We are flying in and out of Barcelona with 8 nights there in March. I and the same two traveling companions spent four nights in Barcelona in March 06 so we definitely want to spend a few days elsewhere this trip. My two highest priorities are Besalu Spain and Carcassone France. I'm trying to decide if I'd rather see Collioure or Cadaques, or if they are both worthy enough to try to do both. I think we have a max of four nights for this part of the trip as my daughter has to get back to Paris for work so SIL and I will have the remainder of the time in Barcelona.

MY main interest is photography. My daughter and sister-in-law's main interests are relaxing. If it were up to me I might do four nights in four different places but I know they would not enjoy that (and I might not either- but you get the idea). I was thinking Girona would be doable as a day trip from Barcelona later in the week if I wanted.

Yes we'll have a car. So what would you do in this situation?

Posts on this board where people who have stayed in Collioure and reported back that they didn't like it have produced some of the most vicious attacks on posters I've ever seen on a travel message board, so I will try to tread carefully, so you don't have your thread turned into a stinkpot by board nasties:

I regretted spending time in Collioure at the expense of more interesting places in that part of the world. There may have been a time when Collioure had an intriguing local culture independent of tourism, but that time seems to have passed. It has a well- preserved if small historic core, set on the sea, and of course the sea and the light are always pretty in that part of the world. But its past life has been turned into a tourist commodity for aflluent touists. I don't think the food in that part of the French coast is stellar, less so in a tourist town.

By contrast, even though Cadaques memorializes Dali to, I think, a comic degree, the town still houses and attracts creative people, idealists and charming social misfits from all over, many young and traveling on a shoestring. While a good deal of the town has plenty of tourist tat and people hawking it at you, there is a cross-current in the town of people thinking and talking about something else, as well as just plain old relaxing or photographing the jagged, white town.

All that said: Calella de Palafrugell is much easier to get to (Cadaques requires a long mountain drive in and out), is quite relaxing, seems to me to be highly photogenic (with a botanical garden to boot). You might want to check it out.

I think Girona's old town is a fascinating place. Likewise -- maybe even more so -- the town of Vic, also possible as a day trip from Barcelona. If you go to Vic, the museum there is extraordinary.

I think you can easily see both Collioure and Cadaques. In my opinion both are worth seeing but neither requires a long stay. If the plan is to drive to Carcassonne from Barcelona you could break the journey at Girona, maybe also stopping at Figueres to see the Dali museum. From Carcassonne you could leave the autoroute around Perpignan to visit Collioure and then take the coast road, which is quite scenic, to Cadaques. The drive from Barcelona to Carcassonne is just over 300 kms, and Collioure- Cadaques is around 60 kms.

I note that your travel window is March -- and of course you know that this not beach weather, even on the Spanish or French Mediterranean coast.

One thing that might suit all the competing agendas is a relaxing thassoltherapy spa in Banyuls-sur-Mer, which is right next to Collioure, and town that I actually liked better than Collioure.

http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Wat...-of-the-region

http://www.thalacap.fr/

I've not done this, so I can't personally recommend it, but I'm thinking that if the spas are good, some of you could relax while other tour and photograph.

Having driven the Mediterranean coast between Collioure and Cadeques, and beyond -- it's scenic, but also rather tortuous and tedious for all its switchback. Port Bou and other odd ball coastal towns are hauntingly photogenic, but and I would certainly change my plans on the spot if I found myself faced with rainy weather and slick roads. Not being a fan of Dali, I wouldn't make his museums a destination-- but I''m not everybody!

Sorry for my hasty typo. It's "Thalassotherapy"

I liked the Dali house in Cadaques very much even though I am not a huge Dali fan. It was just fun. We visited as a day trip from Barcelona. The ride is tough. I was quite carsick, but am prone to that.

Agree re Collioure. It is good for a couple of hours; not sure I would spend more time there.
I had a very happy 24 hours there in the '80s but then I was young and impressionable.
In subsequent times, I thought it a place of modest attractions, overrun with retirement condos and tourist traps.

Cadaques is a "must" for every photographer - it is probably the most photogenic of all "white towns" in Spain. You can think whatever you want of Salvador Dali, but what he had done: he had prevented his home town from being spoilt by high-rise hotel and apartment buildings. Thus, Cadaques has preserved its charme.

The town itsself is beautiful, and you find many photo spots, e.g. fisherboats on the beach or an occasional fisher mending his net. In the evening, you may eat his products as Zarzuela or Suquet in one of the town's restaurants.

In Port Lligat, which is a few minutes' drive from Cadaques, you find a picturesque fishing village and Dali's most eccentric house - certainly worth a visit, even if you do not like his style.

Another few minutes north of Port Lligat, you have the bizarre scenery of Cap Creus - also very photogenic. Dali called this coastline a "geological delirium", and this label is most appropriate.

Can't say something about Collioure. (You may find it significant that we never made it to Collioure although we have been a dozen times in the area. DW used to spend the summer vacation in Ceret when she stayed with a French family. BTW, I highly recommend Ceret for a short photographic stop. From there, you might drive up to Mont Canigou.)

Thanks for your replies, quite helpful. So here's my plan now:

Leave BCN around 10am on Friday (daughter arrives from Paris at 9:40, SIL and I will have had over 24 hours in Barcelona at this point).

Drive to Besalu, lunch, look around, drive to Carcassone. Spend two nights (Friday and Saturday).

Sunday morning drive to Collioure, stopping in Ceret on the way. Spend one night.

Monday drive to Cadaques, spend as long as we want, then back to Barcelona to drop off car. Possibly stop in Girona but if not I can do that as a day trip by train from Barcelona later in the week, we'll have four nights (3 more days) before we have to leave.

I think I'd prefer to spend the night in Cadaques but it looks like logistically Collioure works better.

Any other suggestions.

Looks good to me, and I don't even like Collioure! But if it were logistically easiest option, I would stay there again as well.

I wanted to add that while it it is not at all "picturesque," one of the most haunting towns I was in along that windswept stretch of coast was Portbou. It's a bit of a pain to drive there, because it's also on a twisty road. It's a forgotten and now-useless border town with a terrible history. I actually thought it was more surreal in feeling than anything Dali painted! If you have time on your hands in that area, and can face more switchback driving, you might check it out.

http://www.cbrava.com/portbou.uk.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileortbou.jpg

bookmarking

You can easily do both. I prefer Collioure to Cadaques, which never grabbed me much at all, but both will be, in March, blessedly free of all those touristy things that seem to drive some people mad.