getting into France. That being said, in October it will be out of season and not a very exciting place. As to Carcassone, it is a very interesting town and, if you really like long drives, you could pull it off. But keep in mind that much of the drive to Carcassone is on toll roads which will add about 50 Euros to the cost of the drive (round trip).

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

Thanks Hank - we really don't mind long drives if the weather is fine (as we hope) and the scenery is beautiful. My first preference is Carcassone. Having experienced the French coast before in Oct and Nov. I suspected that it would be slow. Thanks for the heads up on the toll costs, we were expecting them, but as US tolls are usually a few dollars, 50 euros total is definitely Yikes! I will be sure to carry plenty of cash and not let DH know about the 50 euros in tolls. I don't want Mom's heart broken if he tries to back out. Do we need coins, bills, credit? I want to be prepared.

[Hlitner]

Regarding the tolls, I usually just hand them a credit card and never look at the cost (until I get the bill). However, keep in mind that US credit cards will often not work in the automated toll machines (many of the machines only accept Chip/PIN cards) so its wise to always choose a lane that has a human in the booth. Enjoy the trip and make sure you have Cassoulet while in Carcassone. I personally am not a big fan of Cassoulet, but it's one of those things you must do!

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

Hank - Casoulet is one of our favorites - I will certainly try it. And we have run into the credit card issues before and take several different cards to cover all basis. DH is allergic to reviewing vacation statements, so we should have a wonderful day - thank you for the tips.

[Hlitner]

Hank - Casoulet is one of our favorites - I will certainly try it. And we have run into the credit card issues before and take several different cards to cover all basis. DH is allergic to reviewing vacation statements, so we should have a wonderful day - thank you for the tips.

 

Ok, now you gave me an opening to repeat a tale of woe about using credit cards. Two years ago we rented a flat in St Remy and had some visitors arriving from the US. We had to pick them up at the TGV station in Avignon. So we drove to the station and parked our car in the large pay parking lot. When we returned to the car (with our friends) we drove to the parking lot exit which was a long lane (lined on both sides with barriers) that took us to the automatic gates. The only way to open these gates was with a credit card or a validated parking ticket (you had to go to an office near the station to get a parking ticket validated). When we reached the gates I inserted my credit card and it was rejected. I then tried two other credit cards and they were both rejected. Our friend gave us 5 more credit cards,.,,all of which were rejected. None of these cards had the European Chip/PIN. At that point there were about 20 cars lined up behind us who were not pleased. I finally pushed the emergency button and the next thing is I get a clerk on a two-way speaker who asks me (in French) what is my problem. Our French is not good but we were able to explain the problem. The clerk then told us we should back up and go to the office to get a validated parking card (we did have cash). I tried to explain there were over 20 cars behind us and we could not back up. The clerk, rather then just letting us out of the lot and writing off the 2 Euro bill) told us we had to get the other cars to move out of our way. It took about 10 min, working like a traffic cop, to get each car in the queue to back up so we could get out of the line. By the time we got to the office our 2 Euro tab was now 4 Euros :(. And somewhere in France there are about 20 drivers who are still talking about the stupid American!

 

Hank

[TLCOhio]

Ok, now you gave me an opening to repeat a tale of woe about using credit cards. Two years ago we rented a flat in St Remy and had some visitors arriving from the US. We had to pick them up at the TGV station in Avignon. So we drove to the station and parked our car in the large pay parking lot. When we returned to the car (with our friends) we drove to the parking lot exit which was a long lane (lined on both sides with barriers) that took us to the automatic gates. The only way to open these gates was with a credit card or a validated parking ticket (you had to go to an office near the station to get a parking ticket validated). When we reached the gates I inserted my credit card and it was rejected. I then tried two other credit cards and they were both rejected. Our friend gave us 5 more credit cards,.,,all of which were rejected. None of these cards had the European Chip/PIN. At that point there were about 20 cars lined up behind us who were not pleased. I finally pushed the emergency button and the next thing is I get a clerk on a two-way speaker who asks me (in French) what is my problem. Our French is not good but we were able to explain the problem. The clerk then told us we should back up and go to the office to get a validated parking card (we did have cash). I tried to explain there were over 20 cars behind us and we could not back up. The clerk, rather then just letting us out of the lot and writing off the 2 Euro bill) told us we had to get the other cars to move out of our way. It took about 10 min, working like a traffic cop, to get each car in the queue to back up so we could get out of the line. By the time we got to the office our 2 Euro tab was now 4 Euros :(. And somewhere in France there are about 20 drivers who are still talking about the stupid American! Hank

 

THANKS, Hank, for sharing this story! It's a classic. Hopefully, you can laugh about it now.

 

Barcelona is a wonderful city. Lots to see and do there. Many great option for southern France. It's just that question on the timing trade-offs as to whether it will be worth it to drive all of those distances and back; plus Barcelona traffic. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Recently back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 35,967 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[dalgirl]

Hank - I shudder to think of that happening on this trip - but those kinds of things do make for great stories:) I will call my credit card companies before we leave to see if any of them have the chip/pin. I think if that happened to someone in front of me in the US that I would pay for them to get out of the car park - so much less stressful for everyone... but you were in France;) Which reminds me of the time that I took an "unauthorized" photo of a fruit shop in Paris...... LOL

[Hlitner]

Hank - I shudder to think of that happening on this trip - but those kinds of things do make for great stories:) I will call my credit card companies before we leave to see if any of them have the chip/pin. I think if that happened to someone in front of me in the US that I would pay for them to get out of the car park - so much less stressful for everyone... but you were in France;) Which reminds me of the time that I took an "unauthorized" photo of a fruit shop in Paris...... LOL

 

If you find a major Chip/PIN in the US please post it here. We have looked all over and it does not seem to exist other then the pre-loaded card sold by Travelex (not a good deal).

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

Hank - It seems that capital one is again giving travelers the best deals - http://chip.capitalone.ca/index

 

We have their card, but I am going to make sure we have the chip/PIN before we leave and that it works in the EU.

 

I will report back.

[Hlitner]

Hank - It seems that capital one is again giving travelers the best deals - http://chip.capitalone.ca/index

 

We have their card, but I am going to make sure we have the chip/PIN before we leave and that it works in the EU.

 

I will report back.

 

That is terrific news! We also have one of their cards and love using it outside the US because they are one of the few credit card companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee. I am going to call them today and find out about swapping my card for their new Chip/Pin card...and will pray that their Chips work in Europe.

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

Some bad news from CapitalOne. Their new Chip/PIN card seems to only apply to Canadians at the current time. I spoke to their rep on the phone and, after she checked, she told me they were not issuing that card to US cardholders. Go figure.

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

DH just got off the phone with them and they told him that Cap One is in the process of getting the chip into the US cards for their customers and will mail them out as they are changed. So when I get my new cards I will let everyone know. It is crazy that we don't have this system already, it is suppose to be safer.

[Hlitner]

Well, CapitalOne cannot do this fast enough for me. We use their card (almost exclusively) when outside the US because everyone else charges a ridiculous 2.5% - 4% transaction fee. I have ranted and raved with AMEX on several ocassions that they need to drop this fee. Of course AMEX's answer was that I should get a Platinum card which has no foreign exchange fee. Of crouse that card costs over $450 a year...but that is another story :)

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

I wanted to report back that we did take a day out of Barcelona to drive to Carcassonne France - it was an easy drive and well worth the visit. In fact, I can say that we enjoyed Carcassonne as much as any of the excursions on previous trips along the coast of France - the weather was fine, the walled city was impressive and the stroll around the shops and restaurants very pleasant. A big thank you to Hank for his encouragement to go out on our own for the day trip.

[Hlitner]

Way to go dalgirl! Did you get a chance to try some Cassoulet while in Carcasonne? And just imagine what this single day excursion might do to your future trips. There are just so many darn options for cruisers that expand their horizons beyond the normal excursions.

 

Hank

[dalgirl]

Hank - we did not get a chance for the Cassoulet, but we had fine bagguet sandwiches, wine, croissants and chocolats (a must when we travel to France). My dear mother can't stop thanking us for the trip- and France was one of the highlights:) This is our second time to be adventurous and rent a car in Europe - our hope is to take a land trip by car through Spain, France and into Italy - we have definitely been seduced by the "call of the road." DH has even gotten the GPS maps for Europe - very handy while driving in Barcelona traffic - or finding our way back on foot to the hotel after getting happily lost in the city:)

[Hlitner]

Hank - we did not get a chance for the Cassoulet, but we had fine bagguet sandwiches, wine, croissants and chocolats (a must when we travel to France). My dear mother can't stop thanking us for the trip- and France was one of the highlights:) This is our second time to be adventurous and rent a car in Europe - our hope is to take a land trip by car through Spain, France and into Italy - we have definitely been seduced by the "call of the road." DH has even gotten the GPS maps for Europe - very handy while driving in Barcelona traffic - or finding our way back on foot to the hotel after getting happily lost in the city:)

 

Ahhh, I sense some converts to independent travel. This opens up the entire world which exists beyond myoptic excursions. Once you start thinking outside of that "tour box" encouraged by tour companies and cruise lines the options are endless. For example, a couple of years ago we rented an apartment in St Remy (France) for a couple of weeks and had an amazing time. Or doing long driving trips such as from Paris to Rome can be so much fun. Its just a matter of finding the time, money, and spirit of adventure :) We still love combining land travel (normally rental cars) with cruises since it gets us the best of both options.

 

Hank