TS,

I will be traveling to Barcelona in October and am looking for a cool 1-2 day side trip to the boarder of France along the southern coast of France and am not sure where to start?!

I will be driving there - staying for 2 days - and then driving back to Barcelona for a flight out to Germany. So i dont want it to be too far (maybe 3-4 hours max?)

Any ideas? Is this a good idea to cross over into France and then back again via car?

Thanks a million for any info/ideas!

Jon

 

Marseille which is the closest big city is to far for your purposes. Maybe you can go to Andorra and do some shopping and hiking.

 

Why would you go to Marseille in the first place? LOL

I know this guy who wandered about that area a bit ...
https://teamspeed.com/forums/off-top...ml#post1102229
This is Andorra and whatnot.

https://teamspeed.com/forums/off-top...ml#post1124237
This is the actual coast, with Cadaques.

Not sure what you really fancy, but I absolutely LOVED the mountainey quiet deserted bits. The coast was a bit too populous for my liking.

I can dig up some google maps if you want them.

 

4 hours ??? Monaco!

 

We actually like crowds/shopping/bars and cafes/etc --- any place you would suggest with a nice hotel on the beach within 3ish hours drive north of Barcelona?! THANKS A LOT! (totally should have PMed you too - glad you saw this)




4 hour drive along the coast from Barcelona gets you there? Looks farther...?

 

For the stuff you described, you can not beat Barcelona itself. I spent 4-5 days there a couple years ago, and could've stayed 4-5 WEEKS more!

If you do need to get out, Andorra has pretty good shopping, some good deals, some not so good (for an american, prolly all crap deals ... depending on the euro, haven't checked lately). Pas de la Casa is essentially one giant shopping mall, where Andorra la Viella is slightly more quaint but (I like to think) more quality. The roads and scenery around the area are phenomenal.

There isn't a whole lot in France in that area, if I'm honest. What I found to be the best (for me) was really to ride along the coast, and stop in a random village for a coffee or lunch, nestled in the village bay. It was quite nice. All the cities are pretty much small beach resort type of cities. And in October ... yeah, it's dead.

If you're motivated enough, St Tropez is 600km away. 4h, at 150 average. You won't be seeing much countryside, let's put it that way.

On the other hand, something I missed and will have to go back to is the whole Bilbao area and the Frank O Gehry buildings.
I mean shit ... this is a winery (and hotel)!!!!

It's 4-500km away though, a bit long for a 2 day escapade. I'd still do it! Don't a be a pu$$y.

If you fancy Dali, then you will most likely enjoy a trip to Cadaques (the road leading there is ridiculous ... smooth, curvy coming down on the sea) and the bigger museums in Figueres.

Also keep in mind that the weather in October can be dog$hit. Rain, rain, rain and rain.

 

Amazing info man.

Moral of the story --- Barcelona is the spot for us --- and maybe a few day trips but all the cool stuff is too far. Got it.

Hope the weather is nicer than what you describe. I have been to Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc) the past 3 Octobers and its been AWESOME so is this "rain, rain, rain" you speak of just in this region???

 

Weather is really hot or miss. It could be nice, it could be crap.
That's useless info, now that I re-read what I just typed.

 

Day drinking again?!

No worries man.....glad to have your imput here and will visit your past threads/etc for some ideas. Might just settle into a 5-6 night stay in Barcelona and enjoy that city as much as we can.....Munich for 3 days afterwards will be a nice little change so might not need this "side trip" after alll.....

 

for a couple Barca is way nicer anyway..
there a tons of nice things to see...romantic spots,colorful markets etc

all the hassle of driving/time pressure etc would just have taken away from the experience