athens vs barcelona march 06
 

Looking for spring break trip (5 nights) with college soph girl and eighth grade boy. Considered Prague due to family origins and recent popularity as a destination-decided too cold. Athens and isles sound interesting w/plenty to do. Barcelona seems interesting also and is considerably cheaper. Wondered if Greece might be better for a June trip at a later date to appreciate the scenery and water more? Been to Rome, London & Paris. Any other suggestions or thoughts, please?

barcelona will still be cold in march.( unless we get heat wave in spain, but you never know).

athens will most likely be very hot in june. it was so hot when i was there i swore i would never go back that time of year or further into the summer.

obviously it will not be a swimming beach trip in either place but i imagine, (not an expert though i have been both places) athens will give you better weather, if that is important.

i don't think you will have much time for more than an overnight on hydra, or something like that, as far as islands go.

i was in athens close to a week and had a great time, also went to hydra for an ovenight ( super inexpensive and fun).

both places would be extremely interesting. hopefully others can give you better reasons.. outside of the weather!!

Barcelona has a great reputation, but I enjoyed Athens more. We were in Athens in October and the weather was wonderful, sunny but cool. And the ruins are simply amazing. My one caution would be to stay in the Plaika or Constitution Sq. areas. We were further out, and getting to the hotel by taxi was often a problem because of heavy traffic. All of that said, Barcelona is a lovely city as well, so you can't go wrong.

Thanks for the info. Anyone else?

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Where are you flying from? If the US, then consider the length of time to get there. I was consdering the same two destinations for March, and I have twice as long as you do (10 nights) and after looking at flight schedules and all I decided Barcelona made more sense. Since you only have five days do you want to spend so much time en route? And as you said, it's considerably more expensive. I haven't been to either yet, so I'm just giving you an opinion.

Since I did decide on Barcelona I'm curious what lincasanova means by "cold". I though the temps were supposed to be in the 60s there in March.

Leaving from DFW. The flight to both is about the same due to connections, but is a couple of hours longer from Athens on the return. I can add another night at little cost in Athens. Prices seem to be going up, so I'd like to make a decision shortly. My impression is that there are more side trips in Athens and that the ruins, etc would probably interest my 13 yr old son more. But I also wonder if if would be too similar to our Rome vacation a couple of years ago. I wonder if 5 nights would be too long in Barcelona and what fun things there would interest my son. He likes museums, but like any teen, gets bored with too much of them.

Thanks for your reply.

I have been to both cities and even though I thought Barcelona was nice, I liked Athens better... plus, I found it be a little less expensive overall.

what i mean by cold is.. it COULD be very cold. march is high ski season still ( the pyrenee's are very near) and it is not unusual to have very cold, wet months of march.

however, that said.. we were eating outside on patio the other day at lunch time, but then had heat on full blast that night). if warm weather comes early, might be light jacket weather.. but don't count on it.

Sea level and mountains nearby make for very damp cold if we are unlucky.

I've never been to Athens, but Barcelona rocks. Mix the grandeur of Paris with the festiveness of Seville and the laid-back chill vibe of Amsterdam and you've got a partial picture of what Barcelona is like. Great food, amazing architecture, great nightlife, great museums, physical beauty - I'm missing it badly in the course of writing this message.

I went to Barcelona last March with my 14 year old son. We did a one hour private lesson each day with a tutor (Enforex), then we did sight seeing all day. We flew SFO to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Madrid. Two nights in Madrid, then took the train to Barcelona. The architecture, the food, the language classes, the artists, museums, etc. were incredible. We have been to Greece 3 times, and Athens is incredible. However, Athen is worth only a couple days in my mind, and it is warmer and better in June or October, almost too hot and crowed in the summer. If you go to Barcelona, stay on or near La Rambla. We stayed in the Hotel Monte Carlo, and excellent location and a very nice hotel. Enjoy. I vote for Barcelona for a short trip at that time of the year

I went to Greece with my college student daughter on her spring break last March. Loved it. We had gone to Rome on a previous spring break. The ruins were not so similar to Rome that we felt we were repeating ourselves. Loved every minute exploring the ruins in both places.

Meals, lodging, and shopping seemed more inexpensive in Athens than in other European cities I have visited in recent years, although I admit I haven't been to Barcelona since 1972.

For a description of our trip, you can take a look at my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34589254

And for a look at the appearance of the countryside, an island, and Athens in March, the photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-b9k6sz

Thanks for the replies. Jbay, how long was the train ride to Barcelona and how much did it cost? Did you buy the train tickets once you were there? In planning a multiple destination trip on Expedia, the airfare is over $200 per person to Barcelona, and from what I have read, that seems high. Where did you stay in Madrid? If we arrived in Madrid mid-morning on 3/12 and took the train to Barcelona on the afternoon of 3/14, would that give us time to see enough of the sights in Madrid? Then head home on morning of 3/17? Does this sound too rushed and should I add an extra day?

try www.vueling.com for som,e 10 euro fares to barcelona, plus tax and service fees. today is last day for them. they may have this offer again soon, but by any means you can do better than 200$.

also use a european search base that may included low cost flights.
www.edreams.com
www.rumbo.es if expedia isn't showing them.

if you really are doing madrid then barcelona, why don't you ppop down to valencia for an overnight at least to see the fallas festival that the entire week before march 19 is really intresting.
you can train to vlc from madrid, then take euromed to barcelona from here.

to be so near these festivals and not see them would be a shame. even just for a day.

We just returned from a six-night(new year trip)to Barcelona. I basically selected this city because of its average warmer winter weather. You should check this information for march in weather.com. This is a terrific city--great architecture, clean, easy to navigate in the metro and otherwise,very friendly people,great one day out-of-town trip, like Montserrat and Sitges. We got a great air and hotel deal with Expedia but we booked quite in advance(like 6 months) Do your homework first. Check travel books, like Frommer and Time Out-great color maps. Can buy them much cheaper from Amazon.

Thanks for the help. Thought Montserrat would be of interest, but don't know about a 13 yr old. He might be "museumed out". Sitges wasn't of interest based on what I read. Weather in Madrid and Barcelona appeared comparable-somewhat warmer in Athens.

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The Barcelona Tourist Office has a great promotional trip to Monserrat. You buy for 30 euros. the "Monserrat Card", which entitles you to the roundtrip train to Monserrat(1 hr.), then on the same plattaform you transfer to the telerifico train that takes you to the actual site. the card also allows you to take 2 other telerificos to go higher and lower within Monserrat. Additionally, it includes your lunch at the "self-service" restaurant in Monserrat and entrace to the museum-which is small and very pretty and quick to go through..Our lunch was faboulous-paella, veal cutlet, dessert, bread and a beverage. We found this trip to be wonderful, easy to go to and a great bargain. There were many other tourists doing the same thing, and with kids since most of the time you are outdoors in the mountain area. You buy this ticket and board the train in the underground train station(metro) in Plaza de Espana. There are signs leading you to it and the agents are most helpful and bilingual.